Relationship Between Defense Mechanism And Implicit Self-esteem

Defense mechanism is not a new concept. Since had been proposed by S. Freud, this concept has a history of almost one hundred years. Defense mechanism has extended to many areas of psychology, including the core concept of mental health: self-esteem. The studies on relationships between defense mechanism and explicit self-esteem are profound. Implicit self-esteem is a recent study aspect. There are profound studies on explicit/implicit self-esteem discrepancy and the relationships with mental health. But there are few dept psychology perspectives on implicit self-esteem study. The relationship between defense mechanism and implicit self-esteem is not fully disscussed. Given such background, this study reviewed relevant theories on defense mechanism and implicit self-esteem, explored the relationship between defense mechanism and implicit self-esteem, and also studied on the result of explicit/implicit self-esteem discrepancy on defense mechanism.This study is composed by two sub-study. Study One applied a college student sample of 170 people, revised the Chinese version of Defense Style Questionnaire 35 (DSQ-35). This study excamed the psychometric traits of DSQ-35. The results showed that: psychometric indicators of DSQ-35 were satisfied. Result of DSQ-35 matched the adaptative hierarchy theory; and was significantly related with mental health criteria.Study Two applied a college student sample of 54 people. Using the DSQ-35 to measure defense mechanisms, Self-Esteem Scale (SES) to measure explicit self-esteem, Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measurement implicit self-esteem. Study Two explored the relationship between defense mechanism and implicit self-esteem, as well as explicit / implicit self-esteem discrepancy with defensive mechanisms. The results showed that, Mature defense mechanisms, Neurotic defense mechanism, and Immature defense mechanisms had different relationships with implicit self-esteem. Implicit self-esteem will increase while the Mature defense mechanism increases. Relationship with Neurotic defense mechanism showed a inverted U curve. Implicit self-esteem will drop when Immature defense mechanism increases. The results also show that, in accordance with the different combination of explicit/implicit self-esteem, there were five separate sets of data groups, each group's use of defense mechanism is significantly different with others. Individual who is high on both explicit and implicit self-esteem mainly uses Mature defense mechanism. Individual both low on explicit and implicit self-esteem mainly uses Immature defense mechanisms. And those in the middle are explicit/implicit self-esteem discrepant groups. Each of those three groups has unique patern to use Mature, Neurotic, Immature defense mechanism. The results also found that Neurotic defense mechanism to identify explicit/implicit self-esteem discrepancy.