The basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness is called:

The basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness is called:

• A. Regression
• B. Rorschach Inkblot Test
• C. Repression
• D. Self-Concept

Answer: (C)

Repression involves pushing anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories out of conscious awareness so they aren’t readily accessible. This automatic safeguarding helps a person avoid confronting distressing material, keeping it below the surface where it can still influence behavior without active awareness. It’s considered a basic defense mechanism because it operates largely on an unconscious level, shaping how others manage uncomfortable emotions. This differs from regression, which is about returning to earlier developmental behaviors under stress, and from the Rorschach Inkblot Test, which is a projective assessment used to explore personality, not a defense against anxiety. Self-concept refers to how a person perceives themselves, not a mechanism for concealing distress. So the described mechanism is repression.

Repression involves pushing anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories out of conscious awareness so they aren’t readily accessible. This automatic safeguarding helps a person avoid confronting distressing material, keeping it below the surface where it can still influence behavior without active awareness. It’s considered a basic defense mechanism because it operates largely on an unconscious level, shaping how others manage uncomfortable emotions.

This differs from regression, which is about returning to earlier developmental behaviors under stress, and from the Rorschach Inkblot Test, which is a projective assessment used to explore personality, not a defense against anxiety. Self-concept refers to how a person perceives themselves, not a mechanism for concealing distress. So the described mechanism is repression.