Two terms used throughout the need discussions are defined below:

Need Conflicts: Within a particular dimension some needs conflict with each other because they evoke incompatible behavior if they are expressed synchronically (simultaneously). For example, the aggression and nurturance needs evoke incompatible behavior in all three dimensions. Needs that conflict in a particular dimension are located in opposite areas of that dimension (see Target Model) indicating that they are not normally activated synchronically in that dimension.

Mal Adaptive Need Fusion: Needs that normally produce conflicting behavior when synchronically evoked in a particular dimension are sometimes combined or fused despite resulting conflicts. Mal adaptive fusion creates frustrations and problems. For example, in the combative dimension, when the aggression and succorance needs are synchronically activated, the fused behavioral expression may take the form of whining and complaining that does not effectively express either the aggression need or the succorance need.

The Defendance Need
(The need to stand up for one's rights and defend oneself)

Our defendance need is activated when we are under attack. There are other ways to cope with personal attacks besides self-defense. Flight is a common way for all animals to escape attack and it is a specialty of those hunted by predators. Camouflage and concealment are other special strategies for coping with attack. Animals sometimes avoid attacks by feigning death ("playing 'possum"). Some animals throw themselves on the mercy of attackers by actions indicating surrender such as rolling over on their backs and exposing their throat and belly to the enemy. Humans also have a number of symbolic amnesty pleas. They "throw in the towel", raise their hands over their heads, assume a "search" position, run up a white flag, etc. Amnesty signals are most apt to be honored when the attack is aimed at establishing domination. Amnesty is neither offered or accepted between predators and their prey when food or survival is at stake. Of all the strategies for coping with attackers, the willingness and ability to defend oneself is the only tactic that prevents domination by the attacker.

The Function of the Defendance Need

The primary function of the defendance need is to keep us from being controlled, dominated, or destroyed by aggressive forces. Defensive behavior is often similar to aggressive behavior so the two are sometimes confused (the "preemptive strike" may be rationalized as a defensive reaction). An important difference between aggression and defendance is that the aggressor has the choice of where and when to attack. The defender is reactive rather than proactive. As a consequence, defensive actions are generally more circumscribed and restricted than aggressive behavior. The defender must try to conceal weaknesses and prepare for attacks by restricting and consolidating the areas to be defended. The turtle withdraws into its shell, the general forms his line into a perimeter, the troops withdraw into a fort, the wagons are circled, the lawyer or debater concedes a point that cannot adequately be defended. Of course, in combative situations, adversaries shift back and forth between attack and defense. A boxing or karate match offers a good chance to observe this alternation between attack and defense. An argument or debate has a similar format in that attacks and rebuttals alternate.

Problems Related to the Defendance Need

People who are unwilling to defend themselves are apt to become victimized by bullies, exploiters, and manipulators. Chronic victims may fail to defend themselves because of fears of reprisal or punishment for self-defense (often learned during childhood in homes where no self-defense or "talking back" was tolerated). Another cause of a chronic defenseless posture is a belief that all assertive behavior, even for self-defense, is bad or wrong.

Overly defensive people tend to generate hostility in others which generates combativeness. Such people are often described as hypersensitive to criticism and, in extreme cases, paranoid. Overly defensive people seem to be chronically angry and frustrated and often have underlying depression.

Internal conflicts are generated when the defendance need is poorly differentiated from inhibiting needs (harm and blame avoidance, abasement, deference). In such cases, erratic, unpredictable shifts between defensiveness and passivity are apt to occur. In a situation where self-defense is appropriate and even necessary, the person may be immobilized and silent which invites an aggressor to attack. At other times, especially after resentments have built up from repression of the defendance need, there may be explosive defensive reactions to minor criticisms or perceived slights. When our defendance and abasement needs are poorly differentiated, it is hard to make a choice between defending ourselves or admitting guilt. Sometimes people with this problem will admit guilt when they are innocent and at other times defend themselves when they are guilty.

When the defendance need is not well differentiated from positive social needs (affiliation, nurturance, succorance, gratitude), the result may be overly defensive behavior around close friends and family with a lack of appropriate defensiveness in impersonal transactions with friends and family. Another possible consequence of confusion between the defendance and personal needs is a facade of friendliness to conceal defensiveness.

Dimension Locations of the Defendance Need

In the combative dimension, the defendance need is normally located in the combative area. This location indicates a generally held belief that defense is a necessary and important part of any combative action. Any time we choose to engage in a conflict we are apt to have to defend ourselves against attacks and counterattacks from adversaries or opponents. A lack of self-defense makes us very vulnerable in combative situations.

In the personal-social dimension, the defendance need is normally located in the impersonal area of the dimension. Defensive behavior is thus generally perceived as opposed to friendly social-personal interactions. When there is conflict that needs to be resolved between friends, the appropriate area for resolution is the impersonal area where the defendance need is under the control of rational needs so it can be expressed in a rational, objective, and analytic way.

In the competitive dimension, the defendance need is normally located in the competitive area of the dimension. The defendance need is separated from the aggression and rejection needs in the competitive dimension (these needs are closely associated with defendance in the combative and personal dimensions). In the competitive area the defendance need is modified by close association with rational needs (understanding, order, achievement) and by personal-social needs (affiliation, play) so that it is expressed without the destructive aspects that are characteristic of combative defensiveness. In competitive sports and other forms of competition, we are expected to "defend" our title or status but only in a competitive way that subjects us to rules, regulations, and the decisions of those in authority. In the competitive area, the defendance need helps us mobilize our abilities, techniques, skills, and ideas to defend our competitive status whereas in the combative dimension the defendance need helps us mobilize our power to protect our material possessions.

Defendance Dislocated in the Non combative Area of the Combative Dimension

If the defendance need is dislocated in the non combative area, it is unavailable when we need to assert our power and will. This leaves us vulnerable in combative situations since it is almost always necessary to defend one's self when we are engaged in a combative conflict. When dislocated in the non combative area, the defendance need is associated with non combative needs and these associations may cause the person to be defensive which may work against avoiding conflict.

Defendance Located Near the Periphery of the Combative Area of the Combative Dimension

When the defendance need is located unusually near the periphery of the combative area relative to other needs, defendance may be considered too extreme to activate even when it is appropriate. Also, the person's defenses may be ineffective because the defendance need is too distant from the combative needs that normally support it.

Defendance Dislocated in the Personal-Social Area of the Personal-Social Dimension

When the defendance need is dislocated in the personal-social area, it may cause defensiveness in personal-social relations. Such defensiveness may be disguised or covered up by false friendliness but it may still operate covertly so that social tensions are created.

Defendance Located Too Near the Periphery the Impersonal Area of the Personal-Social Dimension

When defendance is located too near the periphery in the impersonal area relative to other needs, it may cause extreme defensiveness in attempts to impersonally resolve conflicts with friends or loved ones. In this extreme location, the rational needs (understanding, order, achievement) are not close enough to help the person objectively and rationally defend their position when they feel unjustly criticized by friends or loved ones.

Defendance Dislocated in the Noncompetitive Area of the Competitive Dimension

When the defendance need is dislocated in the noncompetitive area of the competitive dimension, it may make competitive status or position difficult to defend. Being put on the defensive in competitive situations may cause withdrawal from competition. When it is expressed, a defense is apt to be expressed too aggressively.

Defendance Located Too Near the Periphery in the Competitive Area of the Competitive Dimension

When the defendance need is located too near the periphery in the competitive area relative to other needs, competitive defense may not be expressed except in an extreme way. In this location, the defendance need does not have the rational controls (understanding, order, achievement) that enable defenses to be expressed objectively and rationally.