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6. Reaction .formation. Sometimes an individual protects himself from dangerous de- sires by not only repressing them, but actually developing conscious attitudes and behavior patterns that are just the opposite. Thus he may conceal hate with a facade of love, cruel- try with kindness, or desires for sexual promiscuity with moralistic sexual attitudes and behavior. In this way the individual erects obstacles or barriers that reinforce his repression and keep his real desires and feelings from conscious awareness and from being carried out overtly.

On a simple level, reaction formation is il- lustrated by the old story about the spinster who looks hopefully under her bed each night for fear that a man may be lurking there. On a more complex level, reaction formation may be manifested by people who crusade against loose morals, alcohol, "pornography," gambling. and other real or alleged evils. Often such people have a background of earlier difficulties with these problems themselves. and their zealous crusading appears to be a means of safeguarding themselves against recurrence of their difficulties.

Self-appointed protectors of the public morals may gain vicarious satisfaction- for example. by reviewing "pornographic" materials without endangering their self-concepts. In some cases reaction formation is more subtle, as when. say. a juror demands the severest penalty under the law for an infraction  tat he himself has been tempted to commit

Reaction formation. like repression. may have adjstive value in helping the individual maintain socially approved behavior and avoid awareness of threatening and self-de- valuating desires- But because this mechanism, too, is self-deceptive and not subject to conscious control, it often results in exaggerated and rigid fears or beliefs that may com- plicate an individual's adjustive reactions and lead to excessive harshness or severity in deal ing with the lapses of others.

7. Displacement. In displacement there is a shift of emotion or symbolic meaning from a person or object toward which it was original- ly-directed to another person or object. Often displacement involves difficult emotions, such as hostility and anxiety. A common subject for cartoons about displacement is the meek office clerk who has been refused a raise by his domineering boss. Instead of expressing his hostility toward his employer-which would be dangerous—he goes home and snaps irritably at his wife because dinner is a few minutes late.

In some instances the individual whose hostility has been aroused by an outside person or event may turn the hostility inward, engaging in exaggerated self-accusations and recriminations, and feel severe guilt and self-devaluation. Such intropunitive reactions do protect the individual from expressing dangerous hostility toward others, but may lead to depression and even to attempted or actual suicide.

Through a process of symbolic association, displacement may become extremely complex and deviant. Swearing is commonly used as a means of discharging pent-up feelings. Destructive criticism and vindictive gossip frequently are only disguised methods of expressing hostility. In a study of skydivers. Fens', and Epstein (1969) found that the fear and anxiety associated with skydiving was displaced onto other situations unrelated lo parachuting. It is as if the jumper were saying'. 'This feeling of fear that 1 have, it is of other things, not parachuting'" , This type of defensive reaction is referred to as "stimulus displacement": while the fear or anxiety remains, it is displaced ;o other situations.

8. Emotional Insulation. Here the individual reduces his emotional involvement in situations that are viewed as disappointing and hurtful,

Since many disappointments are encountered in life, people usually learn to keep their anticipations within limits. Until hoped for event occurs, their are careful to avoid premature celebrations or to let their hopes run too high. The boy who looks forward to a date with a very attractive girl may not let himself get too excited or enthusiastic for fear she may not like him. Such reactions are well ex- pressed in the common saying, "I didn't dare even hope."

In more extreme cases of long-continued frustration, as in chronic unemployment or prison confinement, many persons lose hope, become resigned and apathetic, and adapt themselves to a restricted way of life. Such "broken" Individuals thus protect themselves from the bitter hurt of sustained frustration
by becoming passive recipients of whatever life brings them. Similarly, in extreme forms of alienation the individual may become non- involved and apathetic, feeling Isolated, bewildered, and without hope. In certain mental disorders, too, such as chronic schizophrenia, there is often an extreme use of insulation that apparently protects the individual from emotional involvement in a life situation and world that have proved unbearably hurtful.

Up to a point, emotional insulation is an important means of defense against unnecessary disappointment and hurt. But life involves calculated risks, and most people are willing to take a chance on active participation. Emotional insulation provides a protective shell that prevents a repetition of previous pain, but it reduces the individual's healthy, vigorous participation in life.

9. Intellectualization (isolation). This defense mechanism is related to both emotional insulation and rationalization. Here the emotional reaction that would normally accompany a painful event is avoided by a rational explanation that divests the event of personal significance and painful feeling. The hurt over a parent's death is reduced by saying that he or she lived a full life or died mercifully with- out pain. Failures and disappointments are softened by pointing out that "it could have been worse." Cynicism may become a convenient means of reducing guilt feelings over not living up to one's ideals. Even the verbalization of good intentions, as in a glib admission that "I should work harder" or should be less selfish and more interested in the welfare of others," seems to cut off a good deal of guilt and relieve one of the necessity of positive action.

Intellectualization may be employed under extremely stressful conditions as well as in dealing with the milder stresses of everyday life. Bluestone and McGahee have found that this defense mechanism was often used by prisoners awaiting execution. They have de scribed the pattern as follows: " 'So they'll kill me; and that's that'-this said with a shrug of the shoulders suggests that the affect appropriate to the thought has somehow been isolated"

10. Undoing (atonement). Undoing is de- signed to negate or annul some disapproved thought, impulse, or act. Apologizing for wrongs, repentance, doing penance, and undergoing punishment are all forms of undoing.

Undoing apparently develops out of early training in which the child learns that once he apologizes, makes some restitution, or is punished for disapproved behavior, his misdeed is negated and he can start over with a clean slate and with renewed parental approval. As a consequence of such early learning, people commonly develop methods of atoning for or undoing their misdeeds—methods to avoid or ameliorate the punishment and self-devaluation that would otherwise result, The unfaithful husband may bring his wife presents; the unethical executive may give huge sums of money to charity.

The opportunity for confession and the assurance of forgiveness in some religions appear to meet a deep human need to be able to get rid of guilt feelings and make a new beginning. As an ego-defense mechanism, however. undoing operates on an unconscious level, The individual assuages feelings of guilt by making some kind of reparation, but without conscious awareness of the intent of the action.

11. Regression. Regression is a defense mechanism in which one returns to (lie use of reaction patterns long since outgrown. When a new addition to the family has seemingly undermined his status, a little boy may revert to bed-wetting and other infantile behavior that once brought him parental attention; the young bride may return home to her mother at the first sign of trouble.

Summary chart of ego-defense mechanisms

Denial of reality. Protecting self from unpleasant reality by refusal to perceive or face it
Fantasy. Gratifying frustrated desires by imaginary achievements
Repression. Preventing painful or dangerous thoughts from entering consciousness
Rationalization. Attempting to prove that one's behavior is "rational" and justifiable and thus worthy of self and social approval
Projection. Placing blame for difficulties upon others or attributing one's own unethical desires to others
Reaction formation. Preventing dangerous desires from being expressed by exaggerating opposed attitudes and types of behavior and using them as "barriers"
Displacement. Discharging pent-up feelings, usually of hostility, on objects less dangerous than those which initially aroused the emotions
Emotional insulation. Reducing ego involvement and withdrawing into passivity to protect self from hurt
Intellectualization (isolation). Cutting off affective charge from hurtful situations or separating incompatible attitudes by logic-tight compartments
Undoing. Atoning for and thus counteracting immoral desires or acts
Regression. Retreating to earlier developmental level ' involving less mature responses and usually a lower level of aspiration
Identification. Increasing feelings of worth by Identifying sell with person or institution of illustrious standing
Introjection. Incorporating external values and standards into ego structure so individual is not at their mercy as external threats
Compensation. Covering up weakness by emphasizing desirable ['ail or making up for frustration in one area by over gratification in another
Acting-out. Reducing the anxiety aroused by forbidden or dangerous desires by permitting their expression, young bride may return home to her mother  &the first sign of trouble.

The developmental process from dependence to independence is by no means an easy one. Consequently, it is not surprising that in the face of severe stress or new challenges, an individual may retreat to a less mature level of adjustment. We might expect something akin to regression to occur merely on the basis of the frequent failure of newly learned reactions to bring satisfaction. In looking for other, more successful modes of adjustment, it would be only natural to try out discarded pat- terns that previously had brought satisfaction-

However, regression is a more comprehensive reaction than merely trying out older modes of response when new ones have failed. For in regression the individual re- treats from reality to a legs demanding personal status—one that involves lowered aspirations and more readily accomplished satisfactions.
This point is well illustrated by Bettelheim's reference to a general "regression to infantile behavior" seen in nearly all the prisoners at the Nazi concentration camps of Dachau and Buchenwald.

"The prisoners lived, like children, only in the immediate present: . . . they became unable -o plan for the future or to give up immediate pleasure satisfactions to gain greater ones in the near future. . . - They were boastful, telling tales about what they had accomplished in their former lives, or how they succeeded in cheating foremen or guards, and how they sabotaged the work. Like children, they felt not at all set back or ashamed when it be came known that they had lied about their prowess."
 
In our discussion of the psychoses, we shall describe patients whose regression is so extreme that they are no longer able to dress, feed, or otherwise take care of themselves

12. Identification. Identification often lakes place in imitative learning, as when a boy identifies with his father and uses him as a model. Identification may also operate as a defense mechanism in enhancing feelings of worth and protecting the individual against self-devaluation.

The growing child soon learns that the way in which he is evaluated by others depends heavily on his Family and other group memberships. During adolescence and adulthood, the mechanism of identification is expanded to include a wide range of persons and groups.
Not only does society evaluate the individual in the light of his group memberships, but he comes to evaluate himself in the light of them. Students may identify with the college they attend, and many employees identify with the power and prestige of the company for which they work. By doing so, they take as their own some of the desirable attributes of the groups to which they belong. Particularly for persons who feel basically inferior, such identifications may have important supportive and defensive value.

When feelings of adequacy and worth are. based too heavily on identification with others,however, the individual becomes highly vulnerable to stress situations in which such identifications prove devaluating, for example, when the values and behavior of the group prove disillusioning, when the group suffers humiliation, or when the group is rele- gated to low social status. In such cases, the individual's identifications lead to self-devaluation rather than to self-enhancement. This is one reason it is difficult for an athletic coach to hold his job when his team loses consistently.

13.Introjection is closely related to identification. As a defense reaction it involves the acceptance of others' values and norms as one's own even when they are contrary to one's previous assumptions. After revolutions leading to dictatorial forms of government, for example, many people interject the new values and beliefs as a protection for themselves. By internalizing the socially pre- scribed values and norms, they can then trust themselves to avoid behavior that would brine social retaliation and punishment.

In describing the use of intoreject ion under extreme conditions;, it is again useful to refer to the experiences of Bettelheim at the Nazi concentration camps of Dachau and Buchenwald- Under the cruel and insidious camp experiences, previous values and identifications were broken down and new norm'; were introjected—Nazi norms.

"A prisoner had reached the final  stage of adjustment to the camp situation his personality so as to accept as his own the value of the Gestapo. ... old prisoners were sometimes instrumental in getting rid of the until, in this making a feature of Gestapo ideology a feature of their own behavior."

Introjection has been referred to as "identification with the aggressor" and is a defensive reaction that seems to follow the principle. " you can't beat 'em, join 'em." However, it is evident that inrojection may lead to seriously distorted and maladaptive behavior.

14. Compensation. Compensatory reactions are defenses against feelings of inferiority and inadequacy growing out of real or imagined personal defects or weaknesses, as well as out of the individual's inevitable failures and setbacks. Such reactions may take. many forms and may represent constructive, deliberate, task-oriented behavior, as in the case of an individual who attempts to overcome a physical handicap through increased effort and persistence- Demosthenes, the great orator, had to overcome early stuttering, and Wilma Rudolph, crippled and unable to walk until she was eight years old. became an Olympic track winner. Compensatory reactions of this type may be a deciding factor in success, as biographers are quick to point out,

More commonly, compensatory reactions are indirect; there is an attempt to substitute for the defect in some way or to draw attention away from it. The physically unattractive boy or girl may develop an exceptionally pleasing personality, the puny boy may turn from athletics to scholarship, and the mediocre nobody may become the Grand Imperial Potentate of some secret order. Much of the cosmetics industry has developed ground minimizing  undesirable facial features and emphasizing desirable ones.

15. Acting out. Acting out is a reaction in which the individual reduces the anxiety and tension associated with dangerous desires by actually permitting their expression. For ex- ample, a person who feels mistreated and dis- criminated against may lash out in physical violence against those viewed as responsible. Often the damage or destruction of property, as in instances of vandalism, appears to be serving this function.

All of us have probably experienced times of acute conflict or stress when tension and anxiety have built up to such a level that almost any action that would "get it over with" is welcome. Soldiers under the stress of waiting have been known to leave their relatively safe  shelter and blindly attack the enemy. But al- though such acting-out behavior may momentarily reduce tension and anxiety, it is obviously not well designed to deal effectively with
the stress situation eliciting the anxiety. Under most circumstances acting out is not feasible except for those who have relatively weak reality and value controls; most people are deterred not only by their values but by the likelihood of social disapproval, punishment, personal injury, or other aversive results.

Evaluation of ego-defense mechanisms. These defense mechanisms are ordinarily used in combination, rather than singly, and often they are combined with task-oriented behavior- Because they are essential for softening failure, alleviating anxiety and hurt, and protecting one's feelings of adequacy and worth, we may consider them to be normal adjustive reactions unless they seriously interface with the effective resolution of stress situations. Both the "positive" and "negative" functions of such defenses have been weli illustrated in an investigation of the ego defenses used by thirty hospitalized women who were awaiting the outcome of breast tumor biopsy. These researchers found the defense mechanisms of denial and rationalization to be highly effective in coping with anxiety, particularly when used in combination. They also found, however, that many of the women who allayed their anxieties with these defenses did not seek early enough medical help.

In summary, it may be emphasized that these defense mechanisms are, in the main, learned; they are designed to deal with inner hurt, anxiety, and self-devaluation; they oper- ate on relatively automatic and habitual levels; and they typically involve some measure of self-deception and reality distortion.

Decompensation under excessive stress
When the individual's coping behavior fails to deal effectively with the stress situation, there is a lowering of integrated functioning 'and eventually a breakdown of the system. This lowering of integration is referred to as de- compensation. Whether stress becomes "excessive" depends, of course, not only on the nature of the adjustive demand but also on the individual's available resources for coping with it. Decompensation has been observed on biological, psychological, and group levels.

Biological decompensation. A model that helps explain the course of biological decompensation under excessive stress has been advanced by Selye (1956, 19G9) in his formulation of the general adaptation syndrome. Selye found that the body's reaction to sustained and excessive stress typically occurs in three major phases: (a) alarm and mobilization—representing a general call to arms of the body's defensive forces; (b) stage of resistance—in
which biological adaptation is optimal in terms of bodily resources; and (c) exhaustion and disintegration -in which bodily resources are depleted and the organism loses its abilily to resist so that further exposure to the stress can lead to disintegration and death.

Where decompensation does not run its en- tire course and result in the death of the organism, maintenance mechanisms attempt to repair damage and reorganize normal function. If the stress has resulted in extensive damage, this restorative process is often a matter of reorganizing "remaining part' and
resources," but there >s n permanent lowering of the previous level of integration and functioning.

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