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Anger and the Use of Defense Mechanisms in College Students
Author(s) -
Cramer Phebe
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1991.tb00767.x
Subject(s) - anger , thematic apperception test , psychology , identification (biology) , rorschach test , projection (relational algebra) , aggression , defence mechanisms , clinical psychology , typology , social psychology , developmental psychology , chemistry , biochemistry , botany , history , archaeology , algorithm , computer science , gene , biology
It was hypothesized that experimentally induced anger would result in an increased use of defense mechanisms in college students. As predicted from the theory of defense mechanism development, the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) stories of angered students showed a higher level of use of projection and identification, and the use of these defenses was significantly correlated with the presence of aggressive content in the stories. The results were consistent with previous studies in showing that the predominant defenses of late adolescents are projection and identification, and that men use more projection than women.