Features of Correlation of Defense Mechanisms and Intelligence in Adolescence and Adulthood

Keywords. Intelligence, defense mechanisms, intellectualization, regression, compensation. The current stage of society’s development is characterized by rapid changes of a social, public, political, economic, cultural and other nature. The personality has to constantly adapt to changes and new demands are placed on the manifestations of its adaptability and personality traits. Human intelligence plays an important role in the adaptation process. Since the psychological defense mechanisms of the personality are one of the most important factors in the formation of the personal structure, the problems of evaluating their effectiveness and activity levels are relevant today. The article presents the indicators of intelligence development in two age groups of personality development and the frequency of applicability of various psychological defense mechanisms, as well as the characteristics of the correlation between intelligence and psychological defense mechanisms of teenagers and young people. The purpose of our research was to study the characteristics of the correlation between defense mechanisms and intelligence at different stages of personality development. By the comparative analysis of the received data, it becomes clear that only the intellectualization defense mechanism is positively correlated with intelligence among teenagers, and compensation and intellectualization are positively correlated with intelligence among young people, and a negative correlation with regression was recorded.