Ina can no longer read the street signs, but she refuses to admit she needs glasses to drive. Which defense mechanism does this exemplify?

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The scenario presents Ina refusing to admit she needs glasses to drive even though she cannot read street signs, which points toward a specific defense mechanism in psychology.
Option 1: denial. This choice fits because denial involves rejecting the reality of a situation or refusing to acknowledge a distressing fact, such as recognizing the need for corrective lenses yet insisting everything is fine.
Option 2: displacement. This would involve shifting feelings from their true object of frustration to a safer or more acceptable target, which doesn’t describe Ina’s behavior of avoiding the admission itself.
Option 3: rationalization. Rationalization is about justifying or making excuses for unacceptable thoughts or actions after the fact, often using logical-sounding reasons; Ina’s stance here is not about offering reasons, but about refusing the admission altogether.
Option 4: rejection. Rejection is a more general term that can imply pushing away or dismissing something, but in psychological terms it’s not the commonly used label for this specific pattern of denying a truth about one’s own needs; denial is the more precise descriptor in this context.
In summary, the core feature of Ina’s response is the refusal to acknowledge a painful or inconvenient reality (needing glasses), which aligns with denial rather than the other mechanisms described, which involve shifting, justifying, or dismissing beliefs in different ways.

PSY 1003 (002) Ch. 11 Quiz

Ina can no longer read the street signs, but she refuses to admit she needs glasses to drive. Which defense mechanism does this exemplify?

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