Which concept refers to the pushing of painful memories out of awareness?

Repression is a defense mechanism proposed by Freud, where the mind unconsciously blocks out or pushes painful or uncomfortable memories and thoughts out of awareness. This process allows individuals to cope with distressing emotions and experiences that they find too overwhelming to confront directly. Repressed memories are not easily accessible to conscious thought, and the individual may not even be aware that these memories exist.

This process serves to protect the individual from psychological harm by keeping traumatic memories out of conscious thought, although they can still influence behavior and emotional responses. In contrast, suppression is a conscious effort to avoid thinking about distressing thoughts or memories, while amnesia typically involves a loss of memory due to various causes, such as physical injury or psychological trauma. Dissociation, on the other hand, refers to a disconnection from thoughts, identity, consciousness, or memory, which serves as a coping mechanism in response to stressful situations. Thus, repression specifically describes the unconscious mechanism of pushing painful memories out of awareness, making it the correct answer in this context.