reaction formation
1
9.3
- noun
- /riˈækʃən fɔˈrmeɪʃən/
- Specialized
:
formación de reacción
- While acting out and projection can be interpreted as rooted in the destructive mode, reaction formation and intellectualization are dedicated to avoiding conflagrations and strife, thus maximizing the opportunity for the execution of the pleasure principle.
- reaction formation and intellectualization
Examples
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However, the DMI vignettes for this category are, in fact, limited to reaction formation as such.
Academic text (1998) -
When she expressed anger at her friend, it was likely a reaction formation disguising her actual feelings of envy.
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Most of them are probably using reaction formation to hide what they are.
Blog text (24) -
Kaufman identifies this as something we call in the psychological world as reaction formation, but he framed it as loving kindness.
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In the psychoanalytic literature, the creation of an emotion to help repress an existing emotion forms the basis of reaction formation.
Academic text (1998) -
By limiting itself to a reaction formation that creates an opposite emotion in defining reversal of affect, the DMI is thus consistent with the typical presentation of the defense mechanism in the literature.
Academic text (1998) -
This manner of vicarious involvement with disavowed sexuality had the earmarks of the defensive style of reaction formation, where intense opposition belies an underlying disposition too threatening to be faced.
Academic text (1995) -
In psychology, reaction formation occurs when someone's apparent attitude is a facade that hides their true feelings.
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His cheerful behavior towards the party guests was clearly a reaction formation to his feelings of loneliness.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a technical psychological term referring to a specific defense mechanism (adopting attitudes opposite to repressed desires). A B1 learner who knows only the basic senses of 'reaction' and 'formation' would likely understand it as ‘the formation of a reaction’ or a general process of reacting, not the specialized idiomatic meaning, so the meaning is not derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Reaction formation comes from a simple image: someone with a feeling they cannot accept will 'form' a strong reaction that is the exact opposite of that feeling. That's why reaction formation means 'acting the opposite to hide true feelings'.