Question

When phia's boss tells her that she is lazy and needs to work harder, phia smiles and nods politely. that night, she screams at her husband, eric?

Answer 1

This is an example of displacement, in all likelihood. Phia is really mad at her boss for criticizing her and making her feel ashamed, but of course she cannot take that out on her boss because she would be greatly punished. So instead, Phia takes her anger out on Eric for a relatively minor infraction, simply because he is a convenient target.