Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction

Sigmund Freud, a famous psychologist, once said "life is not easy!" and
everyday, people encounter different problems and struggles and there are some
individuals who protect themselves from things that people do not want to think
or deal with and they use defense mechanisms. There are instances that one
feels threatened, overwhelmed or feel as if things are about to collapse and
these feelings are called anxiety.

According to L. Pervin and O. John (2001), Anxiety is such a painful state
that we are incapable of tolerating it for very long time. Each and every one of us
feels anxiety. Every day, people encounter different problems and struggles. So
they tend to separate their worlds in the fantasy or they will try to cover the
disappointment that they have just to forget the failure in reality. This separation
or covering up of anxiety is called defense mechanism. People tend to make
fantasies when things get worst in order to change their perspectives and worlds.
These are instances also that people deny the situation so that they may try to
forget the situation.
According to Sigmund Freud (18
th
century), anxiety is an unpleasant inner
state that people seek to avoid. Anxiety acts as a signal to the ego that the things
are not going right. As a result, the ego then employs a defense mechanism to
help reduce these feelings of anxiety. In order to deal with anxiety, Freud
believed that defense mechanism helped shield the ego from the conflict created
by the id, superego and reality. (Pervin & John, 2001)
Boeree (2006) also cited in his book, Personality Theories, the ego deals
with the demands of reality, the id, and the superego as best as it can. But when
the anxiety becomes overwhelming, the ego must defend itself. It does so by
unconsciously blocking the impulses or distorting them into a more acceptable,
less threatening form. These techniques are called ego defense mechanisms.

The very reason why the researchers decided to go for this kind of research is
for them to understand how respondents choose what unconscious defense
mechanism to manifest to overcome certain uneasiness. The researchers
decided to conduct the study among Maritime students because, first, they have
the biggest number of populations throughout all the colleges in university. It may
strengthen this study and make the study more accurate. Second, the
respondents have a tendency to focus on their anxiety due to the nature of their
future occupation, since they will be working on a very secluded place, staying on
a ship for a long time. The researchers wanted to know if the aggression or
anxiety has something to do with how they react or what defense mechanism
they used to the tension that they feel.


Theoretical Framework

The study was supported by a theory that was formulated by Sigmund
Freud. He stated that each individual is experiencing anxiety. Anxiety is formed
due to different problems, disappointments, and trials people undergo.
Unconsciously, people tend to develop ways to distort reality and exclude
feelings of awareness so that they may not feel anxious. In other words, people
try to fantasize or imagine new worlds in order to escape against anxiety. There
are different ways that people are omitting from the reality. The most common
defense mechanism is the projection. In this kind of defense mechanism, people
are attributing their own feelings to other people or objects. In other words, they
put the blame to others and not to themselves. Another defense mechanism is
the denial, wherein the confrontation with the problem is avoided by denying the
existence of the problem. Another defense mechanism is the isolation, wherein
people separate emotion from the content of memory. Reaction formation is also
included in the defense mechanism where, a person defends against expression
of an unacceptable impulse by only recognizing and expressing its opposite.
Rationalization also included in the defense mechanism wherein an individual is
dong an action, but the motive is not perceived. Another is repression, wherein
an idea or thought is dismissed from the consciousness. And lastly, sublimation
is a defense mechanism that diverts the expression of a desire from its
unacceptable form to one that is considered more socially acceptable (Pervin &
John, 2001).
Level of Anxiety
Defense Mechanisms
Projection
Denial
Displacement
Repression
Regression


Conceptual Framework












Figure 1.0: Conceptual paradigm of the study about the level of anxiety and the
different defense mechanisms.
The figure above illustrates the conceptual framework of the study. The
independent variables are the defense mechanisms, namely, projection, denial,
isolation, reaction formation, rationalization, repression, and sublimation. The
dependent variable pertains to different levels of anxiety. These two variables are
present to the students of College of Maritime of UPHSD.





College of Maritime Students
in UPHSD
1. Age
2. Gender
3. Socio-economic
status

IV
DV
Statement of the Problem


The study will aim to determine the levels of anxiety and the defense
mechanisms of the selected students of Maritime Education of University of
Perpetual Help System DALTA Las Pias. It purports to answer the following:
1. What is the personal profile of the respondents in terms of:
1.1. age
1.2 gender, and
1.3 socio-economic status
2. What is the level of anxiety of the respondents according to their personal
variables?
3. What is the defense mechanism of the respondents in terms of their personal
variables?
3.1. displacement
3.2. projection
3.3. regression
3.4. repression, and
3.5. denial

4. What is the level of anxiety in terms of the defense mechanism of the
respondents?
5. Is there a significant relationship between the level of anxiety and the defense
mechanisms of the respondents?


Hypothesis


There is no significant relationship between the level of anxiety and the
defense mechanism used by the selected students of College of Maritime
Education of the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA Las Pias.


Significance of the study

This study is done for a purpose. This can help different people including;
Students. This study will help the students to have a better understanding of
how anxiety affects their lives as students, especially for College students, to
know the ways to control anxiety, and for them to learn the different defenses
that may manifest when anxiety overrule their being.
Parents. This study will help the parents and guardians to know how to guide
their children in bringing their anxieties and for people who wants knowledge or
information, to have sufficient information about anxiety and how it becomes
disorder. They can use this study as information so that they may know the
defense mechanisms their children use when they have anxiety.
Our Society. This study will help our society to know the differences of people,
to distinguish the personality of an individual, and to know how they can cope on
their anxieties. Employers may use this study to know their subordinates
tendencies when pressures are present and how they can cope with it.
Future researchers. This study will help and give future researcher to gain
additional information for those that who will conduct the same study and to
generate interest among researchers to conduct studies about the levels of
anxiety and determine what the defense mechanisms are for those Maritime
Students. This may also serve as a guide in the search for reference.


Scope and Limitation

This study tries to identify the lavel of anxiety and the defense
mechanisms among students. It is applicable only to the students of College of
Maritime at the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA Las Pias who are
currently enrolled during the school year 2013-2014 and 1
st
semester of school
year 2014-2015. This study also focuses on a particular reference of thirty
percent (30%) of total population of College of Maritime Education students. It
aims to determine the anxiety and defense mechanism of respondents. Further,
the goal of this study is to find out if there is a significant relationship between
anxiety level and defense mechanism.

Definition of Terms


The following terms were operationally used in this research:
Anxiety means a feeling of worry, nervousness or unease, typically about an
imminent event.
Defense mechanism is an automatic reaction of the body against the anxiety an
individual experiences.
Denial is the refusal to accept reality or fact, acting as if a painful event, thought
or feeling did not exist.
Displacement is the redirection of an impulse (usually aggression) onto a
powerless substitute target. The target can be a person or an object that can
serve as a symbolic substitute. Someone who feels uncomfortable with their
sexual desire for a real person may substitute a fetish. Someone who is
frustrated by his or her superiors may go home and kick the dog, beat up a family
member, or engage in cross-burnings.
Projection means possessing a feeling that is designed as socially unacceptable
and instead of facing it, that feeling or unconscious urge is seen in the actions
of other people
Regression means falling back into an early state of mental/physical
development seen as less demanding and safer
Repression is a mental process by which distressing thought, memories, or
impulses that may give rise to anxiety are excluded from consciousness and left
to operate in unconscious.