Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In psychology, reaction formation is a defense mechanism in which a person unconsciously replaces an unwanted or anxiety-provoking impulse with its opposite, often expressed in an exaggerated or showy way.
Reaction formation is a defense mechanism in which people express the opposite of their true feelings, sometimes to an exaggerated extent. For instance, a man who feels insecure...
Reaction formation is a psychological defense mechanism in which a person adopts behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs that are opposite to their true feelings or desires, often to cope with anxiety or internal conflicts.
In psychoanalytic theory, reaction formation (German: Reaktionsbildung) is a defense mechanism in which emotions, desires and impulses that are anxiety-producing or unacceptable to the ego are mastered by exaggeration of the directly opposing tendency.
Reaction formation, which Anna Freud called “believing the opposite,” is a psychological defense mechanism in which a person goes beyond denial and behaves in the opposite way to which he or she thinks or feels.
Why do people behave this way? According to Freud, they are using reaction formation as a defense mechanism to hide their true feelings by behaving in the exact opposite manner.
Reaction formation, in the field of psychoanalysis, a defense mechanism wherein an anxiety-producing impulse is replaced by an opposite idea or behaviour. Reaction formation was first conceptualized by Austrian-born British psychoanalyst Anna Freud; it was one of 10 types of defense mechanisms.
Reaction formation is a neurotic level defense that protects the individual from emotional conflicts and internal or external stressors by substituting threatening or unwanted thoughts or feelings with their diametrical opposite.
In brief, reaction formation is an unconscious psychological defense mechanism aimed to reduce anxiety about an internalized drive, belief, feeling, or behavior which is manifested by an overt behavior or stance that is the direct opposite [1].
The definition of “reaction formation” provided on vocabulary.com is “a defense mechanism in which a person unconsciously develops attitudes and behavior that are the opposite of unacceptable repressed desires and impulses and serve to conceal them.”