PSY 0010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Reaction Formation, Self-Actualization, Homeostasis
Document Summary
Super ego: the mental system that reflects the internalization of cultural rules, mainly learned as parents exercise their authority. Ego: the component of personality, developed through contact with the external world, that enables us to deal with life"s practical demands. Id: the part of the mind containing the drives present at birth; the source of our bodily needs, wants, desires, and impulses, particularly our sexual and aggressive drives. Conflict between the id, ego, and superego causes anxiety. Defense mechanisms: unconscious coping mechanisms that reduce anxiety generated by threats from unacceptable impulses. Denial: distorts the cognition of reality and denies the existence of some emotionally significant part of reality: denying that you show signs of alcoholism, denying you are in a toxic relationship. Rationalization: supplying a reasonable-sounding explanation for unacceptable feelings and behavior to conceal one"s underlying motives of feelings. Projection: attributing one"s own threatening feelings, motives, or impulses to another person or group.
