Chapter 3    Adler: Individual Psychology91
In summary, safeguarding tendencies are found in nearly everyone, but when 
they become overly rigid, they lead to self-defeating behaviors. Overly sensitive people 
create safeguarding tendencies to buffer their fear of disgrace, to eliminate their exag -
gerated inferiority feelings, and to attain self-esteem. However, safeguarding tendencies 
are self-defeating because their built-in goals of self-interest and personal superiority 
actually block them from securing authentic feelings of self-esteem. Many people fail 
to realize that their self-esteem would be better safeguarded if they gave up their self-
interest and developed a genuine caring for other people. Adler’s idea of safeguarding 
tendencies and Freud’s notion of defense mechanisms are compared in Table 3.1.
Masculine Protest
In contrast to Freud, Adler (1930, 1956) believed that the psychic life of women is 
essentially the same as that of men and that a male-dominated society is not natural 
but rather an artificial product of historical development. According to Adler, cul -
tural and social practices—not anatomy—influence many men and women to overem -
phasize the importance of being manly, a condition he called the masculine protest.
Origins of the Masculine Protest
In many societies, both men and women place an inferior value on being a woman. Boys 
are frequently taught early that being masculine means being courageous, strong, and 
dominant. The epitome of success for boys is to win, to be powerful, and to be on top. 
In contrast, girls often learn to be passive and to accept an inferior position in society.
TABLE 3.1
Comparison of Safeguarding Tendencies with Defense Mechanisms
Adler’s Safeguarding Tendencies
 1. Limited mostly to the construction of 
a neurotic style of life
 2. Protect the person’s fragile self-
esteem from public disgrace
 3. Can be partly conscious
 4. Common types include:
A. excuses
B . aggression
(1) depreciation
(2) accusation
(3) self-accusation
C . withdrawal
(1) moving backward
(2) standing still
(3) hesitating
(4) constructing obstaclesFreud’s Defense Mechanisms
 1. Found in everyone
 2. Protect the ego from the pain of 
anxiety
 3. Operate only on an unconscious level
 4. Common types include:
A. repression
B . reaction formation
C . displacement
D . fixation
E . regression
F . projection
G. introjection
H. sublimation
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