Investigating Behavioral and Psychophysiological Reactions to Conflict-Related and Individualized Stimuli as Potential Correlates of Repression

[摘要] Background: Repression is considered as a central defense mechanism in psychodynamic theory. It refers to the process by which “unbearable” mental contents (e.g., those related to internal conflicts) are kept out of consciousness. The process of repression is probably closely related to concepts of emotion regulation derived from a different theoretical background. This relationship is particularly relevant because it relates repression to current research in the affective neurosciences as well as to experimental studies on emotion regulation. Due to its complex and highly individual nature, repression has been notoriously difficult to investigate. We investigated repression with an individualized experiment in healthy subjects in order to establish methods to study repression in clinical populations. To this end we operationalized repression using individualized experimental conditions, and then studied potential behavioral [memory and reaction time (RT)] and psychophysiological correlates [skin conductance response (SCR)].

[学科分类] 心理学（综合）

[关键词] repression;individualized stimuli;free association;operationalized psychodynamic diagnosis;emotion regulation