JPBS. The Relationship between Defense Mechanisms, Self- Consistency, Machiavellian Thought with Having Extra- Marital Relationships

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1 The Relationship between Defense Mechanisms, Self- Consistency, Machiavellian Thought with Having Extra- Marital Relationships JPBS JOURNAL OF Vol 4(2): ISSN: Copyright 2016 PSYCHOLOGY & BEHAVIORAL STUDIES Sara Hosseini 1, Taher Tizdast 2* 1 Department of Psychology, College of Human Science, Saveh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Saveh, Iran 2 Department of Psychology, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran * Corresponding Author Tahertizdast@yahoo.com ABSTRACT This study was conducted with the aim of determine the relationship between defense mechanisms, self-consistency, Machiavellian thought with having extramarital relations. This research was a correlational study and the statistical population included all patients referred to family courts in 22 districts of Tehran and counseling clinics and psychotherapy under the auspices of psychology and counseling system, and welfare (860 couples), that this number, 260 individuals were randomly selected as the samples. To collect the data, questionnaires of integrative self-knowledge scale self-by Ghorbani and his colleagues (2008), defensive styles by Andrews et al., Christie and Geis's Machiavellian beliefs scale (1970) and extra-marital relations were used. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise logistic regression analysis using SPSS software. The results showed that there is a significant positive correlation between defense mechanisms (immature and neurotic) with postmarital relations (0.02 and 0.01), a negative and significant correlation between defense mechanisms (matured) with extra-marital relationships (0.01), a negative and significant correlation between integrative self-knowledge with having extra-marital relationships (0.22) and a positive and significant correlation between the Machiavellian thinking with having extra-marital relations (0.01). KEYWORDS Defense Mechanisms, Integrative Self- Knowledge, Machiavellian Thinking, Extra-Marital Relationships. 41

2 INTRODUCTION The family system is influential in front of actions and behaviors its members, and the quality and quantity of these actions and behaviors can challenge family health. One of the most important factors that could challenge the familial frameworks is extra-marital relationship that as a continuum can include the concept of treason. On the other hand, and in the eyes of researchers, disloyalty is categorized in emotional and sexual dimensions in terms of continuum involve qualitative and quantitative emotional and sexual relationships (Halgin & Whitbourne, translated by Sayyed Mohammadi, 2007). Marital infidelity is an issue that couples therapists regularly face in their clinical works and it can be a confusing and painful experience for all those who are involved in, moreover, betrayal is one of the main causes of divorce and disintegration of a family system (Shackelford, 2008). Among the various psychological components that determine human's mental world, and then the visible external world are defensive mechanisms, integrative self-knowledge and Machiavellian thinking (Halgin & Whitbourne, translated by Sayyed Mohammadi, 2007). Freud's psychoanalysis system provides a model of personality development and a systematic structure for psychotherapy. In the psychodynamic system the main emphasis is on three basic components: 1. the unconscious thoughts as the main cause of human behavior, 2. conflict of biological instincts with the expectations of society, and 3. the determining role of childhood experiences in the formation of personality (Santrock 2009, translated by Firouzbakht 2008). From the point views of the psychoanalysts the cause of behavior is unconscious thoughts, and despite a lot of criticism that have been made to this school several studies in various fields of psychology have confirmed the existence of unconscious mental processes (Cramer, 2000). According to what was said in psychoanalysis many of the concepts and theories are in some way related to the concept of unconscious. Among them the (defense mechanisms of ego) that Freud described them as unconscious strategies (ego) to control instincts and impulses, and are one of the most important concepts related to the unconscious that are provided in psychoanalytical system to explain the defensive functions of the psychological system in front of anxiety and psychological stress been the (Afzali et al., 2009). According to Freud, all the people in order to keep away the potentially disturbing experiences of defense employ defensive mechanisms and when these defense mechanisms are used in an inflexible and extreme manner, they become the source of mental disorder (Halgin & Whitbourne, translation of Sayyed Mohammadi, 2007). Generally speaking, according to the psychoanalytical approach individuals use special defense styles when they face with mental stress that each of these styles include special defensive mechanisms. These styles with regard to the rate of matureness are divided into three groups: the immature or undeveloped, neurotic, adult or mature (Besharat, 2007). Current views on the defensive mechanisms, according to the theoretical considerations, classify the relationship of these mechanisms on the basis of their general mental health (Halgin & Whitbourne, translated by Sayyed Mohammadi, 2007). In the psychoanalytical system every mental disorder is associated with certain maladaptive defensive mechanisms, and it should be noted that the defenses play an important role in an individual's mental health (Khodamoradi, 2014). Research findings show that defensive mechanisms in individuals with mental disorders have been immature and defense mechanisms in non-clinical population are very immature (Cramer, 2000). One of the Favorite concepts of psychoanalysts is identity. Identity can be defined as integration, organization, coordination, purposefulness and normal management of psych. From another point of view identity is the central dimension of psyche that 42

3 personality results from it. Also the organization of experiences, feelings, behaviors, acceptance of ideological values and interpersonal and social relationships are ascribed to identity (Khodamoradi et al., 2013). Identity has various positive and negative aspects and characteristics. The process of awareness from identity characteristics is self-knowledge, and the process of coordination, organization, and integration of identity components are called integrative self-knowledge (Ghorbani, 2007). According to Ghorbani et al.'s conceptualization, self-knowledge is moment by moment awareness regarding psychological states and the ability of making distinction and analyzing the content of the present experiences and also active cognitive processing about self and related to the past results that its results are creation of an expanded view to guide behavior and to form more complex and more complete individual schemes. Several studies have proven relationship of various conditions of identity with mental states and disorders because it is believed that mental disorders occur around identity pole (Ghorbani and Watson, Kaningham, 2010). Unhealthy narcissism has been one of the negative aspects of identity, in fact it is an identity that is actually inflated or overcharged (Kohat, 1980). Freud called one-dimensional self-centered identity as narcissistic (Mansour, 2007). Ghorbani and Watson (2006) reported that narcissism is effective in unhealthy lifestyle and this can trigger further mental and physical illnesses. It can be said that narcissism and integrative self-knowledge are two different abnormal and normal modes of an identity continuum that has a close relationship with different psychological states and mental disorders and different studies have proven that (Ghorbani, 2007). On the other hand, the Machiavellian thinking has been aroused out of narcissism per se that entered into the flow of philosophy by Thomas Hobbes in the 17th century (Schultz & Schultz, 2005, Translated by Sayyed Mohammadi, 2007). Machiavellianism is a set of directorial principles and procedures that the Italian politician and philosopher, Niccolo Machiavelli ( ), provided to rule and govern the people. According to Niccolo Machiavelli (Machiavelli, translated by Mahmoud, 1386), this theory is based on the ten laws that include: 1. Always be in the pursuit of your interest, 2. Don t respect except yourself, 3. Behave badly but pretend that you are behaving in good way, 4. Be greed and seize what you want, 5. Be stingy, 6. Be cruel and fierce, 7. When you obtain an opportunity deceive others, 8. Kill your enemies and if you can still kill your friends, 9. In dealing with people resort to force and not to kindness, 10. Focus all your efforts war (Jahanbagloo, 2001, Machiavelli, translated by Mahmoud, 2007; Tabatabai, 2011). According to these laws, it seems that some of them can be effective in the incidence of extramarital relations. With regard to devastating effects of extramarital relations in family infrastructure and the growing procedure of this phenomenon, it is necessary to consider and study the effective factors in this case in a very basic manner in order the authorities regarding this matter to be able to design more efficient programs in order to prevent and decrease this traumatic phenomenon. The conducted research in this area has been very limited and it requires much and more targeted research in this field. In this regard, this study was conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between defense mechanisms, integrative self-knowledge, Machiavelli thought with having extra-marital relationships. MATERIAL AND METHODS This study was conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between defense mechanisms, integrative self-knowledge, Machiavelli thought with having extra-marital relationships. This research was a correlation study and the statistical population included all the patients who referred to family courts in 22 districts of Tehran and counseling and psychotherapy clinics under the auspices of psychology and counseling, 43

4 and welfare organization (860 couples), that from this number, 260 individuals were randomly selected as the sample of study. The instruments used in the study include: Integrative Self-knowledge Scale (ISK): The scale of integrative self-knowledge constructed by Ghorbani, Watson and Hargis (2008) which includes 12 items answered on a five-point Likert scale. During several studies the validity and reliability of this scale have been approved (the mean of alpha coefficient of this scale in the mentioned studies has been 0.80). High scores on this scale have been associated with assessing the behavioral characteristics dependent on self-knowledge in investigating other factors in both cultures. Self-knowledge has an increasing validity in predicting mental health in comparison with the five big personality factors and moreover the personality factors can explain the mental health (Ghorbani & Watson, 2004). The Cronbach's alpha of this scale in the present study has been 0.83 that shows the high internal consistency of this scale. Questionnaire of defense styles: Questionnaire of defense styles developed by Androz, Singh and Bond, is a 40-item instrument that on a 9-point Likert scale (from strongly agree to strongly disagree) evaluates 20 defense mechanisms based on three mature, neurotic and immature defense styles. The mature defense style includes mechanisms of sublimation, humor, anticipation and suppression. The mechanisms related to the neurotic defense style are as the following: Undoing, pseud-altruism, idealization, opposite reaction. The immature defense mechanism is also composed of twelve mechanisms as the following: Projection, passive aggression, acting-out, isolation, devaluation, autistic fantasy, denial, displacement, dissociation, splitting, rationalization, and somatization. The Cronbach alpha coefficient for questions of each defense style has been satisfactory. The psychometric characteristics of the Persian version of the defense styles questionnaire in several researches that have been conducted during the period from 1998 to 2006 in sick samples (n = 423) and normal (n = 1397), were investigated and confirmed. In these researches, the Cronbach alpha coefficients for each of the subscales of the defense styles questionnaire for the mature style obtained from, 0.83 to 0.94, for immature style from 0.81 to 0.92 and for neurotic style from 0.79 to These coefficients that all are significant at the level of P < 0.001, confirmed the internal consistency of the sub-scales of the defense style questionnaire. Scale of Machiavellian beliefs: In order to study the Machiavellian ideas, the sample subjects filled the scale of Machiavellian beliefs that Christie and wigs produced in This scale is composed of 20 items which answered on a five-point Likert scale. Up to now this scale has been translated into various languages and its validity and reliability has been confirmed. In the present study, the reliability of the above-mentioned scale was calculated using Cronbach's alpha method and its validity was analyzed through factor analysis that revealed four factors including: Pessimism regarding human nature, access to dominance, uncertainty, and lack of integrity. It should be noted that all of the above-mentioned items has a factorial load greater than 0.45 (from 0.45 to 0.85). The results of reliability coefficient that was calculated using Cronbach's alpha were as the following: 0.55 for pessimism about human nature, 0.68 for access to dominance, 0.63 for uncertainty, and 0.51 for lack of integrity. RESULTS In order to investigate the relationship between the predictor variables (defense mechanisms: mature, immature, neurotic, Machiavellian thinking and integrative selfknowledge) with "having extramarital relations" in a model, the logistic regression test was used. The first output is the Omnibus test calculations. The test shows the evaluation of the total model. 44

5 Table 1. Omnibus tests to evaluate total regression model. First step Second step Third step Fourth step X 2 df Sig. Step Block Model Step Block Model Step Block Model Step Block Model Based on the data presented in Table 1 the level of significance in all steps is smaller than That is the regression model has the requisite efficiency to explain the functionality the model. The next output shows statistics of Log Likelihoods and Pseudo coefficient (Pseudo r-square). Table 2. Log Likelihood and pseudo determination coefficient Step Likelihood Cox coefficient Nichel determination coefficient As can be seen in Table 2, the predictive variables (Machiavellian thinking, immature, neurotic and mature defense mechanisms) together have been able to predict 23.1 to 30.8 percent of the participants' extramarital relationships, that the proportion of immature defense mechanisms (17.7 to 23.6 percent) is more than other variables. In the logistic regression model in two ways we can determine the power of model in classifying individuals in classes of dependent variable: 1. Table of classifiocation and 2. Figure of classification. In this study for this purpose the table of classification has been used that its results are shown in Table 3: Table 3. Classification of individuals in dependent variable Steps Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Observed Extramarital Total Have Don't have percent Extramarital Have Don't have Total percent 67.1 Extramarital Have Don't have Total percent 71 Extramarital Have Don't have Total percent 74 Extramarital Have Don't have Total percent

6 The data obtained from the Table 3 evaluates the predictive performance of the model, as it can be seen classification of individuals is based on four steps. In the first step that only the variable of "immature defense mechanism" has been entered into the model, the accuracy of individual classification of the model is equal to 67.1 percent. In the second step, the accuracy of individuals' classification has increased to the input 71 percent by entrance of the variable of "neurotic defense mechanism". Accordingly, in the third and fourth steps by entering the variables of "Machiavellian thinking" and "matured defense mechanism" the accuracy of classification reached to 74 and 70.6 percent, respectively. Thus, in general with 70.6 percent confidence it can be said that the regression model which consists of 5 predictive variables, is capable to explain the changes of subjects' "extramarital relationship". The next output shows coefficients variables entered into the model. Table 4. The coefficients of the entered variables in the model to predict extramarital relationships. Variables entered into the model B SE Wald df Sig. Exp Intercept Immature defense mechanisms Neurotic defense mechanism Machiavellian thinking Matured defense mechanisms Table 4 shows that among the predictor variables (defense mechanisms: mature, neurotic and immature, Machiavelli thinking and integrative self-knowledge) 4 variables of "immature defense mechanism," "neurotic"," Machiavellian thinking" and "mature defense mechanism" have been entered into the model. Therefore, according to data in the above table, the regression equation can be written as follows: Predicted extramarital relations (Y) = (Developed defense mechanism) (Machiavellian thinking) (neurotic defense mechanism) (immature defense mechanisms) Based on the above regression model it can be said that with increase of a unit in "immature defense mechanisms", "neurotic" and "Machiavellian thinking" respectively 0.111, 0.05 and units will be added to the individuals' "extramarital relations" and by adding a unit to "mature defense mechanism" to the extent of 0.03 unit will be reduced from their extramarital relationships. As it can be seen, the variable of "integrative self-knowledge" has been removed from the model and this means that this variable plays a role in explaining and predicting individuals' "extramarital relationship". 46

7 Table 5. Summary of X 2 to investigate the relationship between extramarital relations with defense mechanisms: matured, immature, neurotic, Machiavellian thinking and integrative self-knowledge. Variable Classes X 2 df Sig. Mature defense mechanism Immature defense mechanism Neurotic defense mechanism Machiavellian thinking Integrative selfknowledge 1 to to to 49 Over 49 1 to to to 44 Over 44 1 to to to 48 Over 48 1 to to to 62 Over 62 1 to to to 44 Over 44 Extent of relationship According to data obtained in Table 5, the obtained X 2 for the relationship between mature defense mechanisms and extramarital relationships in meaningful at the level of 0.01 (X 2 = 60, d.f = 3, p = 0.01). Therefore, we can reject the null hypothesis at the level of 0.01 and with 99 percent confidence it can be concluded that there is a significant relationship between the mature defense mechanism and extramarital relationships. The extent of this relationship has also been estimated equal to Also, the relationship between the two variables of immature defense mechanisms and extramarital relationships in meaningful at the level of 0.05 (X 2 = 10.6, d.f = 3, p = 0.014). Therefore, the null hypothesis can be rejected at the level of 0.05 for benefit of the research hypothesis and with 99 percent confidence it can be accepted that there is a significant relationship between the immature defense mechanisms and extramarital relations to the extent of The results of the obtained X 2 for the relationship between neurotic defense mechanism and extramarital relations is so large that on its basis the null hypothesis can be rejected at Thus, it can be concluded with 99 percent confidence that there is a significant relationship between the neurotic defense mechanism and extramarital relationships. In such a way that the relationship between the two variables equals to According to data in Table 5, the obtained X 2 for the relationship between Machiavellian thinking and extramarital relationships is meaningful at the level of 0.01 (X 2 = 31, d.f = 3, p = 0.01). Thus, we can reject the null hypothesis at the level of 0.01 and with 99 percent confidence it can be claimed that there is a significant relationship between extramarital the Machiavellian thinking and extramarital relationships. The extent of this relationship is also estimated to be Finally, the results in Table 5 showed that the relationship between integrative selfknowledge and extramarital relationships both achieved a significant level greater than 47

8 0.05 obtained X 2 (X 2 = 4.4, d.f = 3, p = 0.22). Thus, there is enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis at the level of We therefore conclude that there is no significant relationship between integrative self-knowledge and extramarital relations. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The results of the first hypothesis that the "relationship between neurotic defense mechanism with having extramarital relations" has shown that there is a positive relationship between neurotic defense mechanism with having extra-marital relationships (at a significance level of 0.99). In other words, as much as the neurotic defense mechanism increases, extramarital relationships will increase, too. In explaining the results of the above hypothesis it can be said that neurotic defense mechanisms are dysfunctional and maladaptive ways of dealing with problems that are seen more in individuals who are affected by depression and anxiety, this anxiety plays the role of a sign and shows that one should avoid or neutralize the danger that is imminent and is a threat to ego. The "ego" should decrease the disharmony between natures' wants and severities of society or met-ego, we usually use a number of mechanisms in one time to defend ourselves in front of anxiety and to avoid anxiety that results from lack of providing needs of nature, which their provisions will be punishment from society and conscience, resort to a series of defense mechanisms. The procedure of self-defense style, that is, the frequency of using defense mechanisms in comparison with others is a major variable in order to recognize personality, pathology and the extent of adjustment. Some researchers have also found a significant relationship between immature mechanisms with self-damaging behaviors these mechanisms are often applied unconsciously, and are usually associated with distortion, denial and conversion of reality and leads to self-deception. Neurotic mechanism is common in all people. These defenses are helpful in the short term, but in the long run lead to problems in marital relationships and success in life. In contrast, lack of marital satisfaction can bring about anxieties, unhappiness, depression and other physical and psychological problems and lead the individual to use defense mechanisms in order to create incompatibility that with this explanation diagnosis of defense mechanisms in individuals who have marital dissatisfaction will be a very useful designing a diagnosis and intervention process. Many researches have shown that defense mechanisms logically have the capacity to be considered in diagnostic and therapeutic interventions especially in the area of marital relations, for example, studies have shown that psychodynamic therapies that are directly relate to the patient's defenses results in a significant reduction regarding the use of non-adaptive defenses and vice versa leads to a significant increase in adaptive and conformist defenses. Therefore, regardless of the type of defense, there is a clear relationship between improvements in non-pathological defenses in the case of extramarital relationships (Goleman, 1995). Aks (Translated by Shoja Razavi, 1998) has stated that there is an inverse relationship between high emotional intelligence and interpersonal satisfaction and immature, neurotic and narcissistic defense mechanisms. Spring (translated by Rahmati 2001) in another study stated that in some cases women and men who suspect the loyalty of their wives or do not trust in their sexual fidelity use some kinds of defense mechanisms such as rationalization that call it revenge. Therefore, it can be predicted that the use of neurotic defense mechanisms is associated with the likelihood of extramarital relations. In explaining another result the study showed that there is a significant negative relationship between mature defense mechanism and extra-marital relationships and it can be said that according to the findings of Simaee (2010 quoted in Ehteshamzadeh et al. 2011) the more resources individuals have in protection against pressures the more they will be hopeful in front of the threatening situations and be able to use effective, 48

9 efficient and mature coping styles use and according to Wittgenstein (2001), with the development of positive coping strategies, promotion of self-awareness and creating an emotional balance, we can diagnose stressful events in life and treat them effectively. Since mature defensive style includes three sub-categories of sublimation, humor, anticipation, therefore using these mechanisms can be affective in marital relationships and help to consolidate family relations and to prevent the occurrence of infidelity in their relationships. Another result showed that there is a positive and significant correlation between the defense mechanism (immature) with meta-marital relationships. In explaining this result it can be said that defense mechanisms are automated regulatory processes that are used to reduce cognitive dissonance and minimize sudden changes in internal and external reality through influencing the perception of threatening events. In general, the use of maladaptive defenses is associated with clinical pathology and in this regard, extra-marital relationships and marital infidelities are associated with the use of maladaptive defenses (Vaillent, 1986). Many researches have shown that defense mechanisms have logically the capacity to be considered in diagnostic and therapeutic interventions especially in the area of marital relations, for example, studies have shown that psychodynamic therapies are directly related to the patient's defenses help to a significant reduction in the rate of using nonadaptive defenses and vice versa a significant increase in adaptive and conformist defenses. Therefore, regardless of the type of defense, there is a clear relationship between improvement of marital relations and prevention of infidelity and nonpathological defenses (Bard, 2004). The results of investigating the relationship between integrative self-knowledge with having extra-marital relationships showed that there is a correlation between integrative self-knowledge with having extramarital relations. In other words, contrary to the previous studies, the rate of integrative self-knowledge has no intervention in extramarital relationships. But in the previous studies, if the integrative self-knowledge increases, marital relationships will reduce. Ghorbani (2007) have states that selfknowledge is a kind of dynamic adapted and coordinating psychological process that has temporary nature. In the first studies this construct was divided into two dimensions of experiential and reflective. Experiential self-knowledge is the processing of relevant data regarding ''ego'' that is done in terms of moment to moment and dynamic changes in the present time. Experiential self-knowledge will provide an immediate input of individual experiences is necessary to meet the challenges and achieve the targets, as well as preventing automatic and incontinence response. Thus, according to the above definitions, it can be said that one of the factors hindering the development of extramarital relations in couples is integrative self-knowledge (Ghorbani et al., 2003). Another result of the study showed that there is a positive and significant correlation between extra-marital relationships with Machiavellian thinking exists and this result is in tandem with the findings of Dadsetan (2008) and approves them. In this context it can be noted that the characteristics of Machiavellian thinking are ambition, division, hypocrisy, lying, destruction, enslavement of others, and so on. Therefore, if one of the couples has this style of thinking will cause disappointment and dissatisfaction of the other couple and will lead to an inclination towards having extramarital relationships in the other couple. Sartorius et al. (2005) in a meta-analysis (translated by Reza Qolizadeh et al., 2009), stated that the cause of disintegration of a familial system in addition to social, economic and legal factors, includes personal and psychological reasons as well, these factors involve defense mechanisms, integrative self-knowledge and Machiavellian thinking. As it mentioned, defense mechanisms, integrative selfknowledge, Machiavellian thinking play a decisive role in mental problems that both affect the family system and also mutually the framework of the family are affective on the above-mentioned factors. Ultimately and according to the final conclusions based on 49

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