Plain English Meaning

Mental habits people use without realizing it to protect themselves from uncomfortable feelings. They can get in the way of learning because they stop a student from honestly seeing their own mistakes.

Full Definition

Subconscious mental processes a person uses to protect themselves from feelings of anxiety, failure, guilt, or threats to self-esteem. Common examples include denial, rationalization, projection, repression, and displacement. In flight training, defense mechanisms can interfere with learning by causing a student to avoid, distort, or refuse to accept feedback about their performance.

Context Anchor

Seen in aviation instruction when an instructor is trying to understand a student's reaction to , poor performance, fear, or frustration.