Displacement
In psychology, displacement is an unconscious defense mechanism whereby the mind substitutes either a new aim or a new object for goals felt in their original form to be dangerous or unacceptable.
A term originating with Sigmund Freud, displacement operates in the mind unconsciously, its transference of emotions, ideas, or wishes being most often used to allay anxiety in the face of aggressive or sexual impulses.
Freud initially saw displacement as a means of dream-distortion involving a shift of emphasis from important to unimportant elements, or the replacement of something by mere illusion. Freud called this "displacement of accent."
Displacement of object: Feelings that are connected with one person are displaced onto another person. A man who has had a bad day at the office, comes home and yells at his wife and children, is displacing his anger from the workplace onto his family. Freud thought that when children have animal phobias, they may be displacing fear of their parents onto an animal.
Displacement of attribution: A characteristic that one perceives in oneself but seems unacceptable is instead attributed to another person. This is essentially the mechanism of psychological projection; an aspect of the self is projected (displaced) onto someone else. A person who hates someone because he is arrogant might be displacing his own trait onto that person. Freud wrote that people commonly displace their own desires onto God's will.
Bodily displacements: A genital sensation may be experienced in the mouth (displacement upward) or an oral sensation may be experienced in the genitals (displacement downward). Sexual attraction toward a human body can be displaced in sexual fetishism, sometimes onto a particular body part like the foot and armpits or at other times onto an inanimate fetish object.
Freud also saw displacement as occuring in jokes, as well as in neuroses -- the obsessional neurotic being especially prone to the technique of displacement onto the minute. When two or more displacements occur towards the same idea, the phenomenon is called condensation.
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Picture from Pixabay.
A term originating with Sigmund Freud, displacement operates in the mind unconsciously, its transference of emotions, ideas, or wishes being most often used to allay anxiety in the face of aggressive or sexual impulses.
Freud initially saw displacement as a means of dream-distortion involving a shift of emphasis from important to unimportant elements, or the replacement of something by mere illusion. Freud called this "displacement of accent."
Displacement of object: Feelings that are connected with one person are displaced onto another person. A man who has had a bad day at the office, comes home and yells at his wife and children, is displacing his anger from the workplace onto his family. Freud thought that when children have animal phobias, they may be displacing fear of their parents onto an animal.
Displacement of attribution: A characteristic that one perceives in oneself but seems unacceptable is instead attributed to another person. This is essentially the mechanism of psychological projection; an aspect of the self is projected (displaced) onto someone else. A person who hates someone because he is arrogant might be displacing his own trait onto that person. Freud wrote that people commonly displace their own desires onto God's will.
Bodily displacements: A genital sensation may be experienced in the mouth (displacement upward) or an oral sensation may be experienced in the genitals (displacement downward). Sexual attraction toward a human body can be displaced in sexual fetishism, sometimes onto a particular body part like the foot and armpits or at other times onto an inanimate fetish object.
Freud also saw displacement as occuring in jokes, as well as in neuroses -- the obsessional neurotic being especially prone to the technique of displacement onto the minute. When two or more displacements occur towards the same idea, the phenomenon is called condensation.
x----x
Picture from Pixabay.
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