Open AccessCOGNITIVE ORIENTATION AND DEFENSE MECHANISMS 1
Author(s) -
Kreitler Hans,
Kreitler Shulamith
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
ets research bulletin series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2333-8504
pISSN - 0424-6144
DOI - 10.1002/j.2333-8504.1969.tb00402.x
Subject(s) - psychology , denial , cognition , rationalization (economics) , social psychology , variables , cognitive psychology , clinical psychology , statistics , mathematics , psychotherapist , philosophy , epistemology , neuroscience
The purpose of these studies was to determine whether beliefs measured along four cognitive variables–Norms, General Beliefs, Beliefs about Self and Goals–are related to behaviors corresponding to the defense mechanisms of rationalization, denial and projection. Study I reports the construction of a questionnaire of beliefs and the testing of its adequacy in terms of interrelations between the scores, homogeneity, reliability and validity. Study II describes three behavioral measures of defenses, administered after a series of frustrations, and provides data confirming the hypothesis that only scores representing the distributions of beliefs along all cognitive variables, but not each cognitive variable separately nor an overall distribution of beliefs regardless of variables, are predictive of behavior.