Reaction Formation: Hiding Insecurity Through Superiority in Inside Out 2

"Out with the old, in with the new."

-      Maya Hawke, Inside Out 2 (2024)

Many deeply rigid and exaggerated attitudes are actually attempts to completely block out or deny certain unwelcome impulses or inner pressures. This is the core of a strategy known as reaction formation. In this process, a person adopts an attitude or behavior that is the exact opposite of an unacceptable inner urge (Elzer & Gerlach, 2018). For example, if a person harbors feelings of hostility toward a colleague, they might instead treat that colleague with excessive kindness. This extreme, opposite behavior serves to keep the unwelcome urge buried. However, since the original, unwanted feeling doesn't truly vanish, it sometimes manages to break through in unexpected ways, proving that the contradictory feeling still exists beneath the surface.

Individuals who frequently use reaction formation effectively build this defense into their personality structure. Instead of developing new coping strategies each time a feeling arises, they maintain a continuous, heightened state of readiness against the perceived "danger" of their own inner impulses. They transform their character to be the antithesis of the unwanted urge, making the opposite attitude a constant feature of who they are. This deep-seated change means they are always on guard. Classic examples include overtly caring for someone else when the person secretly desires to be the one cared for, or claiming to "hate" something or someone that they are actually quite fond of (Elzer & Gerlach, 2018 p. 73).

Clinical examples highlight how ingrained these behaviors can become. Consider the person who is obsessively clean or orderly (Elzer & Gerlach, 2018). This extreme cleanliness is often a reaction formation used to battle an inner impulse toward messiness or disorder. The tell-tale sign of this coping strategy is the inflexibility and extreme nature of the clean habit. Furthermore, the defense is betrayed when, under stress or fatigue, brief, unexpected moments of dirtiness or disorganization break through, demonstrating that the original, opposite impulse toward disorder has been simply suppressed, not eliminated. This over-the-top cleanliness is merely a reaction to an unacceptable inner urge.

A prime example of reaction formation in Inside Out 2 is seen in Riley's strenuous efforts to be cool and accepted by the high school hockey players. Driven by the intense, unacceptable inner feeling of insecurity and fear of being alone (especially after learning her best friends won't attend the same school), Riley attempts to block out this genuine anxiety by adopting the exact opposite behavior: she acts aloof, confident, and dismissive of her long-time friends, Bree and Grace (Aminah, 2025). This exaggerated pretense, including avoiding her old friends and forcing herself to like things she normally wouldn't- is the reaction formation protecting her from confronting the painful truth: that she is desperate to hold onto her old identity and friendships but fears they are not "good enough" for her new high school life. Furthermore, this exaggerated show of detachment and superiority serves as a defense mechanism, convincing herself (and others) that she has outgrown her previous identity and doesn't need the security of her old friendships, thereby protecting her from the pain of facing her profound fear of rejection and loneliness (Aminah, 2025).