reaction formation

[ree-ak-shuhn fawr-mey-shuhn]

noun

Psychoanalysis, Psychology.

1. a defense mechanism in which a repressed impulse is expressed through behavior that is in direct opposition.

   An inferiority complex manifesting as narcissistic personalty disorder is a classic reaction formation.

reaction formation

noun

1. psychoanal a defence mechanism by which a person at a conscious level condemns a repressed wish: thus, a latent homosexual may denounce homosexuality

Word History and Origins

Origin of reaction formation¹

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

Sigmund Freud referred to projection, sublimation, reaction formation, displacement—all tools of self-distancing from problems that touch the ego too profoundly.

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All the time, he was talking about denial, repression, splitting, reaction formation and ego-defense mechanisms.

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Now we know from neuropsychology that burning ambition in later years represents a reaction formation to infantile bed wetting.

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Only now and then have we found in the dream traces of reaction formations, as, for instance, the tenderness toward friend R. in the "uncle dream."

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But in general it is necessary to separate from each other sublimation and reaction formation as two diverse processes.

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