Coping and Defense Mechanisms: What’s the Difference? Phebe Cramer Williams College ABSTRACT Defense mechanisms and coping strategies are discussed as two different types of adaptational processes. They may be clearly differentiated on the basis of the psychological processes involved, but not on the basis of their relation to outcome measures. Criteria that critically differentiate between defense and coping processes include the conscious/unconscious status and the intentional/nonintentional nature of the processes. Criteria based on the dispo- sitional or situational status of the process, and on the conceptualization of the processes as hierarchical, are found to be more a matter of emphasis than of critical difference. A criterion that attempts to differentiate between defense and coping processes on the basis of their relation to psychological or physical health is found to be without support once the bias in self-report outcome measures is recognized. The study of coping strategies as mechanisms of adaptation has become a mainstream interest in personality and social psychological research. Issues such as how people deal with adversity, the kinds of coping processes they use in different situations, and the benefits that accrue from engaging in different coping operations have produced a large body of empirical research (Suls & Harvey, 1996; Zeidner & Endler, 1996). While recognizing the importance of these coping strategies and their role in managing stress and adversity, there are other psychological mechanisms that may be called on for the same purpose, that is, to relieve Journal of Personality 66:6, December 1998. Copyright © 1998 by Blackwell Publishers, 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, and 108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JF, UK. I wish to express my appreciation to Karina Davidson and Howard Tennen for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper.