Navin worked very hard to qualify the national level entrance exam. However on the day of exam he went blank and just walked out of the examination hall without attempting the paper. When asked about this by his parents and friends he totally refuses that such a thing took place. Navin's behaviour is an example of:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Denial
Option (1) Denial — Correct. In denial, a person totally refuses to accept reality, as someone suffering from HIV/AIDS may altogether deny the illness. Navin walked out of the examination hall, yet he totally refuses that such a thing took place; he does not accept an event that everyone knows happened.
Option (2) Repression — Incorrect. In repression, anxiety-provoking behaviours or thoughts are totally dismissed by the unconscious, and the person becomes totally unaware of the wish or desire. Navin is not unaware of a hidden wish; he is refusing to accept a fact.
Option (3) Reaction Formation — Incorrect. Here a person defends against anxiety by adopting behaviours opposite to her/his true feelings, as when strong sexual urges are channelled into religious fervour. Navin shows no behaviour opposite to his feelings.
Option (4) Rationalism — Incorrect. Rationalism is a school of philosophy which holds that reason, rather than the senses, is the main source of knowledge; it is not a defence mechanism. It should not be confused with rationalisation, the defence mechanism in which a person tries to make unreasonable feelings or behaviour seem reasonable, like the student who buys new pens after a poor examination and says, “I will do much better with these pens”. Even read as rationalisation, the option does not fit: Navin gives no excuse for walking out; he says it never happened.
NCERT (2025-26): “Ego Defence Mechanisms … Freud has described many different kinds of defence mechanisms. The most important is repression, in which anxiety-provoking behaviours or thoughts are totally dismissed by the unconscious. When people repress a feeling or desire, they become totally unaware of that wish or desire. Thus, when a person says, ‘I do not know why I did that’, some repressed feeling or desire is expressing itself. … In denial, a person totally refuses to accept reality. Thus, someone suffering from HIV/AIDS may altogether deny her/ his illness. In reaction formation, a person defends against anxiety by adopting behaviours opposite to her/his true feelings. A person with strong sexual urges, who channels her/his energy into religious fervour, presents a classical example of reaction formation. In rationalisation, a person tries to make unreasonable feelings or behaviour seem reasonable and acceptable. For example, when a student buys a set of new pens after doing poorly in an examination, s/he may try to rationalise her/his behaviour by asserting, ‘I will do much better with these pens’.…” |