ego defense.

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Here are the defense:

[QUOTE]
Denial of Reality: Protecting self from unpleasant reality by refusal to perceive it or face it.
Fantasy: Gratifying frustrated desires by imaginary achievements.
Repression: Preventing painful or dangerous thoughts from entering consciousness.
Rationalization: Attempting to prove that one's behavior is 'rational' and justifiable and thus worthy of self and social approval.
Projection: Placing blame for difficulties upon others or attributing one's own unethical desires to others.
Reaction Formation: Preventing dangerous desires from being expressed by adopting exaggerated opposed attitudes and types of behavior and using them as 'barriers'.
Displacement: Discharging pent-up feelings, usually hostility, on objects less dangerous than those which initially aroused the emotion.
Emotional Insulation: Reducing ego involvement and withdrawing into passivity to protect self from hurt.
Intellectualization: Cutting off affective charge from hurtful situations or separating incompatible attitudes by logic-tight compartments.
Undoing: Atoning for and thus counteracting immoral desires or acts.
Regression: Retreating to earlier developmental level involving less mature responses and usually a lower level of aspiration.
Identification: Increasing feelings of worth by identifying self with person or institution of illustrious standing.
Introjection: Incorporating external values and standards into ego structure so individual is not at their mercy as external threats.
Compensation: Covering up weakness by emphasizing desirable trait or making up for frustration in one area by over-gratification in another.
[/QUOTE]

With all the good of intellectualizing, is it nothing more but just a defense mechanism?
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@vectorcube,

"Ego, is not a dirty word." A song by the Skyhooks, around 1973-4, if my memory serves me correct. One of the best lines went something like,
"Some people keep their egos in a bottom draw, with records of Leonard Cohen."
I wouldn't say however that it is just a defense mechanism. Jealosy, is a strong front within an ego, not all of ego is a falsehood but perhaps a manouvering of pride. Sometimes ego is a show for acceptance. Different emotions trigger of varied sensations and while my jealosy will result from fear, yours might form from greed. Many people would be defensive about their posessions, not their desires.

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@urangutan,

well, the common perception is that a strong ego is like being a cocky A-hole. Technically specking, a strong ego means you invoke less defense mechanisms, and as such, one becomes more confident, and at home in the world. One feels a sense of control over the environment, and take complete control over one` s emotions.

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@vectorcube,

Given this list is there any thought process that isn't a coping mechanism?

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@vectorcube,

There was a time I broke my Business agent's back with a punch to the nose...He asked for it, and he done me wrong...I love that expression..In any event, I gave my life to my trade, and made many sacrifices for it; but when the Business Agent hurt me and hurt my prospect for further employment, I told him: You cross me again and I'll kick your ass...Feeling like things were winding down, he proceded to let his mouth write a check, and he said: Why wait??? I didn't...It cost me my trade, and my union membership; but instead of taking an injury and getting all irate, I did exactly what I said I would...He was broke, I was arrested, and you know the rest... But too often we can't get the chicken bone out of our backs...We expect everyone else to defend us when we will not dare defend ourselves...Some times we have way to much of law, and order and not near enough of mutual respect and justice...

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@GoshisDead,

GoshisDead;78867 wrote:

Given this list is there any thought process that isn't a coping mechanism?

You ought to ask why it is so short. Life is hard in general, so there ought to be more defense mechanisms.

---------- Post added 07-23-2009 at 12:27 AM ----------

Fido;78906 wrote:

There was a time I broke my Business agent's back with a punch to the nose...He asked for it, and he done me wrong...I love that expression..In any event, I gave my life to my trade, and made many sacrifices for it; but when the Business Agent hurt me and hurt my prospect for further employment, I told him: You cross me again and I'll kick your ass...Feeling like things were winding down, he proceded to let his mouth write a check, and he said: Why wait??? I didn't...It cost me my trade, and my union membership; but instead of taking an injury and getting all irate, I did exactly what I said I would...He was broke, I was arrested, and you know the rest... But too often we can't get the chicken bone out of our backs...We expect everyone else to defend us when we will not dare defend ourselves...Some times we have way to much of law, and order and not near enough of mutual respect and justice...

So how do you make a living now?

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@vectorcube,

In a venn diagram, "coping mechanism" would only slight overlap "intellectualising". For me anyway. Admittedly, I like to logically structure my thoughts because it's both pragmatic and genuinely fun.

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@vectorcube,

vectorcube;78927 wrote:

You ought to ask why it is so short. Life is hard in general, so there ought to be more defense mechanisms.

---------- Post added 07-23-2009 at 12:27 AM ----------

So how do you make a living now?

I had my time in...They could not mess with my retirement...And they did me a favor really...I enjoyed it enough that I might have worked till I dropped, and by putting me out like the dog I am, they saved me many thousands of dollars in dues which I would have willingly paid to say I was a union Ironworker... Now, I just say I never was an Ironworker, and my pension is pay for thirty years of torture, instead of me willingly beating myself to death to do a good job...What we are, is what we do, and no one likes to see that taken away for a lie... And that was what it was about... But the guy who told the lie did so for drugs, and I should have just let him have his drugs, and kept my mouth shut..I was trying to save his job, and save his life, but he told a lie, and people wanted to believe him because of who I am... Here is how that part of the story ended: I did not stop that young man from using drugs, because I was stopped in my tracks for trying... When that kid had spun out all his excuses and options, and I was not there to stop him, he spent his last dollars on a bottle of whiskey, and a motel room, and after a few, and before he lost his courage, he shot himself...I would have accepted an apology...

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@Fido,

Fido;79452 wrote:

I had my time in...They could not mess with my retirement...And they did me a favor really...I enjoyed it enough that I might have worked till I dropped, and by putting me out like the dog I am, they saved me many thousands of dollars in dues which I would have willingly paid to say I was a union Ironworker... Now, I just say I never was an Ironworker, and my pension is pay for thirty years of torture, instead of me willingly beating myself to death to do a good job...What we are, is what we do, and no one likes to see that taken away for a lie... And that was what it was about... But the guy who told the lie did so for drugs, and I should have just let him have his drugs, and kept my mouth shut..I was trying to save his job, and save his life, but he told a lie, and people wanted to believe him because of who I am... Here is how that part of the story ended: I did not stop that young man from using drugs, because I was stopped in my tracks for trying... When that kid had spun out all his excuses and options, and I was not there to stop him, he spent his last dollars on a bottle of whiskey, and a motel room, and after a few, and before he lost his courage, he shot himself...I would have accepted an apology...

Hello Fido. What was your job as an iron worker, if you don't mind me asking? :perplexed:

William

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@William,

William;79461 wrote:

Hello Fido. What was your job as an iron worker, if you don't mind me asking? :perplexed:

William

Ironwork is a job...Mostly I was a journeyman, which is a French Norman word for day labor... I did a lot of welding, which saved my back at the expense of my lungs and eyes; but I did my share of bull work... One bolt per hole is easy to manage...Are you done yet, is easy to manage...Get up on it is easy to manage if you are an ironworker... The hardest part is getting there...They want to drive down the cost of labor by having 100% tie off... The fact is that few people can do it, and you might tie a big balloon on the best mechanic in the world and if he isn't cut out for ironwork, he won't be there long...We; They build America, Union...
They are saying good bye to one great operating engineer in East Lansing today...The guy's name was Tom Boyd...He set a lot of iron, and he was a fellow biker... He did that cross country and moto cross on a vintage Husquavarna and was a winner of some national events...At 64 I hope I got better things to do than die, but he got his front tire stuck in a rut, and that was that for him...He went over the forks and went super man when he hit the ground...He was a good Roman, and he told them to pull the plug...The world is less professional without him...

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ego defense.

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