In the first definitive book on defence mechanisms, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence (1936), Anna Freud enumerated the ten defence mechanisms that appear in the works of her father, Sigmund Freud: repression, regression, reaction formation, isolation, undoing, projection, introjection, turning against one's own person, reversal into the opposite, and sublimation or displacement. You sublimate this energy into becoming a successful business owner and leader. For instance, you might find yourself with damaged relationships and a reputation as a hothead. He believed that individual uses defense mechanism consciously or unconsciously as a way to deflect anxiety and to cover up feelings that affects self-esteem. Sigmund Freud first coined the term sublimation after reading ‘The Harz Journey’ by Heinrich Heine. This is a preview of subscription content. This permits us to focus on our affairs without being distracted by every impulse that arises, and without having to act on those impulses. Consider what might happen if you are overcome with anger. This study examined longitudinal changes in coping and defense mechanisms in an age- and gender-stratified sample of 392 European American adults. Imagine that you get in an argument with your next-door neighbor. While we sometimes might be able to see how our negative feelings can drive us to act in certain ways, we are often very much unaware of such things. Sublimation (Defense Mechanism) January 2016; DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1430-1. You could also funnel or redirect the feelings into music, art, or sports. In order to deal with these negative emotions, you begin writing poetry. Freudian defense mechanisms and empirical findings in modern social psychology. The ego must mediate between the primal urges of the id, the moralistic standards of the superego, and the realistic demands of reality. Sublimation is a defense mechanism—an unconscious psychological defense that reduces the anxiety that may result from unacceptable urges or harmful stimuli.. Sublimation is a defense mechanism that an individual may use to channel those unacceptable feelings and urges into something harmless and possibly even productive and beneficial. Sigmund Freud, from psychoanalysis, was one of the main defenders of defense mechanisms. As noted below, recent evidence – both experimental and correlational – has supported the existence of sublimation as a defense mechanism and has identified cultural variation in its prevalence. Rather than simply acting out on urges, the ego forces us to deal with these desires in ways that are more realistic. Sublimation is considered one of the most mature defense mechanisms, and Freud believed that only a minority of people were capable of regularly making use of it. That’s because people who rely on it choose to redirect strong emotions or feelings into an object or activity that is appropriate and safe. Finally, the superego is the component of personality that is made up of all the morals, rules, standards, and values that we have internalized from our parents and culture. Kim E, Zeppenfeld V, Cohen D. Sublimation, culture, and creativity. This defense mechanism can actually end up having a positive effect on your health and wellness. Sublimation is the process of diverting your feelings about the negative self-concepts that you have of yourself or others into more socially acceptable activities.For example, if you generally hate people, then you might be an aggressive environmental activist, an aggressive political activist, or join a fighting army. These activities may or may not be related to the thing they are insecure about. Religion, the forbidden, and sublimation. This is one example of how sublimation can transform negative impulses into behaviors that are less damaging and even productive. You feel fearful that you might lose your job, but you decide to walk home from work in order to think and release your frustrations. Cohen, D., Kim, E., & Hudson, N. W. (2014). Freud's idea of sublimation originated while he was reading the story of a man who tortured animals as a child and later went on to become a surgeon. Rather than act on these unacceptable urges, you channel your feelings into doing projects around the yard. Sublimation defense mechanism examples. Sublimation in psychology is a defense mechanism where negative urges and impulses are channelled into socially accepted behaviour. There is no maladaptive form of sublimation. 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