Abstract:

Eighty-five participants were recruited for this research study, investigating the relationship between stress and defense mechanism use. The stressor used was critical feedback, and the defenses assessed were denial, projection, and identification. The purpose of this research was to replicate Cramer's (1991a) findings of increased defense use following criticism using improved methodology, and explore the repressive coping style and gender as potential moderators of the relationship between criticism and defense mechanism use.

The current study is based upon the theory that under normal conditions, one manages disruptive affect by using the most advanced defenses available to the individual. Theory also suggests that under conditions of moderate to high stress, one's use of defense mechanisms increases, and one regresses to using defenses from a lower level of development in order to cope with the increase in disruptive affect (Cramer & Gaul, 1988).

The current study examined the effects of criticism on the use of defense mechanisms in a 2 x 2 x 2 x2 experimental design. Semi-random matched assignment was used to place participants into the experimental (n = 43) and control (n = 42) groups. Participants were matched on gender, ethnicity, and coping style. The experimental manipulation consisted of providing experimental participants critical feedback regarding the creativity of their Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1943) stories. The Defense Mechanism Manual (Cramer, 1991b) was used to assess the use of defense mechanisms in TAT stories at pre-test and post-test. Statistical analysis for the primary hypothesis consisted of a (group x time) repeated measures MANOVA. A significant interaction effect would support the hypothesis that there were significant differences between experimental and control participants on defense mechanisms from pre-test to post-test. Significant interactions were followed up with (group x time) ANOVAs for each individual dependent variable. Paired samples t -tests were conducted when there were significant interaction effects on ANOVAs.

The important findings from Cramer's study were replicated in the present research. Overall, the results of this study provide additional support for the theory that defense mechanisms increase when an individual experiences stress. Participants given critical feedback significantly increased their use of denial (p = .01), immature projection (p < .01), and identification (p < .01) from pre-test to post-test, as compared to participants in the control group.

Repressors (n = 26) and non-repressors (low-anxious, high-anxious, defensive high-anxious; n = 59) were identified using median splits in the sample of this study using the method by Weinberger, Schwartz, and Davidson (1979). Analyses consisted of comparing repressors to the mean of the other three coping groups. Contrary to expectations, there was no significant difference between repressors and non-repressors in overall use of defense mechanisms, as indicated by a non-significant interaction effect on the MANOVA.

Additionally, only partial support was found for the theory that women (n = 54) would use more denial, as compared to men ( n = 31). With the transformed denial variable, the (group x time x gender) interaction was significant (p = .035). Paired t -tests showed a significant difference in denial from pre-test to post-test for women (p < .01); while significance was not shown from pre-test to post-test for men, indicating a within group increase in denial across time for women only. The means showed that women had greater increases in denial from pre-test to post-test, as compared to men, but only in the control group. Cramer's (1991a) finding that men in the experimental group had significantly higher post-test projection scores, as compared to women was not replicated in the current study.

One unexpected finding was that the interaction effect for the time by Asian ethnicity ANOVA was statistically significant (p = .01), indicating that change in denial scores from pre-test to post-test was different for Asian versus non-Asian participants. Follow-up paired t -tests indicated a within group increase in denial scores from pre-test to post-test in the non-Asian group only. It can be interpreted that Asian participants used less denial due to their self-critical focus and concern with having and maintaining face. This finding highlights the importance of future research that examines cultural differences in use of defense mechanisms.