Question

While Mr. Gomez was going through a painful divorce, he tended to create unnecessarily difficult tests and gave his students unusually low grades. A psychoanalyst would be most likely to view Mr. Gomez's treatment of students as an example of _________.a) displacement.
b) regression.
c) reaction formation.
d) projection

Answer 1

I think it's C. Reaction Formation

Explanation:

It purposefully mentions how Mr. Gomez is going through something emotionally bearing like a divorce, hence why his own focus and normal punctuality declined.

Reaction Formation is the psychological mechanism/tendency of a repressed wish or feeling to be expressed at a conscious level in a contrasting form... Which Mr. Gomez showed towards the students and his own job. This is why this answer makes the most sense.

A) Displacement and D) Projection are definitely not it. Regression is a psychological mechanism that has to do with earlier stages of development and abandoned forms of gratification belonging to them, so that's not the answer either.