Marissa is exhibiting projection in her statement. By attributing her feelings of annoyance and justification for breaking the toy to the other person’s behavior (claiming that the other person is always bothering her), she is projecting her feelings onto them instead of acknowledging her own emotions and the responsibility for her actions.
Which of the following defense mechanisms is Marissa using when she says “So what if I broke her stupid toy? She’s always bothering me when I want to play video games and no one should have to put up with that all the time.”
1. compensation
2. denial
3. reaction formation
4. projection
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