The world of human relations is complex and, unfortunately, does not always bring us joy. There are often moments that cause resentment and bitterness, irritation or disappointment. These are hard feelings that I would like to get rid of, and a person unconsciously learned to protect his psyche from excessive overload and negativity. The first mechanisms of psychological defense were studied and described by Z. Freud, who determined that one of the most ancient and primitive mechanisms is projection.
What is projection
Do you know how a projector works? It transfers the image from the film to the screen. Also, a person often transfers, projects his feelings, thoughts, desires onto others. Most often these are unpleasant thoughts and desires. Shame and guilt are difficult experiences, and a person seeks to get rid of them so as not to injure his psyche. Moreover, he does not just take his sins and dark thoughts out of his consciousness, but endows them with other people. So it is easier for him – he does not need to blame himself, because others are no better, and even worse.
So, the most jealous are always husbands who themselves are not averse to cheating on their wife. But since they have similar thoughts and desires, then a woman should have them too? And this has its own, albeit perverse, logic. And the wife, who accuses her husband of spending extra money on “his whims and toys,” is not too frugal herself. She wants these shoes or a blouse so much, but her husband is no better than her. And when we condemn our neighbors or colleagues, we remember first of all those unpleasant qualities that are inherent in ourselves.
You will say: this is bad, and I never do that. No, do not indulge yourself with illusions, everyone does it, and so do you.
How it works
The protective mechanism of projection is inherent in all people and is formed in the earliest childhood. It is born from the prohibitions that society dictates to us. In the process of upbringing, ideas about good and bad, about what is permissible and unacceptable, are formed and consolidated in the consciousness. A child begins to understand very early that it is bad to be aggressive, offend the weak, offend other people, and take away toys. The older a person gets, the more prohibitions society dictates to him. They create conditions for negative experiences, because even wanting the forbidden is bad, unacceptable. And a person seeks to protect himself from these unpleasant emotions, to get out of the internal conflict between the desired and the acceptable. So there is a reaction known to all: “You yourself (a), are to blame (a)!”
Projection is one of the oldest types of psychological defense, and its mechanism is simple. It always works according to the following scheme:
- The individual feels discomfort, shame, irritation, which are caused by forbidden desires and his wrong, from the point of view of social norms, behavior.
- In an effort to get rid of negative emotions, a person takes unacceptable desires and urges outside of his consciousness.
- He attributes these motives to other people so that he himself would not be so ashamed, because “everyone is like that, everyone does that”.
That is why the “old maidens”, preoccupied with their “wrong” thoughts and desires, are so energetically fighting the “debauchery” of young people. And a drunkard in moments of sobriety with anger stigmatizes his alcoholic neighbor.
The projection mechanism adds fuel to the fire of interethnic conflicts, because most often representatives of one nation blame their enemies for their own sins. And the more of these sins, the more aggressive people become. More often than not, we blame those whom we ourselves have offended. Why? In order not to be ashamed and not to feel guilty.
The loudest accuse of officials of theft are those people who themselves would not mind to warm their hands, but do not have this opportunity. And rejecting their own desires, these accusers project them onto those who have such an opportunity.
Projection and Empathy
Projection is not only associated with shameful thoughts and asocial desires. The process of transferring emotional states underlies such an important socio-psychological phenomenon as empathy. Empathy in psychology refers to the ability of a person to experience the same feelings as his partner. It is compassion, empathy, which is based on personal emotional experience. It is this experience that the individual transfers to other people, imagining how they should feel in a familiar situation. Therefore, the suffering or joy of another can only be understood by the one who himself suffered and rejoiced.
Without the ability to project your emotional experience, mutual understanding is impossible. Although the projection does not always reflect the objective state of affairs. We can empathize with a person, think how bad he is, because in a similar situation it was very difficult for us. But that does not mean that the person is really suffering. People are different, and the circumstances in which they find themselves are also different. But the more emotionally close individuals are, the more accurately they understand each other’s state.
Projection views
The manifestations of projection in our lives and in our relationships with other people are varied. Usually there are 4 main types of it:
- Attributive projection is based on the attribution of the motives of his behavior by the individual to other people. Usually these are motives condemned by society or unacceptable by the person himself. (“Greedy girl!”, – the child shouts to a peer who does not want to treat him with candy).
- Complimentary projection is somewhat opposite to attributive and manifests itself in ascribing qualities to oneself that are opposite to those that are rejected. (“I am strong and brave, and you are just a coward and weakling!”).
- Rational is the justification of one’s mistakes and failures by accusing others of some shortcomings, weaknesses, unprofessionalism. (“The project would be successful if such mediocrities and lazy people didn’t work with me in the team.” “We would have a perfect marriage if my husband cared more about the family”).
- Autistic projection is the projection of your needs into the outside world. It is well illustrated by the saying: “A fisherman sees a fisherman from afar.” A hungry person first of all pays attention to food, and a woman who has experienced a betrayal of her husband sees only traitors and traitors among the men around her. She simply does not notice others.
Often, in a person’s behavior and his perception of the world around him, different types of projection interact. This is especially true for insecure people, burdened by complexes and feelings of guilt.
Cons and pros of projection
Although this psychological defense refers to the natural reactions of our psyche to difficult social situations, its disadvantages are obvious and visible, one might say, with the naked eye. These include the following consequences of using a projection:
- distortion of reality – we see not what it really is, but what we would like;
- inadequate assessment of the behavior of other people;
- interpersonal conflicts due to the attribution of our own sins to partners;
- hiding his shortcomings behind a projection, a person does not seek to get rid of them.
However, the projection is not in vain referred to the mechanisms of psychological defense. Displacement from consciousness of those thoughts and motives that the person himself considers harmful, bad, helps him to cope with internal conflict. Otherwise, this conflict could lead to the development of diseases such as neuroses, psychosis, depression. After all, you see, it’s hard to constantly blame only yourself. The fact that projection protects a person from destructive feelings of guilt is a definite plus.
The second plus is the role of projection in empathy, as discussed above. Thanks to this mechanism, the mother understands how the child who has not been bought the coveted toy is feeling, and the teacher knows what the student who has received a deuce is going through. Without projection, the world would turn into a conglomeration of callous, insensitive and self-absorbed egoists.
Projection, like other psychological protection, is necessary for us, since it protects the psyche from traumatic experiences and helps to build relationships with others. But knowing the disadvantages and dangers of projection, you need to control your thoughts and behavior, limit your desire to blame everything on others and blame them for all the troubles.
