Day by day, a person encounters situations when an existing need cannot be satisfied for any reason. In such cases, behavior is usually regulated by mechanisms psychological protection aimed at preventing behavioral disorders.
Psychological protection is associated with a change in the system of internal values of the individual, aimed at reducing the level of subjective significance of the corresponding experience in order to minimize psychologically traumatic moments. R. M. Granovskaya believes that the functions of psychological protection are inherently contradictory: on the one hand, they contribute to the adaptation of a person to his own inner world, but at the same time, on the other hand, they can worsen adaptability to the external social environment.
In psychology, the effect of the so-called pending action. It lies in the fact that any obstacle leads to an interruption of the action until the obstacle is overcome or the person refuses to overcome it. The works of many researchers have shown that unfinished actions form a tendency towards their completion, and if direct completion is not possible, a person begins to perform substitutive actions. We can say that the mechanisms of psychological defense are some specialized forms of substitution actions.
Psychological defense mechanisms
TO psychological defense mechanisms are usually referred to negation, repression, projection, identification, rationalization, substitution, alienation and some others. Let us dwell on the characteristics of each of these mechanisms as R. M. Granovskaya describes them.
Negation comes down to the fact that the information that disturbs is not perceived. This method of protection is characterized by a noticeable distortion of the perception of reality. Negation is formed in childhood and often does not allow people to adequately assess what is happening around, which leads to difficulties in behavior.
crowding out- the most universal way to get rid of an internal conflict by actively turning off an unacceptable motive or unpleasant information from consciousness. Interestingly, what is most quickly repressed and forgotten by a person is not the bad that others have done to him, but the bad that he has done to himself or others. Ingratitude, all kinds of envy and a great many inferiority complexes are connected with this mechanism, which are forced out with terrible force. It matters that a person does not pretend, but really forgets unwanted, traumatic information, it is completely ousted from his memory.
Projection- an unconscious transfer to another person of one's own feelings, desires and inclinations, in which a person does not want to admit to himself, realizing their social unacceptability. For example, when a person has shown aggression towards another, he often has a tendency to reduce the attractive qualities of the victim.
Identification- unconscious transfer to oneself of feelings and qualities that are inherent in another person and are inaccessible, but desirable for oneself. In children it is simplest way assimilation of norms social behavior and ethical standards. For example, a boy unconsciously tries to be like his father and thereby earn his love and respect. In a broad sense, identification is an unconscious adherence to images, ideals, which allows you to overcome your weakness and feelings of inferiority.
Rationalization- a deceitful explanation by a person of his desires, actions that are actually caused by reasons, the recognition of which would threaten the loss of self-respect. For example, when experiencing mental trauma, a person protects himself from its destructive impact by assessing the traumatic factor in the direction of decreasing significance, i.e. not having received what he passionately desired, he convinces himself that “I didn’t really want to.”
substitution— shifting an action directed at an inaccessible object to an action with an accessible object. This mechanism discharges the tension created by an inaccessible need, but does not lead to the desired goal. Substituting activity is distinguished by the transfer of activity to a different plane. For example, from a real exercise to a fantasy world.
Isolation or alienation- isolation within the consciousness of traumatic factors for a person. At the same time, unpleasant emotions are blocked by consciousness, i.e. no connection between emotional coloring and event. This type of defense resembles alienation syndrome, which is characterized by a feeling of loss of emotional connection with other people, previously significant events or one's own experiences, although their reality is recognized.
Thus, it is necessary to know that psychological protection can help maintain a person’s internal comfort, even if he violates social norms and prohibitions, since it creates the basis for self-justification. If a person treats himself as a whole positively, admits in his mind the idea of his imperfection, shortcomings, then he takes the path of overcoming the contradictions that arise.
If you accepted someone's assessment of the situation and began to plan some actions in accordance with this assessment, the manipulator has achieved his goal. It is necessary not only to reject someone else's situational framework, but also to offer your own assessment of the situation. It is not enough to simply understand that manipulation is taking place - one must always be ready to openly disobey, defend, challenge, and also suffer the consequences of such behavior. If you get angry or angry, you will lose.
, Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor of Vladivostok state university Economics and Service (VGUES).
- Clear speech formulations.
- Well-chosen intonations.
- Solidity in the answer, which is achieved by maintaining pauses before the answer and the slowness of the answer, the orientation of the answer into space.
Reception 1. Technique of infinite refinement. It is used when a communication partner emotionally demands something or accuses of something. In this case, find out as much as possible in detail and precisely everything that happens to him, without entering into arguments, explanations or justifications. Your partner may increase the pressure, causing you to resist, but you must steadfastly hold on to the positions of a person who wants to find out the opinion of another.
The ability to raise a question that requires a meaningful and detailed answer activates one's own intellectual efforts. In order to ask a question or answer a question on the merits, you need to think, therefore, transfer part of the energy charge from the emotional flow to the rational one. In addition, the time that the partner spends thinking about the answer is won. Thus, by asking a clarifying question, we gain time and energy in order not to let feelings overwhelm us.
Reception 2. Technique external consent, or Fog. This technique is especially effective against unfair criticism or outright rudeness. Confident man outwardly agrees, although he may not change his position. For instance:
- “What an unexpected thought! I'll have to think it over...
- “I will think about how I can take this into account in my work.”
- "I'll see if this has anything to do with me"
- "May be..."
Reception 3. Technique of a damaged plate. In response to the attack, the addressee formulates a capacious phrase containing important information attacker. The phrase should be such that you can repeat it several times without violating the meaningfulness of the conversation. The phrase should be pronounced like a broken record, with the same intonation. There should be no "metal" or "poison" in the tone. This technique uses the old rule:
- First, tell them exactly what you are going to tell them.
- Then tell them what you are going to tell them.
- Then tell them exactly what you told them.
Reception 4. Technique of the English professor. The partner correctly expresses doubts that the fulfillment of someone's requirements does not really violate his personal rights:
- "George, could you speak a little slower and in shorter sentences so I can translate more accurately?"
- "I'm afraid not ... You see, speaking quickly and in long sentences is part of my personality"
Possible answers:
- "This is the subject of my convictions"
- “If I do this, then it will no longer be me.”
- "It doesn't fit with my self-image."
Reception 5. Calmness and aloofness. Effective psychoprotection requires a certain psychological coldness and alienation. Anger, fear, anger, surprise, joy must be stopped before specific psychoprotection actions are taken. If such an emotion is difficult to completely stop, then it needs to be complicated and transformed - anger and hatred can be turned into sarcasm, fear and surprise - into alertness, joy - into irony, etc. If you get angry or angry, you will lose.
Reception 6. Search and connection of additional factors that can affect the situation. There are always potential situational forces working for us - be it time, people, social stereotypes, some parallel events. Everything that the manipulator excluded from the situation, “adjusting” it for himself, can fit. Someone planned communication at home? - take it outside! Are they trying to influence you in private? - Raise the topic in the company! Change the situational field in such a way that it becomes alien to the manipulator and creates additional benefits for you.
Reception 7. Preliminary training on a foreign field. From time to time it is worth practicing behavior that is atypical for yourself - to violate your usual role and personal image. On the one hand, this increases the degree of freedom of behavior, on the other hand, it makes you less predictable.
Reception 8. Do not accept someone else's assessment of the situation. If you accepted someone's assessment of the situation and began to plan some actions in accordance with this assessment, the manipulator has achieved his goal. It is necessary not only to reject someone else's situational framework, but also to offer your own assessment of the situation. Your getting rid of the framework imposed by someone can begin with the phrase: “Now let me tell you how I see all this ...” - and then you can already draw a situational picture from a point that is beneficial for you.
Tactic 9. If possible, do not accept obligations imposed on you from outside. It is better to suffer short-term losses in money, time and effort than to undertake to fulfill obligations that are externally non-critical for you and are imposed from outside. It is necessary to proceed from the fact that, first of all, obligations to oneself are important.
Technique 10. The ability to change relationships. It must be remembered that any interpersonal situation is reversible: there is always the opportunity to step back from any interpersonal situation and say to the controlling and manipulating (be it a boss, spouse, politician, etc.): “I can continue to live without your love, friendship, affection, mistreatment, even if such a life is difficult for me - until you stop doing A and start doing B.
Reception 11. Avoid provoked thoughtless actions. If someone insists that something be done "immediately", you should never agree to it right away. First, take the time to think about the situation and get more information. You should also insist on clear explanations. Weak explanations are signs of deceit or a lack of knowledge in a supposedly informed interlocutor.
Reception 12. Critical perception of situational requirements. Any situational requirements, no matter how trivial they may seem, should be critically approached: role relationships and rules should always be understood, but not always accepted. Group rituals, slogans, duties and obligations - all this is for some reason necessary for someone. The requirements arising from the situation are far from always binding.
Reception 13. There are almost no easy decisions in life. If someone talks about "simple solutions" to your complex personal, social and political problems, then this is most likely not true.
Reception 14. There is no instant "affection". There is no such thing as sudden and unconditional love, trust or friendship from the outside. strangers. Friendship and trust always develops over time and usually involves exchange, coping, and complicity—i.e. preliminary work at both sides. Therefore, “sudden love” and “suddenly arising” friendship are most likely the situational background that the manipulator creates for a more successful influence for you.
Reception 15. Separation of yourself from everyone.“Total situations” should be avoided, when they are addressed and pointed out to “everyone”, and not to you personally. In such situations, there is very little personal control and freedom, so you should immediately determine the boundaries of your own autonomy and, just in case, prepare psychological and physical escape routes.
Reception 16. Your mistakes are your problem. Strive to immediately recognize the symptoms of "guilt" provoked in you by someone, and never act on the motive of guilt. Mistakes are inevitable, but they are your mistakes. Therefore, do not rush to correct errors in a way that is not planned by you.
Tactic 17. There is something new in every situation. Be mindful of what you do in a "typical situation". You can’t let habit and standard current procedure force you to act thoughtlessly - after all, each subsequent “typical situation” is always slightly different, and your pattern actions can always be used due to their high predictability.
Technique 18. Don't bind yourself with past behavior. When someone mentions your "reliability" - you should always be on your guard. After all, there is absolutely no need to maintain a correspondence between your actions at different points in time - both you and the situation can change. Therefore, the status of "reliable" is always somewhat false, since it provides for some actions and reactions that depend not on the situation, but on the very status of "reliability". The status of “adequacy of the situation” is much more preferable.
Reception 19. Thought up - act! It is not enough to simply understand that manipulation is taking place - one must always be ready to openly disobey, defend, challenge, and also suffer the consequences of such behavior.
Yuri Platonov, doctor psychological sciences, Professor of St. Petersburg State University, Rector of the St. Petersburg State Institute of Psychology and social work, Honored Worker of Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
Everyone is involved in defense processes. mental functions, but each time one of them can dominate and take on the bulk of the work of transforming traumatic information. It can be perception, attention, memory, imagination, thinking, emotions. In this publication, we will try to consider the ways of psychological protection of the individual, which are most significant for its positive interaction in social groups.
Being a social, conscious and independent being, a person is able to resolve internal and external conflicts, deal with anxiety and tension not only automatically (unconsciously), but also guided by a specially formulated program.
All mental functions are involved in protective processes, but each time one of them can dominate and take on the main part of the work of transforming traumatic information. It can be perception, attention, memory, imagination, thinking, emotions.
In this publication, we will try to consider the ways of psychological protection of the individual, which are most significant for its positive interaction in social groups.
Classification of the main methods of psychological protection
Negation- this is the desire to avoid new information that is incompatible with the prevailing ideas about oneself.
Protection manifests itself in ignoring potentially disturbing information, avoiding it. It is like a barrier located right at the entrance of the perceiving system. He does not allow unwanted information there, which is irreversibly lost for a person and subsequently cannot be restored. Thus, denial leads to the fact that some information either immediately or subsequently cannot reach consciousness.
When denied, a person becomes especially inattentive to those areas of life and facets of events that are fraught with trouble for him. For example, a leader can criticize his employee for a long time and emotionally and suddenly find out with indignation that he has long been "turned off" and does not react at all to moralizing.
Denial can allow a person to preventively (preemptively) isolate themselves from traumatic events. Thus, for example, the fear of failure operates, when a person strives not to be in a situation in which he can fail. For many people, this manifests itself in the avoidance of competition or in the refusal of activities in which a person is not strong, especially in comparison with others.
The incentive to launch denial can be not only external, but also internal, when a person tries not to think about something, to drive away thoughts of unpleasantness. If you can’t admit something to yourself, then the best way out is, if possible, not to look into this terrible and dark corner. Often, having done something at the wrong time or in the wrong way, and nothing can be corrected, “protection” makes a person ignore a dangerous situation, behave as if nothing special is happening.
A generalized assessment of the danger of information is made with its preliminary holistic perception and a rough emotional assessment as "something undesirable is brewing." Such an assessment leads to a weakening of attention when detailed information about this dangerous event is completely excluded from subsequent processing. Outwardly, a person either fences himself off from new information (“It is, but not for me”), or does not notice, believing that they do not exist. Therefore, many people, before starting to watch a movie or read new book, ask the question: “What is the end, good or bad?”.
The statement "I believe" denotes a certain special state of the psyche, in which everything that comes into conflict with the object of faith tends to be denied. Sincere and sufficiently strong faith organizes such an attitude towards all incoming information, when a person, without suspecting it, subjects it to a thorough preliminary sorting, selecting only that which serves to preserve faith. Faith tends to be much more universal and categorical than understanding. When there is already faith in something, there is no place for a new one. A person rejects new ideas, often without trying to give a rational explanation for such behavior. Any attempt on the object of veneration causes the same reaction on the part of the individual, as if it were an attempt on her life.
suppression- protection, manifested in forgetting, blocking unpleasant, unwanted information, either when it is transferred from perception to memory, or when it is brought out of memory into consciousness. Since in this case the information is already the content of the psyche, since it was perceived and experienced, it is, as it were, provided with special marks, which then allow it to be retained.
The peculiarity of suppression is that the content of the experienced information is forgotten, and its emotional, motor, vegetative and psychosomatic manifestations can persist, manifesting itself in obsessive movements and states, mistakes, slips of the tongue, and slips of the tongue. These symptoms symbolically reflect the relationship between real behavior and repressed information. To fix traces in long-term memory, they must be emotionally colored in a special way - marked. In order to remember something, a person needs to return to the state in which he received the information. If then he was angry or upset (for example, by asking him to do something), then in order to remember this, he must return to this state again. Since he does not want to feel so bad again, he is unlikely to remember. When a person eliminates the thought that he does not want or cannot do something, he says to himself like this: “It wasn’t so necessary”, “I’m not interested in this, I don’t like it”, thereby revealing a negative emotional labeling.
crowding out, unlike suppression, is not associated with the exclusion from the consciousness of information about what happened as a whole, but only with forgetting the true, but unacceptable for a person, motive for an act. (Motive is an incentive to a specific activity).
Thus, it is not the event itself (action, experience, situation) that is forgotten, but only its cause, the fundamental principle. Forgetting the true motive, a person replaces it with a false one, hiding the real one from himself and from others. Recall errors, as a consequence of repression, arise from an internal protest that changes the train of thought. Repression is considered to be the most effective defense mechanism, as it is able to cope with such powerful instinctual impulses that other forms of defense cannot cope. However, displacement requires a constant expenditure of energy, and these expenditures cause inhibition of other types of vital activity.
Repression is a universal means of avoiding internal conflict by eliminating socially undesirable aspirations and drives from consciousness. However, repressed and repressed drives make themselves felt in neurotic and psychosomatic symptoms (for example, in phobias and fears).
Repression is considered a primitive and ineffective psychological defense mechanism for the following reasons:
- the repressed nevertheless breaks through into consciousness;
- unresolved conflict manifests itself in high level anxiety and feelings of discomfort.
Repression is activated in the event of a desire that conflicts with other desires of the individual and is incompatible with the ethical views of the individual. As a result of conflict and internal struggle, thought and representation (the carrier of incompatible desire) are forced out, eliminated from consciousness and forgotten.
The increased anxiety resulting from incomplete repression thus has a functional meaning, since it can force a person to either try to perceive and evaluate the traumatic situation in a new way, or to activate other defense mechanisms. However, usually the consequence of repression is a neurosis - a disease of a person who is not able to resolve his internal conflict.
Rationalization- this is a defense mechanism associated with the awareness and use in thinking of only that part of the perceived information, thanks to which own behavior appears as well controlled and not contradictory to objective circumstances.
The essence of rationalization is to find a "worthy" place for an incomprehensible or unworthy impulse or act in a person's system of internal guidelines, values without destroying this system. To this end, the unacceptable part of the situation is removed from consciousness, transformed in a special way, and only after that is realized in an altered form. With the help of rationalization, a person easily "closes his eyes" to the discrepancy between cause and effect, which is so noticeable to an external observer.
Rationalization is a pseudo-rational explanation by a person of his own aspirations, motives for actions, actions, actually caused by reasons, the recognition of which would threaten the loss of self-respect. Self-affirmation, protection of one's own "I" is the main motive for the actualization of this mechanism of psychological protection of the individual.
The most striking phenomena of rationalization are called "green (sour) grapes" and "sweet lemon". The phenomenon of "green (sour) grapes" (known from Krylov's fable "The Fox and the Grapes") is a kind of depreciation of an inaccessible object. If it is impossible to achieve the desired goal or take possession of the desired object, the person devalues them.
Rationalization is actualized when a person is afraid to realize the situation and seeks to hide from himself the fact that in his actions he was guided by socially undesirable motives. The motive behind rationalization is to explain the behavior and, at the same time, to protect the self-image.
Jet formations- this is the replacement of undesirable tendencies with directly opposite ones.
For example, a child's exaggerated love for his mother or father may be the result of preventing a socially undesirable feeling - hatred of parents. A child who has been aggressive towards parents develops exceptional tenderness towards them and worries about their safety; jealousy and aggression are transformed into disinterestedness and concern for others.
Certain social and intrapersonal prohibitions on the manifestation of certain feelings (for example, a young man is afraid to show his sympathy for a girl) lead to the formation of opposite tendencies - reactive formations: sympathy turns into antipathy, love - into hatred, etc.
This inadequacy, often excessive feeling, its emphasis is an indicator of reactive formation. If I show the same avalanche of feelings for the boss as I do for family and friends, then this is a signal that this excessive attitude towards the boss is basically reactive. The question is appropriate here: “Why do I want to sympathize with the leader so much and support him, what negative feelings are hidden behind this?”
Or the reverse situation: “Why do I look so ironically and coldly at the person I love? Why am I showing distance from him (her)?”
A defense like "sweet lemon" is an exaggeration of the value of what you have (according to the well-known principle - "a bird in the hand is better than a crane in the sky").
Most often, rationalization is achieved using two typical options reasoning: 1) " Green grapes»; 2) "sweet lemon". The first of them is based on understating the value of an act that could not be done, or a result that was not achieved.
substitution- this is a psychological defense mechanism against an unpleasant situation, which is based on the transfer of a reaction from an inaccessible object to an accessible one or the replacement of an unacceptable action with an acceptable one. Due to this transfer, the tension created by the unmet need is discharged.
Substitution is the protection that all people (both adults and children) must use in Everyday life. Thus, many people often do not have the opportunity not only to punish their offenders for their misdeeds or unfair behavior, but simply to contradict them. Therefore, pets, parents, children, etc. can act as a “lightning rod” in a situation of anger. Whims that cannot be directed at the leader (an object unacceptable for this) can perfectly be directed at other performers as an object that is quite acceptable for this ( "Here's who's to blame." In other words, substitution is the transfer of needs and desires to another, more accessible object. If it is impossible to satisfy some of his needs with the help of one object, a person can find another object (more accessible) to satisfy it.
So, the essence of substitution is to redirect the reaction. If, in the presence of any need, the desired path for its satisfaction is closed, the activity of a person is looking for another way out to achieve the goal. Protection is carried out through the transfer of excitation, unable to find a normal output, to another executive system. However, the ability of a person to reorient his actions from personally unacceptable to acceptable, or from socially disapproved to approved, is limited. The limitation is determined by the fact that the greatest satisfaction from the action that replaces the desired occurs in a person when the motives of these actions are consistent.
irony in ancient Greek means "to tell a lie", "to mock", "to pretend". An ironist is a person who "deceives with words."
The modern understanding of the dual nature of irony is as follows:
- Irony is an expressive device that is the opposite of the expressed idea. I say the opposite of what I mean. In form I praise, in fact I condemn. And vice versa: I humiliate in form, in fact exalt, praise, “stroke”. Ironically, my "yes" always means "no", and behind the expression "no" looms "yes".
- Whatever the noble goal of irony, for example, to generate a lofty idea, to open one's eyes to something, including oneself, this idea is nevertheless affirmed in irony by negative means.
- Despite the generosity of the ideas of irony, or even despite its disinterestedness, irony gives self-satisfaction.
- A person who uses irony is credited with the features of a subtle mind, observation, slowness, inactivity of a sage (not instant reactivity).
As a mental state, irony is a changed sign of my experience of the situation from “minus” to “plus”. Anxiety gave way to confidence, hostility to condescension... A person is in states that are autonomous in relation to a situation, another person, an object: I am already a subject rather than an object of these situations, and therefore I have the ability to control these states.
irony like mental process turns what is terrible, terrible, intolerable, hostile, anxious, into the opposite for me.
Dream- these are unconscious actions of the "I" in a state of sleep, which may be accompanied by emotional experiences.
A dream can be considered as a special kind of substitution, through which an inaccessible action is transferred to another plane - from real world into the world of dreams. By suppressing the inaccessibility complex, it accumulates energy in the unconscious, threatening the conscious world with its invasion. Secret repentance, remorse, subconscious fears lead to their breakthrough in a dream. The task of a dream is to express complex feelings in pictures and give a person the opportunity to experience them, thereby replacing real situations. However, feelings cannot be directly depicted. Only the action that reflects this feeling is visually representable. It is impossible to portray fear, but it is possible to depict such an expression of fear as flight. It is difficult to show a feeling of love, but a demonstration of rapprochement and affection is quite achievable. Therefore, the actions that unfold in its plot have a substitute character in a dream.
From the point of view of psychology, a dream is a message or reflection of the situations that a person encounters, his history, life circumstances, his inherent ways and forms of behavior, the practical results that his choice has led to. In a dream, errors of human behavior are reflected not only in relation to oneself, but also to others, including any organic deficiency in terms of physical health.
Mental activity is continuous, so the process of generating images during a dream does not stop.
Sleep can focus attention:
- on the current situation or problem (a photographic snapshot of reality);
- on the causes of the problem;
- on the way out of the problem (its solution).
Dreams allow you to bring passions out, in a dream there can be a release, purification, discharge to the limit of out-of-control emotions, in a dream you can realize the desired behavior, assert yourself and believe in yourself. Dreaming is an alternative way to satisfy desires. In sleep, unfulfilled desires are sorted, combined and transformed in such a way that the dream sequence provides additional satisfaction or reduction of tension. However, it is not always important whether the satisfaction occurs in the physical and sensual reality or in the inner imaginary reality of the dream, if the accumulated energy is sufficiently discharged. Such a dream brings relief, especially when you constantly think about something and worry.
Sublimation It is one of the highest and most effective human defense mechanisms. It implements the replacement of unattainable goals in accordance with the highest social values.
Sublimation is the switching of impulses that are socially undesirable in a given situation (aggressiveness, sexual energy) to other forms of activity that are socially desirable for the individual and society. Aggressive energy, being transformed, is able to sublimate (discharge) in sports (boxing, wrestling) or in strict methods of education (for example, with too demanding parents and teachers), eroticism - in friendship, in creativity, etc. When a direct discharge of instinctive (aggressive , sexual) drives is impossible, there is an activity in which these impulses can be discharged.
Sublimation realizes the substitution of the instinctive goal in accordance with the highest social values. The forms of substitution are varied. For adults, this is not only going into a dream, but also going into work, religion, and all kinds of hobbies. In children, regression reactions and immature forms of behavior are also accompanied by substitution with the help of rituals and obsessive actions, which act as complexes of involuntary reactions that allow a person to satisfy a forbidden unconscious desire. According to Z. Freud, relying on sublimation, a person is able to overcome the impact of sexual and aggressive desires seeking a way out, which can neither be suppressed nor satisfied by directing them in another direction.
When a person feels weak and helpless, he identifies, identifies himself with successful or authoritative people. Thanks to subconscious protective processes, one part of the instinctive desires is repressed, the other is directed to other goals. Some external events are ignored, others are overestimated in the direction necessary for a person. Protection allows you to reject some aspects of your "I", attribute them to strangers or, on the contrary, supplement your "I" at the expense of qualities "captured" from other people. Such a transformation of information allows you to maintain the stability of ideas about the world, about yourself and about your place in the world, so as not to lose support, guidelines and self-respect.
The world around us is constantly becoming more complex, so necessary condition life activity is the constant complication of protection and the expansion of its repertoire.
Identification- a kind of projection associated with the unconscious identification of oneself with another person, the transfer of feelings and qualities desired but inaccessible to oneself.
Identification is the elevation of oneself to another by expanding the boundaries of one's own "I". Identification is associated with a process in which a person, as if including another in his "I", borrows his thoughts, feelings and actions. This allows him to overcome his feelings of inferiority and anxiety, to change his "I" in such a way that it is better adapted to the social environment, and this is the protective function of the identification mechanism.
Through identification, symbolic possession of a desired but unattainable object is achieved. Through arbitrary identification with the aggressor, the subject can get rid of fear. In a broad sense, identification is an unconscious desire to inherit a model, an ideal. Identification provides an opportunity to overcome one's own weakness and feelings of inferiority. A person with the help of this psychological defense mechanism gets rid of feelings of inferiority and alienation.
An immature form of identification is imitation. This defensive reaction differs from identification in that it is integral. Her immaturity is revealed in a pronounced desire to imitate a certain person, a loved one, a hero in everything. In an adult, imitation is selective: he singles out only the trait he likes from another and is able to identify separately with this quality, without extending his positive reaction to all other qualities of this person.
Usually, identification is manifested in the performance of real or fictional roles. For example, children play mother-daughter, school, war, transformers, etc., consistently play different roles and perform various actions: punish child dolls, hide from enemies, protect the weak. A person identifies with those whom he loves more, whom he values higher, thereby creating the basis for self-esteem.
Fantasy (dream) is a very common reaction to disappointment and failure. For example, not physically enough developed person can take pleasure in dreaming of participating in the World Championship, and a loser athlete can imagine how all sorts of troubles happen to his opponent, which alleviates his worries.
Fantasies serve as compensation. They help to maintain weak hopes, alleviate feelings of inferiority, and reduce the traumatic effect of insults and insults.
Freud said that a happy person never fantasizes, only an unsatisfied one does. Unsatisfied desires are driving forces fantasies, each fantasy is a manifestation of desire, a proofreading of reality that somehow does not satisfy the individual.
In ambitious fantasies, the object of a person's desire is himself. In erotically colored desires, the object can be someone from a close or distant social environment, who in reality cannot be the object of desire.
And finally, fantasy plays the role of a substitute action, since a person cannot solve the real situation or believes that he cannot. And then, instead of a real situation, an imaginary, illusory situation is imagined, which is resolved by a fantasizing person. If it is difficult to resolve the real conflict, then a substitution conflict is resolved. In defensive fantasy, inner freedom from external coercion is experienced palliatively. The result of the psychoprotective use of fantasy can be a life in a world of illusions.
Transfer is a defense mechanism that ensures the satisfaction of desire on substitute objects.
The simplest and most common type of transfer is displacement - the replacement of the objects of outpouring of the accumulated negative energy"Thanatos" in the form of aggression, resentment.
The boss, in the presence of other colleagues, gave you a dressing. You cannot answer him the same. You understand the situation: if I answer the boss in the same way, stop him, put him under siege, then even more trouble may result. Therefore, your "wise self" is looking for objects on which you can take out your resentment, your aggression. Fortunately, there are many such objects “at hand”. The main property of these objects should be their silence, resignation, the inability to besiege you. They should be as silent and obedient as you silently and obediently listened to reproaches and humiliating characteristics (Lazy! Incompetent! Insolent!) from your boss and generally anyone who is stronger. Your anger, unreacted to the true culprit, is transferred to someone who is even weaker than you, even lower on the ladder of the social hierarchy, to a subordinate, who, in turn, transfers it further down, etc. The chains of displacement can be endless. Its links can be both living beings and inanimate things ( broken dishes during family scandals, broken windows of electric train cars, etc.).
Projection- a psychological defense mechanism associated with the unconscious transfer of one's own unacceptable feelings, desires and aspirations to another person. It is based on the unconscious rejection of one's experiences, doubts, attitudes and attributing them to other people in order to shift the responsibility for what is happening inside the "I" to the outside world.
For example, if the subject or object with which the satisfaction of your needs and desires was associated is inaccessible to you, then you transfer all your feelings and possibilities for satisfying needs to another person. And if your dream of becoming a writer has not come true, then you can choose the profession of a literature teacher as a substitute, partially satisfying your creative needs.
The effectiveness of substitution depends on how similar the replacement object is to the previous one, with which the satisfaction of the need was first associated. The maximum similarity of the replacement object guarantees satisfaction more needs that were first associated with the previous object.
No matter how wrong the person himself is, he is ready to blame everyone except himself. Declares that he is not loved, although in reality he does not love himself, reproaches others for his own mistakes and shortcomings and ascribes to them his own vices and weaknesses. By narrowing the boundaries of the “I”, this allows the individual to relate to internal problems as if they were happening outside, and to get rid of displeasure as if it came from outside, and not due to internal reasons. If the “enemy” is outside, then more radical and effective methods of punishment can be applied to him, usually used in relation to external “harmfulness”, and not sparing, more acceptable in relation to oneself.
Thus, projection is manifested in a person's tendency to believe that other people have the same motives, feelings, desires, values, character traits that are inherent in himself. At the same time, he is not aware of his socially undesirable motives.
Such, for example, is the mechanism of the religious-mythological worldview. Primitive perception is characterized by a person's tendency to personify animals, trees, nature, attributing to them their own motives, desires, feelings. The writer transfers his own needs, feelings, character traits to the heroes of his works.
The projection is easier on the one whose situation, whose personality traits like a projector. A person using a projection will always see an offensive hint in a harmless remark. Even in a noble deed he can see malicious intent, intrigue. A person of immense kindness, the one who is popularly called "holy simplicity", is not capable of projection. He does not see malicious intent, malevolence in actions towards himself, because he himself is not capable of this.
introjection- this is the tendency to appropriate the beliefs, attitudes of other people without criticism, without trying to change them and make them your own. A person endows himself with traits, properties of other people. For example, he takes on the functions of an annoying mentor, since the manifestation of such a trait in other people annoys or injures him. In order to remove internal conflict and avoid psychological discomfort, a person appropriates the beliefs, values and attitudes of other people.
The earliest introject is parental teaching, which is assimilated by a person without a critical understanding of its value.
An example of introjection: an impressionable man tries to hold back his tears because he has learned the parental attitude that an adult should not cry in the presence of strangers. Or a person constantly criticizes himself, because he has learned (introjected) such an attitude of parents towards himself.
The probability of occurrence of this method of protection is the higher, the stronger and (or) longer the impact of external or internal blockers of desires, on the one hand, and the more impossible it is to remove these blockers and fulfill one’s desires, achieve one’s goals, on the other hand. At the same time, the impossibility of eliminating the frustrator is accompanied by the displacement of negative energy on the replacement object.
The subject's turning against himself turns into the formation of bodily and mental symptoms, i.e., signs of illness. Physical bodily symptoms include: cold feet and hands, sweating, cardiac arrhythmias, dizziness, severe headaches, high or low blood pressure, muscle spasms, dermatitis, bronchial asthma etc.
Depersonalization(from lat. de - denial, person - face) - this is the perception of other people as impersonal, devoid of individuality representatives of a certain group. If the subject does not allow himself to think of others as people who have feelings and personality, he protects himself from their perception on an emotional level.
With depersonalization, other people are perceived only as the embodiment of their social role: they are patients, doctors, teachers. The act of depersonalizing other people can, to a certain extent, "protect" the subject. This makes it possible, for example, for physicians to treat their patients without experiencing their suffering. In addition, it enables them to hide their real feelings (like or dislike) behind a professional mask.
Psychological security is a property mature personality, which depends on intelligence, attentiveness, propensity to analyze, critical thinking and emotional stability. We offer you some proven methods of psychological protection in practice.
If you get stung by one or even several bees, it can be good for your health. But if you are attacked by a swarm of wasps or you find yourself a victim of a bite poisonous snake, you're in trouble here. Your competitors, ill-wishers or enemies are capable of inflicting no less harm on you, just by using words that hurt your soul as a psychological weapon. And the longer you worry about this, the more likely you are to be in the camp of the losers.
“If a person shows that he is irritated and unable to control his emotions, he needs to do something else, and not work with people,” the Frenchman Michel Fadoul, who has achieved brilliant success in business at the world level, confidently stated.
Psychological security This is the quality of a mature person. It consists of a whole complex of such characteristics as the level of intelligence, worldview attitudes, attentiveness, a tendency to analyze and reflect, critical thinking, and emotional stability.
Ask yourself and others magical questions more often: what, where, when, how, why and why? Try to imagine the whole panorama and dynamics of the event, to see the whole picture as a whole and note the contradictions, inconsistencies and white spots, carefully consider the details. It is they who are necessary material to assess the reliability of information.
We offer you several methods of psychological defense developed by us and tested in our trainings.
Reception "Fan". Analyze what you react to most painfully. What annoys you? What infuriates or discourages you? Remember specific words, intonation, your opponents or offenders.
Close your eyes and remember again all the most offensive, biting, burning words that make you feel confused and worthless or powerful flashes aggression.
Now imagine that you are sitting opposite the person who inflicts these psychological blows on you. It is he who speaks cruel, hurtful words to you. And you feel like you are already starting to “wind up”. Bring on the feeling of being hit. What part of your body reacts to it? What is happening: is there a heat in the whole body, or is something shrinking inside, or maybe just breathing is interrupted? What exactly is happening to you?
Use the emotional ventilation technique. Imagine that between you and the offender there is a powerful fan, which immediately takes his words to the side, their sharp arrows do not reach you.
And further. Make a figure with your right hand and cover it with the palm of your left hand. Mentally direct it to the person who is trying to get you out of peace of mind. Remember how the same fig helped you "revenge" the offender as a child.
Open your eyes, and you will surely feel that you are now able to withstand such a psychological blow.
Reception "Aquarium". If, when dealing with people who are negatively disposed towards you, you continue to react painfully to their attacks, use this technique. Imagine that between you and your offender is a thick glass wall of an aquarium. He says something unpleasant to you, but you only see him, but you don’t hear the words, they are absorbed by the water and only bubble with foam on the surface. That's why they don't work for you. And you, without losing self-control and peace of mind, do not succumb to provocation, do not react to offensive words. And thanks to this, you turn the situation in your favor.
Disneyland welcome. Soreness psychological shock can be mitigated, if not completely eliminated, if all people are treated like little children. You do not take offense at unintelligent children?
Imagine that you are alone against a whole group of people who are negative towards you. The preponderance of forces is on their side. And you have only one chance to turn the tide: imagine them as a group of children on the playground. They get angry, act up, scream, wave their arms, throw toys on the floor, trample them with their feet. In general, they try their best to piss you off. But you, as an adult, wise person, treat their antics like childish pranks and continue to maintain imperturbable calm until they run out of steam. You do not perceive their words as insults, do not react to their attacks. It's funny for you to watch all this as an adult ...
Reception "Fox and grapes". If there were cases in your past when someone managed to annoy you so that the experience of defeat is still there, use the technique of rationalization, removing negative "anchors". Remember the fable “The Fox and the Grapes”: not reaching for the bunch of grapes, the fox said that she didn’t really want grapes - they were sour and green.
Reception "Ocean of Tranquility". Imagine yourself as the main character: "The ocean receives the waters of many stormy rivers, while remaining motionless. He, into whom all thoughts and emotions also flow, remains impassive at rest.
Reception "Theater of the Absurd". You can use such a technique of psychological defense as bringing the situation to the point of absurdity. This is basically the same thing as making an elephant out of a fly. That is, to exaggerate out loud beyond recognition what someone is only hinting at, and thus unexpectedly knock psychological weapons out of the hands of their enemies or ill-wishers. Your goal is to make sure that any attacks of the ill-wisher no longer cause anything but laughter. This is the solution to the problem of how to protect yourself from a psychological attack.
Reception "Puppet Theatre". If you find it difficult to communicate with people who are emotionally significant to you, use this technique. Imagine that they are just caricatured characters from the TV show "Dolls". And let them say stupid things while talking to each other. And you just observe it from the outside and make your assessments. Like, this nerd is pretending to be Superman, and the other is playing out of himself strong personality, a professional, and a weakling himself, just bluffing. Play this show until you laugh. Your laughter is an indication that the technique has worked.
In situations where the intensity of the need increases, and the conditions for its satisfaction are absent, behavior is regulated using psychological defense mechanisms. Psychological defense is defined as a normal mechanism aimed at preventing behavioral disorders not only within the framework of conflicts between consciousness and the unconscious, but also between different emotionally charged attitudes. This special mental activity is realized in the form of specific information processing techniques that can protect a person from shame and loss of self-esteem in the context of a motivational conflict. Psychological protection is manifested in the tendency of a person to maintain a habitual opinion about himself, rejecting or distorting information that is regarded as unfavorable and destroys the initial ideas about himself and others.
Defense mechanisms come into play when achieving a goal in a normal way is impossible or when a person believes that it is impossible. It is important to emphasize that these are not ways to achieve the desired goal, but ways to organize partial and temporary peace of mind in order to gather strength to really overcome the difficulties that have arisen, that is, resolve the conflict by appropriate actions. In this case, people react differently to their inner difficulties. Some, denying their existence, suppress the inclinations that cause them discomfort, and reject some of their desires as unreal and impossible. Adaptation in this case is achieved by changing perception. At first, the person denies what is not desirable, but gradually can get used to this orientation, really forget the painful signals and act as if they did not exist. Other people overcome conflicts by trying to manipulate the objects that disturb them, seeking to master events and change them in the right direction. Still others find their way out in self-justification and condescension to their motives, while others resort to various forms of self-deception. It would be especially difficult and sometimes impossible for individuals with a particularly rigid system of behavioral principles to act in a diverse and changeable environment if the protective mechanisms did not protect their psyche.
Psychological defense mechanisms usually include denial, repression, projection, identification, rationalization, inclusion, substitution, alienation, and others.
Denial comes down to the fact that information that disturbs and can lead to conflict is not perceived. There is a conflict that arises when motives appear that contradict the basic attitudes of the individual, or information that threatens self-preservation, prestige, self-esteem. This method of protection comes into play in conflicts of any kind, without requiring prior training, and is characterized by a noticeable distortion in the perception of reality. Denial is formed in childhood and often does not allow a person to adequately assess what is happening around, which, in turn, causes difficulty in behavior.
Repression is the most universal way to avoid internal conflict by actively turning off unacceptable motive or unpleasant information from consciousness. Repression is an unconscious psychological act in which inappropriate information or motive is censored at the threshold of consciousness. Injured self-esteem, hurt pride and resentment can give rise to declaring false motives for one's actions in order to hide the true ones not only from others, but also from oneself. True, but not pleasant, motives are repressed in order to be replaced by others that are acceptable from the point of view of the social environment and therefore do not cause shame and remorse. A false motive in this case can be dangerous because it allows you to cover up personal egoistic aspirations with socially acceptable arguments. The repressed motive, not finding resolution in behavior, retains its emotional and vegetative components. Despite the fact that the content side of the traumatic situation is not realized and a person can actively forget the very fact that he has committed some unseemly act, nevertheless, the conflict persists, and the emotional-vegetative stress caused by it can subjectively be perceived as a state of indefinite anxiety. Therefore, repressed drives can manifest themselves in neurotic and psychophysiological symptoms.
Projection - an unconscious transfer of one's own feelings, desires and inclinations, in which a person does not want to admit to himself, realizing their social unacceptability, onto another person. When a person has shown aggression towards someone, he often has a tendency to lower the attractive qualities of the victim. A person who constantly ascribes to others his own aspirations that contradict him moral standards, received a special name - a hypocrite.
Identification is an unconscious transfer to oneself of feelings and qualities inherent in another person and not available, but desirable for oneself. In children, this is the simplest mechanism for assimilating the norms of social behavior and ethical values. So, the boy unconsciously tries to be like his father and thereby earn his warmth and respect. Through identification, the symbolic possession of a desired but unattainable object is also achieved.
Rationalization is a prejudicial explanation by a person of his desires, actions, in fact caused by reasons, the recognition of which would threaten with a loss of self-respect. In particular, it is associated with an attempt to reduce the value of the inaccessible. Rationalization is used by a person in those special cases when, fearing to realize the situation, he tries to hide from himself the fact that his actions are prompted by motives that are in conflict with his own moral standards. A method of psychological defense close to rationalization is inclusion, in which the significance of the traumatic factor is also overestimated. For this, a new global system of values is used, where the old system is included as a part, and then the relative importance of the traumatic factor decreases against the background of other, more powerful ones. An example of protection by the type of inclusion can be catharsis - the relief of internal conflict with empathy. If a person observes and empathizes with the dramatic situations of other people, which are significantly more painful and traumatic than those that disturb him, he begins to look at his troubles differently, evaluating them in comparison with others.
Substitution is the transfer of an action aimed at an inaccessible object to an action with an accessible object. Substitution discharges the tension created by an inaccessible need, but does not lead to the desired goal. When a person fails to perform the action necessary to achieve the goal set for him, he sometimes makes the first senseless movement that comes across, giving some kind of relaxation. internal tension. Such a substitution is often seen in life, when a person vents his irritation, anger, annoyance caused by one person, on another person or on the first object that comes across.
Isolation or alienation is the isolation within the consciousness of factors that traumatize a person. At the same time, unpleasant emotions are blocked from access to consciousness, so that the connection between some event and its emotional coloring is not reflected in consciousness. This type of defense is reminiscent of "alienation syndrome", which is characterized by a feeling of loss of emotional connection with other people, previously significant events or one's own experiences, although their reality is recognized. The phenomena of derealization, depersonalization, and split personality may be associated with such protection.
The selectivity of a person's attitude to the group and the team is associated with the mediation of psychological protection. It is a kind of filter that turns on when there is a significant mismatch of one's own system of values and an assessment of one's own act or the actions of close people, separating desirable influences from undesirable ones, corresponding to the beliefs, needs and values of the individual from inappropriate ones. It is useful to keep in mind that the impact of psychological defense can help maintain a person’s internal comfort even if he violates social norms and prohibitions, because, reducing the effectiveness social control, it sets the stage for self-justification.
If a person, treating himself as a whole positively, admits into his consciousness the idea of his imperfection, of shortcomings that manifest themselves in specific actions, then he embarks on the path of overcoming them. He can change his actions, and new actions will transform his consciousness and thus his whole subsequent life. If information about the discrepancy between the desired behavior that supports self-esteem and real actions is not allowed into consciousness, then conflict signals turn on psychological defense mechanisms and the conflict is not overcome, i.e. a person cannot embark on the path of self-improvement. Only by translating unconscious impulses into consciousness can one achieve control over them, acquiring greater power over one's actions and increasing self-confidence.