People self-sabotage to preserve excuses that protect self-esteem

Evidence

Sometimes the need for self-esteem trumps even the desire to succeed. We create barriers to our own success so we can use them as ready-made excuses in case we fail. “Of course my presentation bombed this morning,” one of our students might say to himself, “I was up all night partying with my friends; and it’s no surprise I got a D on that test. I skipped half the classes and didn’t bother to do the assigned readings.” — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 247

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader literature on self-handicapping in social psychology; also echoes themes in Deep Listening about how mental defenses protect identity. — connects to: Avoiding choice through victimhood excuses constitutes inauthentic existence — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 37; People use small self-imposed constraints to avoid confronting their freedom — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 504; Perpetual self-pity becomes an addictive identity that resists all help — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1807 (+1 more)