ry sexual desires against which they are crusading.4. Projection disguises threatening impulses by attributing them to others. Thus, "He hates me," may be a projection of the actual feeling, "I hate myself." According to Freudian theory, racial prejudice may be the result of projecting one's own unacceptable impulses or characteristics onto members of another group.5. The familiar mechanism of rationalization allows people to unconsciously generate self-justifying explanations to hide from the real reasons for certain actions. Thus students who fail to study may rationalize, "All work and no play makes Jill a dull person."6. Displacement diverts one's sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more psychologically acceptable object than the one that aroused them. For example, a student upset about a bad grade may snap at their roommate.7. Sublimation is the transformation of unacceptable impulses into socially valued motivations. Sublimation is therefore socially adaptive and may even be a wellspring for great cultural and artistic achievements. Freud suggested the da Vinci's paintings of Madonnas were a sublimation of his longing for intimacy with his mother, from whom he was separated at a very young age.Although Freud was known to change his mind, he was deeply committed to his ideas and principles, even in the face of harsh criticism. Although controversial, his ideas attracted followers who formed a dedicated inner circle. From time to time, sparks would fly and a member would leave or be outcast. Even the ideas of the outcasts, however, reflected Freud's influence.Erik Erikson was one of these outcasts. He agreed with Freud that development proceeds through a series of critical stages. But he believed the stages were psychosocial, not psychosexual. Erikson also argued that life's developmental stages encompass the whole life span According to Erikson, a crisis is equivalent to a turning point in life, where there is the opportunity t...
