During a grade school field trip, Ryan and his friends were running down a hill when he stepped on a snake. He was unharmed but shaken by the experience. When one of his friends mentioned the incident months later, Ryan could not remember running down the hill that day. Sigmund Freud would say that this is an example of:

A) sublimation.
B) displacement.
C) repression.
D) regression.

Repression

In psychology, a defense mechanism where unpleasant thoughts, memories, or desires are pushed out of conscious awareness.

Sublimation

A defense mechanism where socially unacceptable impulses or idealizations are transformed into socially acceptable actions or behavior.

Displacement

In psychoanalytic theory, a defense mechanism where the mind substitutes either a new aim or a new object for goals felt in their original form to be dangerous or unacceptable.