PSY 130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Reaction Formation, Intellectualization, Psych
Document Summary
Reaction formation: by behaving in a manner contrary to our unconscious impulses, we hide from a threatening unconscious idea or encourage you to act. The us, a young woman who is constantly telling people how much she loves her mother could mask the mother"s deep implicit hate. People who militantly participate in crusades of antipornography may have a deep unconscious interest in pornography. It"s as if the idea is so inacceptable that the ego needs to show just how incorrect the notion is. How can a woman professing so much love for her mother really hate her deep within. Intellectualization: one way the ego approaches information that is harmful is to eliminate the emotional substance from the thinking before allowing it to become conscious. Using intellectualization that is, contemplating it in a purely rational, unemotional manner we can put difficult thoughts without anxiety into consciousness beforehand.
