A school social worker learns that a 10-year-old student has just been placed in foster care because physical abuse by her parents has been substantiated. The social worker has had many referrals for this student in recent weeks concerning incidents of bullying other children. This student's behavior is MOST likely a result of:

• A. Displacement
• B. Reaction formation
• C. Projection
• D. Incorporation

Answer: (A)

Displacement is at work here: when intense feelings tied to a threatening or painful situation are redirected toward a safer, more manageable target. The child has just experienced substantiated physical abuse at home, which likely stirred anger, fear, and hurt that she can’t safely express toward her parents. Channeling that distress into bullying peers allows her to act out her emotions in a way that feels more controllable and less risky, which is a classic move of displacement. The other options don’t fit as well: reaction formation would involve showing the opposite of true feelings, projection would attribute her own unacceptable thoughts to others, and incorporation would involve inwardly taking on others’ traits rather than redirecting aggression toward a safer target. In practice, this pattern signals the need for trauma-informed support and safety planning for the student.