Friday, August 19, 2016

15 Common Defense Mechanisms/Compartmentalization

Compartmentalization is interesting because it is almost the same as dissociation, but isn't quite as intense because you still have most of your rational faculties.  Compartmentalization can be used to justify breaking a set of values in a niche case, but doesn't completely alter you from the reality.  The main difference between dissociation and compartmentalization is intensity. Dissociation is completely severing your ties with reality as you form a new persona to suit your needs, whereas compartmentalization allows you to break your values for a specific scenario.

Compartmentalization: Compartmentalization is a lesser form of dissociation, wherein parts of oneself are separated from awareness of other parts and behaving as if one had separate sets of values. An example might be an honest person who cheats on their income tax return and keeps their two value systems distinct and un-integrated while remaining unconscious of the cognitive dissonance. (http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-defense-mechanisms/)

Have you ever had a friend that seems to have a great sense of direction but then do something completely unprecedented? Maybe, you have done this yourself? It can have many different levels of significance based on your values and societies values. This can be as simple as not lying, except for when you are asked about how you are doing at your job, or it can be as severe as not being racist face to face with a person but then telling people about how you wish they would just stay in their own country. There are many different ways we compartmentalize our issues to help deal with inner turmoil, but primarily we come up with a relatively irrational reasons and then justify it in our own heads. That way we can keep both value systems intact and away from one another which alleviates the chaos of being inconsistent.

Compartmentalization in MLM is BAD!!! MLMers are constantly dealing with dissociating their regular life from their MLM life and it starts off with splitting their value systems ever so slightly yet consistently. This slowly devolves into a much worse form and creates full blown dissociation. The upline will teach MLM how to sacrifice their values in the pursuit of their business by missing out on dinner with the wife once a week, or choosing to skip a child's theater production to show a business plan/host a party. Once that becomes easier for someone to compartmentalize the upline will make the needs of the MLM even stronger and encourage the MLMer to make more sacrifices and compartmentalize more values until they are completely transformed. This is synonymous with a story I heard of boiling a frog. You can read about that story at the blog, Amway the Dream or the Scheme, by Joe Cool.  

Compartmentalization is healthy, but it can also be as dangerous as a gateway drug. The next time you feel like your values are being compromised, ask yourself if this is a one time deal or if it is even necessary to do this, because once you do it once it only gets easier to do it again and again.

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