General Psychology Assignment on Defense Mechanisms

This psychology assignment explores defense mechanisms, stress coping strategies, and problem-solving approaches. The assignment includes an introduction to defense mechanisms, followed by personal examples of their use. It also details a situation where someone else employed a defense mechanism. Furthermore, the assignment covers stress coping strategies, providing examples of stressful situations and personal plans to manage them. Finally, it differentiates between problems solved through understanding and those solved mechanically. The assignment is supported by references to relevant literature.

General psychology

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Describe one situation in which you have used defence mechanism.....................................3
Explain one situation in which someone know was facing defence mechanism...................3
Write about stress coping strategy..........................................................................................3
Identify the problem which was solved mechanically and understanding.............................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Defence mechanism is considered to be an unconscious psychological mechanism with the
help of which the anxiety can be reduced which arises due to unfavourable and unacceptable
situation that an individual has to face (Fordham, M., 2018). Such mechanism may result in a
healthy or unhealthy behaviour which is dependent upon the frequency of the mechanism used.
With the help of these mechanisms an individual aims to manipulate the situation by avoiding it
or denying it. In this report various such mechanisms are used in different situation.
Describe one situation in which you have used defence mechanism
During my university course I appeared in my semester exam and for which I did not
appeared with the dedication which was required. Due to this I could not score much as I was
expecting and was very upset. To deal with this I blamed my professors and the question paper
that they did not guided us towards the topic in that detail as it was asked in the question paper.
This situation reflects the applicability of defence mechanism in which I refuse to accept the
reality (Gleser, G.C. and Ihilevich, D., 2020).
Explain one situation in which someone know was facing defence mechanism
While I and my friend were working on a project with the entire team we had to give a
presentation before the managers for the approval to proceed with the project but they denied and
they found some loopholes in our planning regarding various techniques. Due to this, my friend
got annoyed and angry as she felt they do same with our team every time but she could react
upon this in the office. To get over her anger and frustration she shouted at me and we had a
fight. Here, the displacement defence mechanism is used by her with which she could reduce the
impact of external event (Kramers-Olen, A., 2019).
Write about stress coping strategy
Various circumstances that threaten or perceived to threaten the well-being are: An
individual faces various situations which can either be favourable or unfavourable but can cause

stress to them. This ultimately has impact on their performance and some of such situation
causing stress is given below:
 Many times when I have to send some files urgently but my internet gets interrupted I
feel stressed as it may annoy the client due to delays.
 Limitation of the times for completing the various task causes stress but due to this I can
completed my work on time as I perform better under pressure.
 I used ATM and twice I entered wrong PIN and due to this I got stressed that if again I
will enter wrong PIN then my card will be blocked.
 I had to go for a meeting and for that I got a cab booked but it was delayed 5 minutes.
Due to this I got stressed because if I will get late then my boss will scold me in front of
the entire team. It impacted my behaviour with the cab driver even when I had sufficient
time.
 Once I ate something which was not good in taste and I didn’t felt good after having it.
This stressed me as I starting assuming that I may suffer from food poisoning etc.
 Once I made an online payment but I didn’t received any confirmation due to which I got
stressed.
Personal plan for coping with such stress: Due to stress the behaviour of the people get
affected as this leads to anger, frustration and affect ability to take effective decisions. To cope
up with this I formulated various strategies such as providing mental peace through meditation in
open air, listen music, to sit in a comfortable place and position (Babior, B.M., Kipnes, R.S. and
Curnutte, J.T., 2013). Along with this I try to avoid false sleep patterns, eating habits etc. with
which physiological failing can be reduced.
Identify the problem which was solved mechanically and understanding
There are various situations which are faced by an individual and they have to resolve them
with their understanding or with help of any mechanism. The situation that was solved by
understanding is: I went out for shopping and by mistake a lady took my packet instead of her
and later on refused to accept the same but I make understand with the help of invoice number
that packet belongs to me and then she agrees upon it. The situation that was solved
mechanically is: I was not comfortable with my dance partner as he was quite irritating and
annoying as he keep on taking breaks to check his phone. But I behaved friendly with him as the

competition was important and he dance well with reaction formation defence mechanism
(Vaillant, G.E., 2019).

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Babior, B.M., Kipnes, R.S. and Curnutte, J.T., 2013. Biological defense mechanisms. The
production by leukocytes of superoxide, a potential bactericidal agent. The Journal of
clinical investigation. 52(3). pp.741-744.
Fordham, M., 2018. Jungian psychotherapy: A study in analytical psychology. Routledge.
Gleser, G.C. and Ihilevich, D., 2020. An objective instrument for measuring defense
mechanisms. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 33(1). p.51.
Kramers-Olen, A., 2019. The defence of sane automatism and non-pathological criminal
incapacity in South Africa: an epistemological intersection between psychology and
law. South African Journal of Psychology. 49(2). pp.188-198.
Vaillant, G.E., 2019. Ego mechanisms of defense: a guide for clinicans and researchers.
American Psychiatric Pub.