THEORIES
OF
PERSONALITY
(DEFENSE MECHANISM)
GALVEZ, ALJAE D.
BS PSYCHOLOGY
DENIAL
 A woman hears that her child stole something expensive in the
market, and yet she refuses to believe it.
 A man saw hid girlfriend with someone else. The girl cheated on him,
but he refuses to believe it. Still loving her unconditionally, and
keeping her feel loved and safe.
Repression
 A man has a phobia of ghost but cannot remember the first time he
was afraid of them.
 A child who experienced an abusive treatment later has no memory
about it, but hard to form a relationship toward others.
Asceticism
 A person who loved sport but always afraid to feel humiliated in their
team, may turn to become interested in writing news.
 A man who deeply interested in dancing but afraid to perform in front
of many people, may unconsciously become interested in swimming.
Isolation
 A psychologist must not show fear in front of their patients with a
condition of schizophrenia.
 A woman’s mother will undergo a 16-hour operation of tongue
cancer. The woman remains calm after the 16-hour operation of her
mother, at which point she may fall into pieces any moment.
Displacement
 A man wins a car in a raffle game in their barangay, he turns next to
him and gives the person kisses and big hugs.
 Zammy wants to eat strawberry but found nothing in the market.
Rather, bought an apple, same color as strawberry.
Altruistic Surrender
 Aljae wants a child because she already has everything in life, and yet
she can’t have one. A friend of her have a daughter, so Aljae devoted
to her friend’s child and give everything she could.
 A woman is an accountancy graduate but want to pursue a doctor. She
adapts a child and give everything she could to support the child to
become a doctor in the future.
Turning Against The Self
 A man is stress with paper works but his 7-year-old daughter
accidentally crumpled one, then he burst out of frustration, saying that
she is stupid, hardheaded girl.
 A woman handed a tower of papers then suddenly bumps to someone
and all paper touch the ground. The woman gritted her teeth and
shouting that be careful next time.
Projection
 Someone with adulterous feelings might accuse their partner of
infidelity.
 A woman who is attracted to a fellow worker accuses the person of
sexual advances.
Reaction Formation
 A person who is generous and kind with others ends up being rude
and meager towards them.
 A woman who value everything she have might end up to ruin and
throw every little thing she have.
Undoing
 A man compulsively brushes his teeth after kissing a random girl in
their city.
 A mother and son have an argument last night. The next morning,
each act as if the disagreement never occurred.
Introjection
 A lady feels scared about giving a task to her member. So, she dressed
like a mother and imagine giving a task to her children.
 A child loves to perform, specially singing, but she is afraid that she
wouldn’t hit the notes. So, she portrays and dressed like her idol,
Mariah Carey and confidently sing and hit the high notes of the song.
Identification with the Aggressor
 A man is threatened at school. In order to conquer his fear, he became
one of the bullies in their school.
 Some prisoner is afraid to be beaten up inside the jail, so they behaved
like their guards and abused their own fellow inmate.
Regression
 After 8 years of studying, she plays again the outdoor games she
played when she was 7-year-old, in order to lessen her stress.
 Jasmine (a college student) takes her teddy bear to the school and goes
to sleep after hugging it.
Rationalization
 A woman buys an expensive cellphone and the she tells people that it
has a poor system.
 Someone fails the board exam; then she says that they didn’t want to
take the board exam anyway.
Sublimation
 A person who has a trauma-related disorder who needs control
become a successful entrepreneur.
 A doctor has a deep desire to cut people and has an assertive
personality turns into life-saving acts.
Day dreaming
 Elijah is in the middle of the class when he chews loudly like there’s
no tomorrow because he imagined eating all his favorite food.
 Rose suddenly cries while their walking in the highway because she
imagined breaking up with her boyfriend.
Compensation
 Someone who feel physically weak because they are thin may train
and work hard to be strong.
 Feeling bad about having a not so good look and overcompensating
by using a beauty products and wearing a make up.