Semester Fall 2020
Introduction to Psychology (PSY101)
Question :1
Read the given scenarios, identify the defense mechanism person is using and justify
Scenarios
Alina was so angry; she
missed her college bus, got
late and also forgot her
homework at home. Her
teacher warned and scolded
her. When she came back
home, she hit the wall and
chair, screamed on her
mom and slap her younger
brother.
Assignment No.01
Identification Justification
1*4 (4) 4*4 (16)
Displacement  In displacement, the
person channels their
emotion towards
another target. For e.g.,
kicking wall because
you cannot hit your
spouse.
 Displacement has
usually be observed
with anger whereby,
people using
displacement direct
their anger towards a
non-threatening target.
 This non-threatening
target could be a non-
living item such as a
toy, a can of a soft
drink or another person
whose reaction is not
threatening to the
person, for e.g., a child,
wife and/or younger
siblings.
 Alina used
displacement because
she could not say
anything to her teacher
when she scolds her.
Therefore, Alina
channeled her anger
towards her mom and
younger brother

Altamash failed in his exams
because he didn’t study. He
told his family that he failed
because his teacher didn’t
like him and couldn’t teach
him well.
Zarnish comes to a
counselor and she is having
suicide ideation and severe
depression. During the
session, counselor notices
that she began to refer
herself by a 7 year old girl
name, uses a language and
voice of a little girl and act
like a child.
because they were safer
targets.
Rationalization  In rationalization, the
person tries to reason
their way out of a
particular situation.
 The reasons given are
particularly targeted at the
society, situation or an
individual for the problem
faced, for e.g., taking a
bribe because the salary is
not enough.
 Rationalization involves
blaming others and letting
yourself of the actual
responsibility of the
problem.
 Altamash in the scenario
did not acknowledge his
own shortcomings but
rather blamed the teacher
for his failure.
Regression  In regression, the person
reverts/goes back to an
earlier stage of life in
order to cope with the
problem.
 The idea behind
regression is that the
person goes back to a
stage/point where things
were fine for them.
 This, going back to an
earlier stage may involve
the person becoming a
child
 The person also while
regressing tends to
indulge in childish
behavior (crying, tantrum
a childish voice, and etc)
 Zarnish, instead of facing
what is out there and to

Zeeshan don’t like his wife
and spend a lot of time away
from home with his
girlfriends. When he comes
home, he brings lot of gifts
for his wife and praises her.
avoid threatening
impulses, reverts to an
earlier stage of life
(childhood).
Sublimation/Reaction  In sublimation, the person
sublimes their personal
Formation feelings for a particular
person/scenario and rather
adhere to socially
acceptable behaviors.
 The person sublimating,
fights against their actual
feelings, which are
unacceptable and tend to
behave in ways which are
acceptable.
 For example, if a person
has a disliking for their
homeland. He knows that
this is unacceptable,
therefore, he tries
showing his liking for the
homeland by indulging in
patriotic activities.
 Zeeshan, similarly, in this
scenario, despite not
liking his wife and
spending time away from
her, suppresses his actual
feelings for his wife and
behave very lovingly
towards her.
OR
 In reaction formation, the
person, in order to avoid
the unacceptable
impulses, behaves in an
opposite manner.
 A person with reaction
formation realizes that the
feelings they are having
are wrong and that they
should not have such
feelings.
 For example, if a person
does not like his parents.
 He realizes that his
parents have done a lot
for him and that it is
wrong to dislike them.
This person takes care of
them excessively and
while completely denying
the feelings that he has.
 Zeeshan does not like his
wife and spends time
away from her with other
girls. In order to avoid the
impulses of disliking that
he has for his wife, he
behave in an entirely
opposite way.