DEFENSE MECHANISMS. SOME LESSONS FROM COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCES AND ETHOEXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

ABSTRACT

The current approach of psychological defenses claims that they are separate from negative emotions, initiated by them and motivated by their reduction. Our review of relevant findings from neurosciences and ethoexperimental literature suggests different conclusions: (a) that defenses are initiated by danger-signal processing; (b) that this processing primarily takes place at subcortical level: (c) that defense and alarm/arousal reactions are two different, although highly interactive components of anxiety and (d) that defense is motivated by subsequent safety signal and return to preferred activities, not by anxiety reduction. We consider that these are robust premises for a new conceptualization of defense mechanisms.

KEYWORDS: psychological defense, anxiety, cognitive neurosciences