Therapist Links People Pleasing to Fawn Response, a Modern Threat Adaptation

What was said

"When we're in the fawn response, we appease the threat. We try to be liked by the threat. We satisfy it, impress it, compliment it so that we can feel safe again. It's really the only threat response that we're not punished for in society or applauded."

Licensed psychotherapist Meg Josephson explained on The School of Greatness that people pleasing stems from the fawn response, a modern threat response distinct from fight, flight, or freeze. Unlike primal survival mechanisms, the fawn response involves appeasing perceived threats through approval-seeking behavior. Josephson argues this response is uniquely reinforced by society through praise for being agreeable, embedding it deeply in nervous systems.