Being hypocritical is an action that is harshly judged but rarely considered. When someone preaches one way and then turns around and does the opposite people often are quick to label them as a hypocrite, unfairly stamping them as someone who could be untrustworthy. However, what people fail to consider is that they are hypocrites themselves and probably don’t even realize it, and calling someone a hypocrite is hypocritical in itself. Hypocrisy has long been questioned by psychologist, it seems as if someone says something they will also do it, but this is does not always seem to be the case. Sigmund Freud a controversial psychoanalysis devised a hypothesis explaining this psychological phenomenon to try and make sense of hypocrisy that psychologist today are still talking and thinking about today. A recent article written by Donna Flagg in the popular psychology journal …show more content…
A psychoanalytic explanation of this form of hypocrisy is the defense mechanism called reaction formation. Reaction formation can be explained by hypocrisy, with a motive behind it. The motive always being one doesn’t want others to truly know how they really feel about something so they proceed to act in an opposite manor to convince others that, that is how they feel. Using the theory of reaction formation to explain hypocrisy, one example might be if someone really despised their boss yet acted super kind and warm towards them. This person would be using reaction formation to hide the fact that they hate their boss in order to avoid being fired. If one acted upon how they really felt in this instance, they would be fired, causing them lots of unnecessary anxiety. Using this defense mechanism, one is easily able to avoid all of that stress and anxiety using this strategy, a form of hypocrisy as a helpful tool in their