|
| | |
Reaction formation
Reaction formation A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, in which a person adopts affects, ideas, and behaviors that are the opposites of impulses harbored either consciously or unconsciously. For example, excessive moral zeal may be a reaction to strong but repressed asocial impulses.
RELATED TERMS--------------------------------------
Mechanism
The arrangement or association of the elements or parts of anything in relation to the effect they generate; the combination of mental processes by which an effect is generated.
SIMILAR TERMS--------------------------------------
Reactive arthritis
Arthritis resulting from infection elsewhere in the body. i.e. there is no infection in the joint. The commonest type is HLA B27-related and may follow certain types of bowel or genitourinary infection.
Reactive hypoglycemia
A fall in blood sugar which causes symptoms during the period following meals. Simply put, the body has trouble braking the secretion of insulin after a meal, resulting in the blood sugar dropping further than it should. Reactive hypoglycemia is different from spontaneous hypoglycemia, which is not assoicated with meal ingestion. Reactive hypoglycemia generally has a benign prognosis.
PREVIOUS AND NEXT TERMS--------------------------------------
Rivalry
When two different images are presented to the two eyes simulataneously, a mosaic-like percept can be obtained, in which different regions of the image correspond to left and right eye images.
Rod
Photoreceptor for dim light conditions. Achromatic, lower acuity and temporal resolution than cones, outnumber cones 20 to 1. Rod system is convergent (many rods target one bipolar cell). See also Cone.
Reniform
Shaped like a kidney.
Resilient
Having the ability to return to an original shape after having been compressed or deformed.
Rationalization
A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, in which an individual attempts to justify or make consciously tolerable by plausible means, feelings or behavior that otherwise would be intolerable. Not to be confused with conscious evasion or dissimulation. See also projection.
Reaction formation
Reality principle
In psychoanalytic theory, the concept that the pleasure principle, which represents the claims of instinctual wishes, is normally modified by the demands and requirements of the external world. In fact, the reality principle may still work on behalf of the pleasure principle but reflects compromises and allows for the postponement of gratification to a more appropriate time. The reality principle usually becomes more prominent in the course of development but may be weak in certain psychiatric illnesses and undergo strengthening during treatment. reality testing The ability to evaluate the external world objectively and to differentiate adequately between it and the internal world. Falsification of reality, as with massive denial or projection, indicates a severe disturbance of ego functioning and/or of the perceptual and memory processes upon which it is partly based.
Reciprocal inhibition
In behavior therapy, the hypothesis that if anxiety-provoking stimuli occur simultaneously with the inhibition of anxiety (e.g., relaxation), the bond between those stimuli and the anxiety will be weakened.
Regression
Partial or symbolic return to earlier patterns of reacting or thinking. Manifested in a wide variety of circumstances such as normal sleep, play, physical illness, and in many mental disorders.
Reinforcement
The strengthening of a response by reward or avoidance of punishment. This process is central in operant conditioning.
Repetition compulsion
In psychoanalytic theory, the impulse to reenact earlier emotional experiences. Considered by Freud to be more fundamental than the pleasure principle. Defined by Jones in the following way: "The blind impulse to repeat earlier experiences and situations quite irrespective of any advantage that doing so might bring from a pleasure-pain point of view."
We thank you for using the Health Dictionary to search for Reaction formation. If you have a better definition for Reaction formation than the one presented here, please let us know by making use of the suggest a term option. This definition of Reaction formation may be disputed by other professionals. Our attempt is to provide easy definitions on Reaction formation and any other medical topic for the public at large.This dictionary contains 25007 terms. |
|
|
