Safeguarding Tendency

Alfred Adler first used the term safeguarding tendencies to describe self-protective behaviors in which people engage (most frequently consciously) to guard themselves against three main threats: physical harm, being negatively evaluated by others and loss of self-esteem. Therefore, when a person perceives a threat to their physical integrity, and, most importantly, to their self-esteem or their social status, they tend to engage in behaviors that diminish the probability of publicly showing vulnerability and mask feelings of inferiority and incompetence. The most common categories of safeguarding tendencies are withdrawal (moving backward, standing still, hesitation, and constructing obstacles), aggression (accusation, depreciation, self-accusation), and giving excuses.

For example: a young man is called out by his professor for his poor performance on the last test. By responding, “I would have done a better job if only I didn’t have to help my mom with chores, I have been very busy lately,” he is engaging in a safeguarding tendency that is excuse-giving. If he had said, “my mom always wants me to help her, I can’t get any work done because of her,” then he would be using accusation to protect himself from the teacher’s criticism and from his own feelings of incompetence.