Jacob, I may be in error with my guess, but you may be referring to a "Defense Mechanism" which is some sort of psychological strategy that a person uses to prevent emotional harm or psychological injury to themselves. For example, if I avoid eye contact with others, then that is a "Defense Mechanism". If I avoid talking to others, and pretend that I do not hear them when they speak to me, then that also is a "Defense Mechanism" Seeing only faults in other people's behavior, and never considering that we also have faults, is also another form of Defense Mechanism. Sigmeund Freud outlined Defense Mechanisms and many of these are still regarded as credible understandings of human behavior. Hope this is helpful for you.