All Topics  
Psychological repression

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Psychological repression
 
 
  Topics Psychological repression Topic Home

Psychological repression, or simply repression, is the psychological
Psychology

Psychology is an academic and applied science discipline involving the science study of human mental functions and behavior. Occasionally it also relies on symbolic hermeneutics and critical theory, although these traditions are less pronounced than in other social sciences such as sociology....
 act of excluding desires
Motivation

Motivation is the set of reasons that determines one to engage in a particular behavior. The term is generally used for human motivation but, theoretically, it can be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well....
 and impulse
Impulse

In classical mechanics, an impulse is defined as the integral of a force with respect to time. When a force is applied to a rigid body it changes the momentum of that body....
s (wishes, fantasies or feelings) from one's consciousness
Consciousness

Consciousness is a difficult term to define, because the word is used and understood in a wide variety of ways, so that it frequently happens that what one person sees as a definition of consciousness is seen by others as about something else altogether....
 and holding or subduing them in the unconscious
Unconscious mind

The Unconscious is a term invented by the 18th century German philosophy romanticism philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge....
. Since the popularization of Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalysis of psychology. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of Psychological repression and for creating the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for curing psychopathology through dialogue...
's work in psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers, which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behaviour....
, repression is now accepted as a common defense mechanism in everyday life.

Repressed memories
It is often claimed that traumatic
Psychological trauma

Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event. When that trauma leads to posttraumatic stress disorder, damage may involve physical changes inside the brain and to brain chemistry, which affect the person's ability to cope with Stress ....
 events are repressed, yet it appears that the trauma more often strengthens memories due to heightened emotional or physical sensations.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Psychological repression'
Start a new discussion about 'Psychological repression'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Psychological repression, or simply repression, is the psychological
Psychology

Psychology is an academic and applied science discipline involving the science study of human mental functions and behavior. Occasionally it also relies on symbolic hermeneutics and critical theory, although these traditions are less pronounced than in other social sciences such as sociology....
 act of excluding desires
Motivation

Motivation is the set of reasons that determines one to engage in a particular behavior. The term is generally used for human motivation but, theoretically, it can be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well....
 and impulse
Impulse

In classical mechanics, an impulse is defined as the integral of a force with respect to time. When a force is applied to a rigid body it changes the momentum of that body....
s (wishes, fantasies or feelings) from one's consciousness
Consciousness

Consciousness is a difficult term to define, because the word is used and understood in a wide variety of ways, so that it frequently happens that what one person sees as a definition of consciousness is seen by others as about something else altogether....
 and holding or subduing them in the unconscious
Unconscious mind

The Unconscious is a term invented by the 18th century German philosophy romanticism philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge....
. Since the popularization of Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalysis of psychology. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of Psychological repression and for creating the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for curing psychopathology through dialogue...
's work in psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers, which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behaviour....
, repression is now accepted as a common defense mechanism in everyday life.

Repressed memories


It is often claimed that traumatic
Psychological trauma

Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event. When that trauma leads to posttraumatic stress disorder, damage may involve physical changes inside the brain and to brain chemistry, which affect the person's ability to cope with Stress ....
 events are repressed, yet it appears that the trauma more often strengthens memories due to heightened emotional or physical sensations. (These sensations may also cause distortions, though human memory in general is filtered by layers of perception and incompletion). One problem from an objective research point of view is that a "memory" must be measured and recorded by a person's actions or conscious expressions, which may be filtered through current thoughts and motivations.

Despite the ability of some psychologists, such as Elizabeth Loftus
Elizabeth Loftus

Elizabeth F. Loftus is an United States psychologist and expert on human memory. She has conducted extensive research on the misinformation effect and the nature of Confabulation....
, to implant false memories in individuals, there is evidence that people can indeed forget painful memories from the past, although it is also possible for them to underestimate the degree to which they actually remember the events. However, due to ethical and methodological reasons—for example, a researcher cannot put an experimental group of people through a traumatic experience, and one could not prospectively secure a trauma-free control group, anyway—the information about repression that experimental research can provide is especially limited.

However, the repression of information chosen for consideration in the present or future - because it is viewed as aversive - has a powerful relationship to what will be drawn out of the unconscious to be made available for honest, conscious deliberation. This has an enormous amount of supporting research
Research

Research is defined as human activity based on intellectual application in the investigation of matter. The primary purpose for applied research is discovery , interpretation , and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe....
 in the area of cognitive dissonance theory
Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. The "ideas" or "cognitions" in question may include attitude and beliefs, and also the awareness of one's behavior....
 started in the 1950s by Leon Festinger
Leon Festinger

Leon Festinger , a prominent social psychology, responsible for the development of the theory of cognitive dissonance, social comparison theory, and the discovery of the role of propinquity in the formation of interpersonal tie as well as other contributions to the study of social network....
 among others.

Stages


In the Primary Repression phase, an infant learns that some aspects of reality are pleasant, and others are unpleasant; that some are controllable, and others not. In order to define the "self
Self (psychology)

The self is a key construct in several schools of psychology, broadly referring to the cognitive representation of one's identity. The earliest formulation of the self in modern psychology stems from the distinction between the self as I, the subjective knower, and the self as Me, the object that is known....
", the infant must repress the natural assumption that all things are equal
Equality of outcome

Equality of outcome or equality of condition is a form of egalitarianism which seeks to reduce or eliminate differences in material condition between individuals or households in a society....
. Primary Repression then is the process of determining what is self, what is other; what is good, and what is bad. At the end of this phase, the child can now distinguish between desires, fears, self, and others.

Secondary Repression begins once the child realizes that acting on some desires may bring anxiety
Anxiety

Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components. These components combine to create an unpleasant feeling that is typically associated with uneasiness, fear, or worry....
. This anxiety leads to repression of the desire. The threat of punishment related to this form of anxiety, when internalized becomes the "superego", which intercedes against the desires of the "ego
EGO

Ego is a Latin word meaning "I ", cognate with the Greek "??? " meaning "I " and may refer to:* Ego, super-ego, and id, a psycho-analytic concept of Sigmund Freud...
" without the need for any identifiable external threat.

Abnormal repression, or complex neurotic behavior
Neurosis

Neurosis , also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, is a term that refers to any mental imbalance that causes distress, but, unlike a psychosis or some personality disorders, does not prevent or affect rational thought....
 involving repression and the superego, occurs when repression develops and/or continues to develop, due to the internalized feelings of anxiety, in ways leading to behavior that is illogical, self-destructive, or anti-social.

A psychotherapist may try to reduce this behavior by revealing and re-introducing the repressed aspects of the patient's mental process
Mental function

Mental functions and cognitive processes are terms often used interchangeably to mean such functions or processes as perception, introspection, memory, creativity, imagination, Conception , belief, reasoning, volition, and emotion — in other words, all the different things that we can do with our minds....
 to his conscious awareness
Awareness

Awareness is a term referring to the ability to perceive, to feel, or to be Consciousness of Event, Object or Pattern, which does not necessarily imply understanding....
, and then teaching the patient how to reduce any anxieties felt in relation to these feelings and impulses.

See also

  • Regression
    Regression (psychology)

    Regression, according to psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, is a defense mechanism leading to the temporary reversion of the ego to an earlier stage of development rather than handling unacceptable impulses in a more adult way....
  • Reaction formation
    Reaction formation

    In psychoanalytic theory, reaction formation is a defensive process in which anxiety-producing or unacceptable emotions and impulses are mastered by exaggeration of the directly opposing tendency....
  • Projection
    Psychological projection

    In psychology, psychological projection is a defense mechanism where a person's personal attributes, unacceptable or unwanted thoughts, and/or emotions are ascribed onto another person or people....
  • Rationalization
    Rationalization (psychology)

    In psychology and logic, rationalization is the process of constructing a logical justification for a belief, decision, action or lack thereof that was originally arrived at through a different mental process....
  • Displacement
    Displacement (psychology)

    In psychology, displacement is an unconscious defense mechanism whereby the mind redirects Affect from an object felt to be dangerous or unacceptable to an object felt to be safe or acceptable....
  • Bad faith (existentialism)
    Bad faith (existentialism)

    Bad faith is a philosophy concept first coined by existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre to describe the phenomenon wherein one denies one's total freedom, instead choosing to behave as an inert object....