following sections. Freud touched on each of these concepts at various places
in his works. However, descriptions of many of the defense mechanisms weredeveloped more completely by some of his followers. Among the later psy-
choanalysts who extended Freud ’s ideas about defense mechanisms was
Anna Freud, Sigmund’ s daughter.
Repression
Freud called repression “the cornerstone on which the whole structure of psy-
choanalysis rests ”(1914/1963, p. 116). It is clearly the most important of the
defense mechanisms. Repression is an active effort by the ego to push threat-
ening material out of consciousness or to keep such material from ever reach-
ing consciousness. For example, one night a boy sees his father physically
assault his mother. When later asked about the experience, the boy insists
he has never seen anything at all like that. He may not be lying. Instead, hemay have found the scene too horrifying to accept and therefore simply re-
pressed it out of consciousness. According to Freud, each of us uses repres-
sion, for we all have material in our unconscious mind we would rathernot bring into awareness. As efficient as this seems, it is not without
cost. Because repression is a constant, active process, it requires that the ego
constantly expend energy. Repressing a large number of powerful thoughtsand impulses leaves our ego with little remaining energy with which to
function. And without a strong ego, the battle for a stable personality can be
lost.
Sublimation
Unlike repression, which drains our ability to function, the more we use sub-
limation, the more productive we become. Thus psychoanalysts often refer to
sublimation as the only truly successful defense mechanism. When using sub-
limation , the ego channels threatening unconscious impulses into socially
acceptable actions. Aggressive id impulses can be sublimated by playing hockey
or football. In our society, aggressive athletes are often considered heroes and
rewarded for their actions. The sublimation is productive because the id isallowed to express its aggression, the ego doesn ’t have to tie up energy holding
back the impulses, and the athlete is admired for aggressive play.
Displacement
Like sublimation, displacement involves channeling our impulses to non-
threatening objects. Unlike sublimation, displaced impulses don ’t lead to so-
cial rewards. For example, as the result of mistreatment or abuse, a woman
might carry around a great deal of unconscious anger. If expressing that an-
ger toward her abuser is unacceptable or dangerous, she might instead direct
her emotions toward her coworkers or children. Although doing so can create
other problems, angry outbursts aimed at these less-threatening people may
protect unacceptable thoughts from conscious expression. Freud maintainedthat many of our apparently irrational fears, or phobias, are merely symbolic
displacements. He once speculated that a fear of horses expressed by a client ’s
son was really a displaced fear of the father.The Freudian Theory of Personality 47