Earlier it had been an internal
self-reproach, now it was an imputation coming from the outside. The judgment about her had been transposed
outward: people were saying what otherwise
she would have said to herself.
Something was gained by this. She
would have had to accept the judgment pronounced from inside; she could reject
the one arriving from outside. In that
way the judgment, the reproach, was kept away from her ego.
The purpose of paranoia is thus to ward off
an idea that is incompatible with the ego, by projecting its substance into the
external world.
(Freud, letter to Wilhelm Fliess on January 24, 1895, on Paranoia)
What is Psychological
Projection?
Psychological projection, also known as blame shifting,
is a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against unpleasant
impulses by denying their existence in themselves, while attributing them to
others.
Projection may also happen to obliterate attributes of
other people with which we are uncomfortable. We assume that they are like us,
and in doing so, we allow ourselves to ignore those attributes they have with
which we are uncomfortable.
So, psychological projection is the phenomenon whereby
one projects one’s own thoughts, motivations, desires, feelings, and so on onto
someone else (usually another person, but psychological projection onto
animals, parents, children, neighbors, other drivers, political figures, racial
groups, states and countries, also occurs).
An illustration would be an individual who feels dislike
for another person, but whose unconscious mind does not allow them to become
aware of this negative emotion. Instead
of admitting to themselves that they feel dislike for someone, they project
their dislike onto him, so that the individual’s conscious thought is not “I
don’t like Bob,” but “Bob doesn’t seem to like me or I do not like that certain
behavior that Bob does.”
It is “the operation of expelling feelings or wishes the
individual finds wholly unacceptable – too shameful, too obscene, too dangerous
– by attributing them to another”.
Projection concerns externalizing the issues that we need
to deal with ourselves. Usually we project onto others issues and problems that
we need to address within ourselves, or are unable to manage properly. Projection is irresponsible behavior as we
dump our problem onto somebody else. We
justify these projections by blaming someone or something outside for the emotions
we do not want to feel. We project our
disappointments and problems onto other people, it is somehow their fault, and
we become a blamer. Ultimately, it is the person who projects that loses, as
they never really sort out their own problems.
You have seen parents raging at their children demanding
they meet requirements the parents have failed to achieve themselves. This is projection. The parent trains the child to do all the
negative behaviors the parent has repressed for a lifetime. If the parent has a problem with addiction,
they will rage at the child until the child becomes addicted too. They see their own behavior mirrored back in
the child and then rage against their own projection trying to get the child to
change what they are not yet willing change and face in themselves. We try to change everything outside us when
we are not willing to go inside and do the work we need to do to change
ourselves. You see this with so-called
progressives. They try to change
everything in the world rather than do their own inner work.
If a parent has repressed feelings that they have a lazy
nature, they will see a hint of laziness in their child and begin to rage
against this. A child will do anything
it is told not to do, because it is a way of getting the parents attention,
even though it may be negative behavior.
Over time, this negative attention feels like love to the child. They get
reversed wired and begin to do passive aggressive behavior to get the attention
of the parent, even though it is painful for both. To the child this negative
behavior begins to feel like love.
Strong expectations concerning other people is also a
form of projection. We projecting our
own wishes, desires and aversions onto them and then become disappointed when
they will not, do not, or cannot live up to them.
Value of
Projection
Projecting thoughts or emotions onto others allows the
person to consider them and how dysfunctional they are, but without feeling the
attendant discomfort of knowing, that these thoughts and emotions are their
own. We can thus criticize the other person, distancing ourselves from our own
dysfunction.
One explanation is that the ego perceives dysfunction
from 'somewhere' and then seeks to locate that somewhere. The super ego warns
of punishment if that somewhere is internal, so the ego places it in a more
acceptable external place - often in convenient other people.
Projection turns neurotic or moral anxiety into reality
anxiety, which is easier to deal with.
Projection is a common attribute of paranoia, where
people project dislike of themselves onto others such that they believe that
most other people dislike them.
Projection helps justify unacceptable behavior, for
example where a person claims that they are sticking up for themselves amongst
a group of aggressive other people.
Empathy, where a person experiences the perceived
emotions of others, may be considered as a 'reverse' form of projection, where
a person projects other people onto themselves. Identification may also be a
form of reverse projection.
Projection is one of Anna Freud's original defense
mechanisms.
Examples
* I do not like another person. However, I have a value
that says I should like everyone. Therefore, I project onto them that they do
not like me. This allows me to avoid them and also to handle my own feelings of
dislike.
* An unfaithful husband suspects his wife of infidelity.
* A woman who is attracted to a fellow worker accuses the
person of sexual advances.
* A person in psychoanalysis may insist to the therapist
that he knows the therapist wants to rape some women, when in fact the client
has these awful feelings to rape the woman.
* A person, who is rude, may constantly accuse other
people of being rude.
* Classic racism is an example of psychological
projection; “It’s their entire fault that I feel the way that I do,” says the
racist. I am a victim of another persons
thoughts or actions.
* Projection of hope. There is projection of someway a
more positive light, for example, when a patient may project his or her
feelings of hope onto the therapist.
Dealing with
Projection
To work authentically with other people, avoid projecting
your woes onto them. When you see others in a negative light, think: are you
projecting? Also understand that when others criticizing you, they may well be
criticizing a projection of themselves.
When others are using projection, you can hold up a
mirror to show them what they are doing. As usual, this may well be met with
other forms of resistance.
There are simple techniques to overcome this:
1. Recognition of this trait in ones own character is the
first step.
2. Finding out what issues we project is the next.
3. Then taking responsibility and bring the projection
back in.
4. Facing the issues penetrates them and finishes them
off.
Sources and
Additional Information:
