When someone is scared of a dentist because they had a bad experience early in life at the dental office — what type of psychological phenomenon is this?

Correct answer: C. Transference

• A. Projection is a defense mechanism where a person attributes their own unacceptable thoughts/feelings TO OTHERS — not to a situation. This is different from transference.
• B. 'Self-defense mechanism' is not a specific psychological term. The specific phenomenon described is transference.
• C. TRANSFERENCE occurs when a patient redirects emotions, feelings, or reactions from a past significant relationship/experience onto a current situation or person. In this case, the patient's fear of the current dentist is a direct transfer of negative emotions from an earlier bad dental experience. The patient is 'transferring' the fear from the past relationship to the present one.
• D. While dental phobia can have PTSD features (hyperarousal, avoidance), the specific psychological mechanism of redirecting past emotional experiences to present interactions is transference.