An executive busy at work receives a phone call from a friend relating bad news. The executive makes a conscious effort to put this information out of mind and continues to work at the task at hand. The next day executive remembers that the friend telephoned but is unable to recall the message. Which defense mechanism does this behavior represent

The correct answer is - suppression.

Explanation:

Suppression is the voluntary exclusion or disassociation from any feeling that might cause anxiety causing situations, or feelings. In this type of defense mechanism the brain voluntary exclude itself from the situations that can make an individual unnecessarily anxious.

In the given case the particular executive get a negative information which might lead him to cause anxiety so the his brain follows the suppression to avoid the situation.

Thus, the correct answer is - suppression.

out of the choices i'd say d the ability to set goals, mainly because to desire to continue you need motivation but it isn't motivation in that part, but setting goals means you have an endgame and you want to reach it which sums up motivation.