defence mechanisms

views updated

defence mechanisms Unconscious psychological mechanisms, delineated by Sigmund Freud, that the ego uses to defend the individual from unacceptable instinctual impulses which must be hidden from consciousness. Best-known are repression and projection; others include regression, reaction formation, introjection, and displacement. Although widely criticized, these concepts have been incorporated into everyday psychological understandings. See also PSYCHOANALYSIS.

More From encyclopedia.com