Unit 5: Social Psychology and Personality

Repression

Pushing unpleasant memories to the unconscious which causes you to forget them.

Ex: parents hit you and you forget the memory of it happening.

Regression

Retreating into a immature stage of your life.

Ex: Kid who finally stopped wetting the bed moves and causes stress which makes him start wetting the bed again.

Reaction Formation

People’s ego causes them to act socially acceptable and switch their impulses

Ex: Boys on the playground say ‘I hate you’ when they like a girl so that they look cool infornt of their friends.

Projection

Disguising your own inappropriate or threatening impulses on others.

Ex: You want to breakup with your partner but don’t want to seem like a bad person so you say that the other person hates you instead.

Displacement

Shifting sexual or aggressive impulses to a less threatening person or object.

Ex: Getting yelled out by your boss and then taking it out on your spouse.

Sublimation

Replacing a socially unacceptable desire with a society acceptable one.

Ex: Like you hit people? Then be a boxer.

Rationalization

Self-justifying explanations for bad behavior.

Ex: Alcoholic claims they only drink socially