Which of the following is an example of displacement as defined in the material? A child who is angry hits a stuffed animal.

• A. Maddie hits a classmate
• B. Maddie is angry so she hits a stuffed animal
• C. Maddie asks for help
• D. Maddie ignores the situation

Answer: (B)

Displacement means redirecting strong feelings from their real target to a safer, more acceptable object. Here, Maddie feels angry, but she channels that anger toward a stuffed animal instead of toward the person or situation that triggered it. The stuffed animal is non-threatening, so it serves as a safer outlet for the emotion. Hitting a classmate would be direct aggression toward the actual target, not displacement, while asking for help or ignoring the situation doesn’t involve redirecting the emotion to a substitute object. This example shows the emotion being moved to a harmless target, which is the essence of displacement.