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Percept-Genetic Methodology

  • Chapter
The Concept of Defense Mechanisms in Contemporary Psychology

Abstract

Sigmund Freud’s original idea about the operation of defense (repression) is illustrated by Fig. 7.1. The percept-genetic tests described in this chapter are built on an analogous conception. Figure 7.2 shows that in these tests, a subliminal picture, eventually becoming supraliminal, is introduced as a threat to a hero figure, with whom the viewer is sup-posed to identify. How the viewer handles the subconscious anxiety generated by this situation, registered as bodily reactions, verbal reports, or drawings, forms the basis for the interpretation of these reactions as defensive.

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Authors
  1. Gudmund J. W. Smith
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  2. Uwe Hentschel
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Personality Psychology, University of Leiden, 2300 RB, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Uwe Hentschel Ph.D.

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Lund, S-22350, Lund, Sweden

    Gudmund J. W. Smith Ph.D.

  3. Center for Psychotherapy Research, D-70597, Stuttgart 70, Germany

    Wolfram Ehlers M.D.

  4. Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, 16802, University Park, PA, USA

    Juris G. Draguns Ph.D.

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Smith, G.J.W., Hentschel, U. (1993). Percept-Genetic Methodology. In: Hentschel, U., Smith, G.J.W., Ehlers, W., Draguns, J.G. (eds) The Concept of Defense Mechanisms in Contemporary Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8303-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8303-1_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-8305-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-8303-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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