Page 173 - DMGT402_MANAGEMENT_PRACTICES_AND_ORGANIZATIONAL_BEHAVIOUR

Management Practices and Organisational Behaviour

Notes Defence Mechanisms

A defence mechanism is a technique used to defend against anxiety and to maintain self-esteem,
but it involves self-deception and the distortion of reality. We use defence mechanisms to
protect ourselves from failure and from guilt arousing desires or actions. All of us use defence
mechanisms to some degree; it is only their overuse that is considered abnormal.
1. Repression: According to Freud, repression is the most important and frequently used
defence mechanism. Repression operates in two ways:
(a) It can remove painful or threatening memories, thoughts, ideas or perceptions from
consciousness and keep them in the unconscious.
(b) It can prevent unconscious but disturbing sexual and aggressive impulses from
breaking into consciousness.
2. Projection: We use projection when we attribute our own undesirable impulses, thoughts,
personality traits or behaviour to others, or when we minimize the undesirable in ourselves
and exaggerate it in others. Projection allows us to avoid acknowledging our unacceptable
traits and thereby to maintain our self-esteem, but it seriously distorts our perception of
the external world. For example, (1) A sexually promiscuous wife may accuse her husband
of being unfaithful. (2) A dishonest man may think everyone is out to cheat him.

3. Denial: It is a refusal to acknowledge consciously or to believe that a danger or a threatening
condition exists. For example, (1) Smokers use denial when they refuse to admit that
cigarettes are a danger to their health. (2) Many people who abuse alcohol and drugs deny
that they have a problem.
Yet denial is sometimes useful as a temporary means of getting through a crisis until a
more permanent adjustment can be made, such as when people initially deny the existence
of a terminal illness.
4. Rationalization: It Occurs when we unconsciously supply a logical, rational, or socially
or personally acceptable reason rather than accept the real reason for an action or event.
Rationalization can be used to justify past, present, or future behaviours or to soften the
disappointment connected with not attaining a desired goal. When we rationalize, we
make excuses for – or justify – our failures and mistakes.
5. Regression: Sometimes, when frustrated or anxious, we may use regression and revert to
behaviour that might have reduced anxiety at an earlier stage of development. For example,
an adult may have a temper tantrum, rant and rave or throw things.
6. Reaction Formation: It is at work when people express exaggerated ideas and emotions
that are the opposite of their disturbing, unconscious impulses and desires. In reaction
formation, the conscious thought or feeling masks the unconscious one. For example, a
former chain smoker becomes irate and complains loudly at the faintest whiff of cigarette
smoke.
7. Displacement: Occurs when we substitute a less threatening object or person for the original
object of a sexual or aggressive impulse. For example, if your boss makes you angry, you
may take out your hostility on your wife.

8. Sublimation: With sublimation, we re-channel sexual or aggressive energy into pursuits
or accomplishments that society considers acceptable or even praiseworthy. For example,
an aggressive person may re-channel the aggression and become a football player. A
boxer with a 'bad guy' image, like 'Iron' Mike Tyson, might talk of becoming an evangelist.
Freud viewed sublimation as the only completely healthy ego defence mechanism.

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