Freud believed that many painful experiences from the first five years are kept buried in the unconscious as a result of which defense mechanism?

• A. Denial
• B. Displacement
• C. Repression
• D. Projection

Answer: (C)

Painful experiences from early childhood are kept out of conscious awareness by the ego’s defense of repression. In Freud’s view, repression is an involuntary process that pushes unacceptable thoughts and memories into the unconscious, where they remain hidden but can still influence feelings and behavior. This helps shield the person from anxiety, but those early memories can still shape later functioning, sometimes surfacing in dreams or symptoms. Denial involves refusing to accept reality, displacement redirects emotions to safer targets, and projection attributes one’s own unacceptable traits to others. Repression is the mechanism that specifically buries painful early experiences in the unconscious.