jitterbugjive:

Considering he’s a criminal psychologist, that’s something he’s used to. He presents himself in very much the same way, so the behavior doesn’t surprise him.

Slate has quite a lot of defense mechanisms actually, he’s an incredibly guarded individual.

Bolded stuff is from the articles, italicized are from RP snippets of Slate presenting these behaviors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectualization

“A further difficulty may be that of assimilating new and unfamiliar feelings once the defense of intellectualization begins to crack open”

Slate was flushed, staring off at the shapes on the wall with a somewhat lost and thoughtful expression. These were complex things, after all. New experiences and things to observe that had never surfaced before. He had a routine and it was being broken apart.

“Alternatively the therapist may unwittingly deflect the patient away from feeling to mere talking of feelings, producing not emotional but merely intellectual insight an obsessional attempt to control through thinking the lost feelings parts of the self”

“Suppose John has been brought up by a strict father, and he feels hurt and angry as a result. Although John may have deep feelings of hatred towards his father, when he talks about his childhood, John may say: "Yes, my father was a rather firm person, I suppose I do feel some antipathy towards him even now”

‘It seems to me that being psycho-analysed is essentially a process where one is forced back into infantilism…intellectual primitivism’ - despite knowing that she 'would get no answer to it, or at least, not on the level I wanted, since I knew that what I was saying was the “intellectualising” to which she attributed my emotional troubles’.”

Rorshach slowly reached up, cupping Slate’s cheek in his hoof. “Are you happy being this? I’m not asking if you are content. Not if you are satisfied. Are you happy, Slate?”

Another blink, Slate took a breath. “Happy being a mess of anxiety who’s afraid to sleep and is on the border of drinking out of habit? Who’s also trying to resist a smoking addiction, lost his job which was a life passion due to bad choices, and who’s first thoughts whenever meeting a stranger is ‘they are going to hurt you, don’t let them’…? I’ve had therapy in the past, I’ve researched and found reasoning behind the things that happened.” 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolation_%28psychology%29

 ”Another noteworthy type of isolation is referred to as “temporal bracketing”, in which some perceived failure or shortcoming is buried away in one’s past, effectively removing its impact on the current self. This type of separation from the past can be seen in religious conversion or “born again” experiences”

“To be frank, I did my best to erase that life out of my mind for the longest time. I convinced myself I could replace it and pretend that it never happened.”

“By isolating themselves from whatever misdeed they are bringing to cognition, they contend that it has nothing to do with their current state or relationships with people.”

“What exactly has gotten you so determined over this..? My happiness? It was 20 years ago, Rorshach. I’ve had many parental figures in those years and a lot of time to understand what I am.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalization_%28making_excuses%29

Rationalization can be used to avoid admitting disappointment: “I didn’t get the job that I applied for, but I really didn’t want it in the first place.”

 ”But I had to give up that dream and erase my life. Not as conveniently as you, of course, but with my credibility lost I had to find something new.” He sighed, a mix of longing and contentment. “I work with foals now, writing stories. So if I can’t fix the broken perhaps I can mold the growing.”

He laughed, “I’m still young, still learning. And still make mistakes.” He shook his head, “If I’d just known what was happening in that place, what would happen to it… Well, I would have chosen a different path. But it’s too late now, so…” He chuckled, “Well, I just have to make due and hope that association wont always be the thing turning me away from any respectful positions.”

 ”Where is my place? asked the rabbit. I dream of cabbage and carrots, but where they are grown I am not welcome. The rabbit searched through valleys and rivers, through forests where foxes chased him away. Where is my place? Where are my dreams? The rabbit only found his place in the grass, his place was a place with no dreams.”

Some rationalizations take the form of a comparison. Commonly this is done to lessen the perception of an action’s negative effects, to justify an action, or to excuse culpability:

“At least [what occurred] is not as bad as [a worse outcome].”
In response to an accusation: “At least I didn’t [worse action than accused action].”
As a form of false choice: “Doing [undesirable action] is a lot better than [a worse action].”

“If only I was not caught in the wrong side at the wrong time, I could have been in a much better place right now.”  

“Even if I say I didn’t do it, I’ll still be punished like I did, so what’s the point…?” He gave a dry, empty laugh. “And then after it all. I’m just going to be sent back there again. They’ll disown me for sure, who would want me after that?” He was smiling absently again, empty without feeling. “Whatever. Maybe I should just say I didn’t do any of it so I can stay there longer. It’s better than being tossed around.”

 ”John Banja states that the medical field features a disproportionate amount of rationalization invoked in the “covering up” of mistakes.”Common excuses made are:

“Why disclose the error? The patient was going to die anyway.”
“Telling the family about the error will only make them feel worse.”
“It was the patient’s fault. If he wasn’t so (obese, sick etc), this error wouldn’t have caused so much harm.”
“Well, we did our best. These things happen.”
“If we’re not totally and absolutely certain the error caused the harm, we don’t have to tell.”
“They’re dead anyway, no point in blaming.”

“It was really unfortunate what happened in the asylum. Such a waste of perfectly fine minds for study.”

“I never agreed to those extreme measures that were taken in that place. In fact, I often pushed to prevent it. If I left…” He smiled, his expression had a very condescending ‘oh well’ look to it, mocking Rorshach for his brash conclusions, “Then there would have been many more patients like that one. I can assure you. Especially with you kicking up such a fuss, and making the asylum run out of funding much faster as it was spending it all on its defense. You know what I saw those six year? More neglect than previously. Less care. Now, are you finally ready to ask me about myself, rather than asking for these confirmations to settle your own conscience?”

“Joining your side meant leaving them in cruel hooves with no chance at all.”

“Celebrity culture can be seen as rationalizing the gap between rich and poor, powerful and powerless, by offering participation to both dominant and subaltern views of reality.”

“Manipulation and power are both words that come with a lot of negativity. So they have alternate words like persuasion and confidence to hide what they really are. You can help and persuade a pony to be good, but it is still a form of manipulation. You can have control and confidence over a situation, but this is also power. There are often two types of ponies in the world, those who guide, and those who need to be guided. They can become either by choice. So what is yours…?”

 “I’m a guider, so if you need one, you only need ask. And if you want to be one as well then you don’t have to worry about having me as a burden.”

 ”Just thinking more on our talk from before, about there being two types in the world. The guides and the guided. It can be said for many things in many ways. Such as how in the world there are either those who take, and those who give. Or, those who suffer burdens and those who carry them. And how, no matter the comparison, it is all essentially the same thing and in all cases anyone can become one or the other with just a little twist.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitting_%28psychology%29

“Splitting creates instability in relationships because one person can be viewed as either personified virtue or personified vice at different times, depending on whether he or she gratifies the subject’s needs or frustrates them.”

“It’s alright. Rorshach, even devils are allowed to be frightened. Talk to me.”

Slate paused, then averted his gaze. “…. It was her fault.” there was a sudden coldness to him. “Everything he ever did wrong was her fault. Everything bad that happened to me, to us, it was always her.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projective_identification

Projective identification is a term introduced by Melanie Klein to describe the process whereby in a close relationship, as between mother and child, lovers, or therapist and patient, parts of the self may in unconscious fantasy be thought of as being forced into the other person.

While based on Freud’s concept of psychological projection, projective identification represents a step beyond. In R.D. Laing’s words, “The one person does not use the other merely as a hook to hang projections on. He strives to find in the other, or to induce the other to become, the very embodiment of projection”. Feelings which can not be consciously accessed are defensively projected into another person in order to evoke the thoughts or feelings projected

 Slowly, he looked up again, staring at his eyes. “But do me a favor, huh? If you’re a father… Don’t be a piece of shit.” He pulled his hooves away and looked away, going silent from here. He didn’t know why he said that, but he was just so angry that he wanted to stab anywhere he could with his words.

I had more examples of this behavior but it’s REALLY hard to really show what he’s doing because he hides it very VERY well. He has successfully regressed someone’s character to child-like dependency for example by continually using stories about childhood in comparison to that person’s issues, as opposed to using more adult scenarios. A small portion of that behavior:

“You had so much to say in my head, I want to see more of that out here. You can even pretend we’re still there, it’s the same room after all. We can play a game, you tell me, I tell you~”

Other mechanisms he’s used but I’m having a hard time getting examples for right now:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_formation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociation_%28psychology%29

Slate is incredibly in depth and I can’t even begin to show all of his quirks and mannerisms. And sometimes he does things even under my own radar before I pick up on it.

In fact, all of the RP quotes were BEFORE I went in to study defense mechanisms. So he was already presenting these defenses before I knew he was using them.