Defense Mechanisms

Frued came up with the original idea of defense mechanism. Things we may have done before to protect ourselves from things such as bad news, compliments, or uncertain situations.

Displacement Students may use defense mechanisms such as displacement to substitute a target they are upset with and present their anger towards another target who may be more vulnerable instead of taking out on the actual person who upset them. For example, a student gets points deducted for their behaviors in the hallway. The student is upset with the teacher for correcting their behavior and so the student decides to kick the student who is walking in front of them instead of kicking the the person they are upset with. In this case, they would be displacing their anger with the teacher by substituting the target, which is another child.

Educators can support students’ learning by helping students identify the proposed behaviors and assist students in determining coping strategies. Teachers can teach coping strategies and visualization techniques to alleviate some of the issues children may be experiencing in a positive way. School counselors are also a great resource and may be able to encourage lessons which include role play and offer support to staff and students.

Compensation A defense mechanism that people use when they feel like they are deficient in a particular area, which may be real or imagined. For example, if a student thinks they are not good academically they may try to excel or compensate their feelings by overcompensating in sports.

Resource for the Classroomhttp://mlkpe.cmswiki.wikispaces.net/file/view/8.MEH.2.1.pdf/484258896/8.MEH.2.1.pdf