Defence Mechanisms: IGCSE Psychology Definition

Written by: Claire Neeson

Reviewed by: Raj Bonsor

Published

5 February 2025

Last updated

5 February 2025

Contents

What are defence mechanisms?

In IGCSE Psychology, defence mechanisms are unconscious psychological strategies employed by individuals to cope with anxiety and protect the ego from distressing thoughts and feelings.

These mechanisms are a crucial concept in psychoanalytic theory, originally proposed by Sigmund Freud, and are relevant to students studying IGCSE Psychology as they explore how people manage internal conflicts and external pressures. Common examples include repression, where distressing memories are pushed out of conscious awareness; denial, which involves refusing to accept reality; and projection, which consists of attributing one's own undesirable traits to others.

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Author

Reviewer

Author: Claire Neeson

Expertise: Psychology Content Creator

Claire has been teaching for 34 years, in the UK and overseas. She has taught GCSE, A-level and IB Psychology which has been a lot of fun and extremely exhausting! Claire is now a freelance Psychology teacher and content creator, producing textbooks, revision notes and (hopefully) exciting and interactive teaching materials for use in the classroom and for exam prep. Her passion (apart from Psychology of course) is roller skating and when she is not working (or watching 'Coronation Street') she can be found busting some impressive moves on her local roller rink.

Author: Raj Bonsor

Expertise: Psychology & Sociology Content Creator

Raj joined Save My Exams in 2024 as a Senior Content Creator for Psychology & Sociology. Prior to this, she spent fifteen years in the classroom, teaching hundreds of GCSE and A Level students. She has experience as Subject Leader for Psychology and Sociology, and her favourite topics to teach are research methods (especially inferential statistics!) and attachment. She has also successfully taught a number of Level 3 subjects, including criminology, health & social care, and citizenship.

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