reaction formation
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Related to reaction formation: Defense mechanisms
reaction formation
n.
A psychological defense mechanism by which a repressed impulse is expressed in an opposite or contrasting behavior.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
reaction formation
n
(Psychoanalysis) psychoanal a defence mechanism by which a person at a conscious level condemns a repressed wish: thus, a latent homosexual may denounce homosexuality
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
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| Noun | 1. | reaction formation - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism in which a person unconsciously develops attitudes and behavior that are the opposite of unacceptable repressed desires and impulses and serve to conceal them; "his strict morality is just a reaction formation to hide his sexual drive" psychiatry, psychological medicine, psychopathology - the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders defence, defence mechanism, defence reaction, defense mechanism, defense reaction, defense - (psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires |
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