Our subconscious has many roles: Information filtering, memory storage... But one of its most important jobs is to protect our psyche from negative outside events and negative feelings within. Your subconscious wants you to stay whole, and there are quite a few tactics it may use. This is why people have quite different initial reactions to things, even though later logic may make their reactions more similar. Answer our questions and find out: What is YOUR subconscious defense?
1 of 11
Think about your greatest mistake in life. How do you feel about it?
That it may be good that it happened. I learned from it and that's why it'll never happen again
I feel like it's a black stain on my life and I do anything not to think about it
I feel like I never ever want it to happen again and I better make sure it doesn't
It makes me hate myself a little when I think about it
It happened. Life keeps going and I try not to think about it.
2 of 11
You decide to make a major purchase without notifying your partner. They get angry at you and demand to know what you were thinking. What is your response?
You explain your thought process and tell them they can buy something they want too
I would find an excuse why I did it and perhaps invent that I told them in the past about this...
You match their angry tone or angrier, and demand they not speak to you that way
You are hurt that they would treat you this way without trying to understand
I would immediately break down, apologize and ask for forgiveness
I would tell them how great this purchase was in the hope they will get excited about it
3 of 11
Pick the first photo that elicited some emotional response from you
4 of 11
Scenario: You have worked at a company for 5 years, and were expecting to work much longer. However, you are informed by your manager in his office that due to cuts you are fired. Imagine your first reaction or thoughts.
I'd accept the decision, and make sure to ask for references and maintain a good relations with them
I'd immediately say something like "I don't need this job or this company, I'm too good for you guys.
While caught off guard and upset, I'd tell myself that this may be for the better and I was getting bored anyway
I'd get upset, perhaps cry or just get really depressed right away
I'd get furious with them, and make sure they know it
5 of 11
When you think about your early childhood, how do those memories seem to you?
Bitter sweet
I feel like it happened to someone else
I try not to think about my childhood, it's not a subject I enjoy
It was fine, nothing bad I can really remember
I often think of all the things I missed out on as a child that others didn't
I feel like it's something good I can always lean on
6 of 11
You are invited to the police station to be interviewed. You are told you are a suspect in a serious crime you know you did not commit. What is your immediate reaction?
I will be dumbfounded and shocked
A need to help them and make them like me.
Anger and disbelief, I will demand to know what evidence they have and shout that this is ridiculous.
I will get scared, assert my innocence again and again and start talking about what I was really doing that day.
I will ask why they think this and assert my innocence. I didn't do it so there's nothing to fear.
7 of 11
If you were serving in the armed forces as a young person, what role would you have preferred / prefer?
Fighter / Commando
Medic
Bureaucratic / supply
Musical / Ceremonial
Military Lawyer
8 of 11
You lost your toddler a few minutes ago and you've been looking for them in the crowd when you suddenly spot an adult leading them by the hand. Your initial reaction will be...
Fly at them like an avenging angel, knock them down or make a huge scene and call for police
Make my way to them, introduce myself and let the person speak. Perhaps they were trying to help my child find me.
Scream at the top of my voice that someone is trying to kidnap my child!
Run at them, take my child's hand forcefully and demand to know what he's doing with my child
9 of 11
Choose a drawing that you feel has the most impact on you.
10 of 11
You are watching the news: An office shooter, after killing several people and injuring dozens, is caught and then beaten almost to death by security guards. What is your initial thought?
GOOD. I'd do worse.
I'd feel like this is wrong and I shouldn't like that but I do
I'd hope it wasn't as bad as it looked and they will not be too hurt to face justice
I feel bad. There is no reason to harm them in that moment, they were caught
I change the channel, I don't want to think about this
11 of 11
You meet a childhood friend you haven't seen in a long time. While talking about their lives, they go on about something they accomplished you never did (money, family, success etc.). What is your first feeling or action?
Ignore it and put it out of my mind
Try to gently joke about them making me feel bad
I will get internally upset and try to conclude the meet-up as soon as possible
Attempt to feel good for them.
Say something sarcastic about their boastful behavior
Your Subconscious is Extra Protective
As we said, one of the most important roles our subconscious can take is one of protection. Our subconscious, or our... READ MOREAs we said, one of the most important roles our subconscious can take is one of protection. Our subconscious, or our immediate thought process, can be one designed from the start to protect us. This can manifest in responses that dull the ache of losses (something bad happens or we feel threatened), such as disconnecting you from the situation or offering alternative thought processes that make us feel more positive and less threatened. This way, we are acknowledging the loss or threat but we are also turning away from it and shielding ourselves with other thought processes, such as planning, finding alternative reasons for why it happened or the threat is not as big as we think it is.
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In short, your subconscious response is designed to shield you from being overwhelmed by threats to your psyche, be they emotional or physical (which still causes damage to the psyche) by sublimating your thoughts into other 'tracks' of thought or to push them away all together. This is a more internal process compared to more external processes such as fear or anger.
One of the most important roles our subconscious can take is venting our most inner emotions and feelings. Many of us... READ MOREOne of the most important roles our subconscious can take is venting our most inner emotions and feelings. Many of us carry a core of feelings that we don't really feel all the time. It's kind of like an undertone to everything, a song that is on the tip of your tongue when you're not aware of it, and at the front of your emotional storm when you are.
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From your results, your core is angry. Maybe because of something that happened long ago, maybe it just did, or maybe nothing happened but you've just had this rage inside you all your life. This is more common than you may think. Most people hide it, but we glimpse a piece of it almost every day in human interaction. Your subconscious is angry, and your initial thought processes and non-controlled responses will reflect that.
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The reasons can be many. It can be a substitute for another emotion you are feeling - fear. It can have nothing to do with fear and everything to do with events or people in your life that treated you unfairly. This DOES NOT mean you are an unhappy person. Far from it. You can be totally happy and have a great life, but still have a well of rage inside you that colors your initial responses.
One of the many roles of our subconscious is to keep our psyche stable and reduce the amount of threat and fear we feel... READ MOREOne of the many roles of our subconscious is to keep our psyche stable and reduce the amount of threat and fear we feel. That is why many have an initial reaction of seeking balance. In other words, your subconscious responses are usually tinged with a desire to return to harmony, to the way things were before this, or to salvage the best new harmony you can from the new situation. <br><br>
So, for example, instead of immediate anger there might be negotiation. Your first instinct may be to forgive people and assure them you still like them so the harmony is not broken. This is why it takes some people time to find their anger and hurt, and they can't understand why, in the first few seconds or minutes, their reactions were conciliatory and not immediately angry. Your subconscious is just trying to protect your psyche from bad emotions and threat, and it does it by trying to find balance and harmony. Thankfully, most people get over this urge and find their hurt and anger when there is call for it.
One of the roles of the subconscious is indeed to protect our psyche from threats and bad emotions. However, people are... READ MOREOne of the roles of the subconscious is indeed to protect our psyche from threats and bad emotions. However, people are not perfect and neither is our subconscious. Sometimes this results in an uneven emotional response instead of one, steady one. For example, some people react with immediate anger or fear, and their initial responses are ALWAYS tinged with these emotions.
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Your answers, however, indicate that you have more of a complex subconscious that reacts with various, STRONG emotions to threats and negative events. This means that it is very hard to predict your initial emotional response to negative situations, but that it will probably be strong. Imagine an ever-storming sea, with the waves crashing down in myriad shapes and forms, but always storming, always big waves that crash.
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In this way, your subconscious drowns the outside world and gives you a feeling of powerful emotions that may drown out the more threatening emotions or enhance them in a way that allows no denial or postponing of confrontation. Both these methods may be beneficial, depending on previous experiences (which unfortunately we cannot fathom in this quiz). So in the end, a protection is maintained of the psyche as a whole, even in the cost of suffering unpredictable emotional highs and lows in your initial responses.
One of the many roles of our subconscious is indeed to protect our psyche from negative emotions, negative events (... READ MOREOne of the many roles of our subconscious is indeed to protect our psyche from negative emotions, negative events (which cause negative emotions) and percieved threats. An anxious subconscious defense may be caused by an anxious childhood, an anxious life experience, a guilty feeling (even if you're not) or suffering from PTSD caused by a traumatic event (traumatic to you).
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So, the initial responses you have would be tinged with an anxious response designed to either lessen the problem in your eyes to calm you down (it's not really that bad), ignore (avoid thinking about it) or confront the problem immediately so you have a chance of solving it immediately and not have to worry about it any longer. Remember, these are initial, subconscious defenses, and so you may later even wonder why you made them. They do not represent your personality, just your usual subconscious knee-jerk reaction. You may always overcome it and exert your own conscious logic thought processes, and the more you are aware of this subconscious bias, the more clearly you'll be thinking.
One of the roles of the subconscious is indeed to protect our psyche from threats and bad emotions. Many defenses use... READ MOREOne of the roles of the subconscious is indeed to protect our psyche from threats and bad emotions. Many defenses use negative reactions such as fear or anger to protect us from feeling lost or collapse after we've gone through something bad or are feeling threatened in some way. This helps the person feel another emotion other than the emotion your subconscious is trying to escape from.
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According to your answers, it seems that you actually use a positive emotion as protection. Your thought processes and your initial reactions are tinged with Hope. This means that your initial reactions will be looking to the future instead of the past. Instead of initial anger about the past, you'll have initial hope for the future.
<br><br>To protect you, your psyche immediately looks into something that can possibly be somehow (even if it doesn't make sense) better than right now. Getting fired, your first impulse may be tinged with relief at not having to come in tomorrow or if broken up with your initial reaction may be thinking about meeting a better person. In this way, in the very first few moments of your reactions, you reach for something better.
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Shai K.
6/13/2021
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