In that case in what sense does he dislike his professor. From your example, him disliking his professor seems at be a free-floating XML tag.
I suppose it can be explained by the liking/wanting vs. approving distinction (you can have a feeling that you disapprove of) or Alicorn’s idea of repudiating one’s negative characteristics. And then the cognitive dissonance created by you giving an apple to someone you dislike may be resolved by shifting your attitude of the person in a positive direction—so in this sense, Undoing is a strategy to reduce disapproved/repudiated properties.
This is especially notable with the way projection/reaction formation is discussed in practice: “He’s opposing position X because he secretly supports it.”
Interestingly, there is research showing that some people who oppose homosexuality or gay marriage do in fact show an unconscious attraction to the same sex—see e.g. Weinstein et al. (2012). However, in this case I would agree that “he overtly opposes X because he covertly supports X” is the wrong way of looking at it; rather, he (the ego in Freudian terms) disapproves of his desire (the id). Of course, this doesn’t imply that everybody who opposes X is doing so as a defense mechanism.
Edit: To clarify, I’m certainly not implying that homosexuality is a negative characteristic; just that some people are raised in a culture where it is stigmatized, and so they internalize the value that it is. The specific claim made by the Weinstein et al. paper is as follows:
Some children have parents who don’t support their autonomy. Some of those parents happen to also hold negative attitudes toward homosexual individuals. The combination of these two factors results in the children seeking approval from their parents by suppressing the needs/wishes/beliefs etc. that aren’t supported by their parents. The researchers did a survey of participants’ explicit views about homosexuality and their sexual orientations, and also measured the participants’ implicit sexual orientation using a reaction time task. They found a discrepancy between explicit and implicit sexual orientations, especially when parents showed low autonomy support, and also found that this discrepancy was related to greater self-reported homophobia and endorsement of anti-gay policy positions. The researchers conclude: ”...these effects can be understood, at least in part, as a defensive response to maintain the suppression of self-relevant, but threatening, information” (p.829).
I decided to edit this comment instead of replying directly to tempus’ comment below, as I did not perceive that commenter to be acting charitably.
I suppose it can be explained by the liking/wanting vs. approving distinction (you can have a feeling that you disapprove of) or Alicorn’s idea of repudiating one’s negative characteristics. And then the cognitive dissonance created by you giving an apple to someone you dislike may be resolved by shifting your attitude of the person in a positive direction—so in this sense, Undoing is a strategy to reduce disapproved/repudiated properties.
Interestingly, there is research showing that some people who oppose homosexuality or gay marriage do in fact show an unconscious attraction to the same sex—see e.g. Weinstein et al. (2012). However, in this case I would agree that “he overtly opposes X because he covertly supports X” is the wrong way of looking at it; rather, he (the ego in Freudian terms) disapproves of his desire (the id). Of course, this doesn’t imply that everybody who opposes X is doing so as a defense mechanism.
Edit: To clarify, I’m certainly not implying that homosexuality is a negative characteristic; just that some people are raised in a culture where it is stigmatized, and so they internalize the value that it is. The specific claim made by the Weinstein et al. paper is as follows:
Some children have parents who don’t support their autonomy. Some of those parents happen to also hold negative attitudes toward homosexual individuals. The combination of these two factors results in the children seeking approval from their parents by suppressing the needs/wishes/beliefs etc. that aren’t supported by their parents. The researchers did a survey of participants’ explicit views about homosexuality and their sexual orientations, and also measured the participants’ implicit sexual orientation using a reaction time task. They found a discrepancy between explicit and implicit sexual orientations, especially when parents showed low autonomy support, and also found that this discrepancy was related to greater self-reported homophobia and endorsement of anti-gay policy positions. The researchers conclude: ”...these effects can be understood, at least in part, as a defensive response to maintain the suppression of self-relevant, but threatening, information” (p.829).
I decided to edit this comment instead of replying directly to tempus’ comment below, as I did not perceive that commenter to be acting charitably.