Cover not available

Article published In: Cognitive Linguistic Studies
Vol. 10:1 (2023) ► pp.99–116

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

The image schemas of container and source-path-goal in the theory of psychodynamic defense mechanisms

ORCiD logo with link | Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
ORCiD logo with link | Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Published online: 5 October 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cogls.22004.far
Abstract
In this article, we evaluated the theory of defense mechanisms from the cognitive linguistics perspective. We chose two basic image schemas of container and path-goal and reviewed three psychodynamic psychotherapy textbooks and two psychology dictionaries to extract passages defining defense mechanisms by one of the selected image schemas. Seventeen defense mechanisms were extracted, categorized, and discussed according to their underlying image schemas. In conclusion, we suggest that the development of the defense mechanisms could be traced back to the early interactions of an infant with the physical environment. Moreover, there might be a relationship between the adaptive levels of the defense mechanisms and the chronological development of image schemas in an infant’s mind, e.g., defenses defined using the image schema of container are usually less adaptive than defenses defined using the image schema of path-goal.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Results
    • Defense mechanisms that are conceptualized by the image schema of container
    • Defense mechanisms that are defined by image schema of source-path-goal
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Limitations
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (33)
References
Bowins, B. (2004). Psychological defense mechanisms: A new perspective. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 641, 1–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cabaniss, D. L., Cherry, S., Douglas, C. J., & Schwartz, A. R. (2011). Psychodynamic psychotherapy: A clinical manual. New Jersey: Wiley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colman, A. M. (2015). A dictionary of psychology (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cramer, P. (2008). Seven pillars of defense mechanism theory. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(5), 1963–1981. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Defense mechanisms: 40 years of empirical research. Journal of Personality Assessment, 97(2), 114–122. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
David, B. (2006). Psychodynamic theory for clinicians. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dictionary, C. (2020). English dictionary, translations & thesaurus. Available from: [URL]
Dimitrijević, A. (2020). Defense mechanisms, contemporary perspectives. In B. J. Carducci, C. S. Nave, A. D. Fabio, D. H. Saklofske & C. Stough (Eds.), The Wiley encyclopedia of personality and individual differences (volumn III) (pp. 113–117). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frank, R. M., Dirven, R., Ziemke, T., & Bernárdez, E. (Eds.). (2008). Body, language and mind volume 2: Sociocultural situatedness. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Franks, D. D. (2019). The Post-Freudian unconscious: Agency and awareness. In D. D. Franks (Ed.), Neurosociology: Fundamentals and current finding (pp. 65–82). Amsterdam: Springer Dordrecht. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1964). The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud. Oxford/England: Macmillan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Freud, A. (2018). The ego and the mechanisms of defence. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gabbard, G. O. (2004). Long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy : A basic text. Washington, D.C: American Psychiatric Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs Jr, R. W. (2003). Embodied experience and linguistic meaning. Brain and Language, 84(1), 1–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hampe, B. (2008). From perception to meaning: Image schemas in Cognitive Linguistics. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harper, D. (2001). Online etymology dictionary. Available from: [URL]
Hespos, S. J., & Baillargeon, R. (2001). Reasoning about containment events in very young infants. Cognition, 78(3), 207–245. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnson, M. (2013). The body in the mind: The bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kernberg, O. (2008). Contemporary controversies in psychoanalytic theory, techniques, and their appli. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Knox, J. M. (2001). Memories, fantasies, archetypes: An exploration of some connections between cognitive science and analytical psychology. The Journal of Analytical Psychology, 46(4), 613–635. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh the embodied mind and its challenge to western thought. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mandler, J. M. (1992). How to build a baby: II. conceptual primitives. Psychological Review, 99(4), 587–604. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). How to build a baby: III. image schemas and the transition to verbal thought. In B. Hampe (Ed.), From perception to meaning: Image schemas in Cognitive Linguistics (pp. 137–163). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mandler, J. M., & Cánovas, C. P. (2014). On defining image schemas. Language and Cognition, 6(4), 510–532. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mihalits, D. S., & Codenotti, M. (2020). The conceptual tragedy in studying defense mechanisms. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 541, 354–569. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (2013). Play, dreams and imitation in childhood. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tay, D. (2016). Metaphor and psychological transference. Metaphor and Symbol, 31(1), 11–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Time series analysis of discourse: A case study of metaphor in psychotherapy sessions. Discourse Studies, 19(6), 694–710. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2019). Time series analysis of discourse: Method and case studies. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2021). Image schemas. In X. Wen & J. R. Taylor (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Cognitive Linguistics (pp. 161–172). London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vaillant, G. E. (1995). Adaptation to life. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
VandenBos, G. R. (2007). APA dictionary of psychology. Washington: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yamaguchi, M., Tay, D., & Blount, B. (Eds.). (2014). Approaches to language, culture, and cognition: The intersection of Cognitive Linguistics and linguistic anthropology. London: Palgrave Macmillan London. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue