The term "projection", which is used in geometry, physics, psychology and other sciences, comes from the Latin word projectio, which literally translates as "throwing forward." Specifically in psychology, they designate one of the mechanisms of psychological protection of the individual.
The main methods of psychological defense of personality
Before proceeding with the disclosure of the essence of projection, it would be useful to give a general definition of such psychological processes as defense mechanisms, as well as to find out what methods of this protection exist.
The concept of psychological defense was born in the framework of psychoanalysis. It was introduced by the founder of this teaching Sigmund Freud in 1894. According to him, a person begins to use psychological defense mechanisms to fight various painful and difficult experiences. In a difficult moment for a person, they help preserve the mental health and integrity of the individual by distorting reality. That is, the primary function of these mechanisms is to protect the individual from the negative impact of external and internal factors (that is, from himself). In psychology, it acts as a carrier of an individual principle, which is endowed with its own special inner world. Therefore, the protection mechanisms for each specific case are individual. Nevertheless, as a result of multiple studies, scientists were able to systematize them and revealed several basic methods of psychological defense. Almost all mental functions (memory, attention, perception, imagination, emotions, thinking, etc.) take part in them, but in each case only one of them dominates. Depending on this, the following methods of psychological defense are distinguished:
- Negation.
- Suppression.
- Crowding out.
- Rationalization.
- Reactive formations.
- Substitution.
- Irony.
- Dream.
- Sublimation.
- Projection (in psychology).
- Identification.
- Fantasy (dream).
- Migration
- Introjection.
- Depersonalization and others.
Each of these mechanisms is a specially formulated program to combat anxiety and tension. They help a person in resolving not only external, but also internal conflicts. So, for example, due to projection, a person can transfer responsibility and guilt for some of his shameful (in his understanding) inclinations to another person on an unconscious level, or ascribe his qualities or feelings to others.
Forms of psychological defense
In science, there are four main forms of psychological defense, namely: active, “surrender”, overprotection and “rationalization”.
Active form of protection
It can occur by searching for a “target” - someone or something, on whom you can hang out your bad mood or accumulated aggression, also by extrapunity, in which there is a tendency to blame someone else for your mistakes or failures, but not yourself . “Righteous anger” also refers to this form of protection, when a person rains down with reproaches on someone in order to justify the negative feelings that arise from him, for example envy. Self-affirmation by belittling the dignity of another person is the most negative form of triggering the psychological defense mechanism. And also belongs to this category. In addition, the devaluation of the object of anxiety, that is, the attribution of negative characteristics to a given person, which he actually may not possess, can be attributed to the active form of protection.
Psychological defense through surrender
When a person, evaluating his achievements in life, feels inner dissatisfaction, he resorts to such a form of protection as surrender. It can be expressed by gerontolism or puerilism. For example, he can console himself with the fact that he is still ahead, or, on the contrary, blame age for his failures, saying that if I were young, then everything would be different. Incidentally, this type also includes intropunitivity (the opposite of extrapunitivity), when a person blames himself for everything. This form is mainly resorted to by people with an inferiority complex.
Overprotection
Under the influence of deep feelings or stress, a person ceases to perceive all the information that is unpleasant for himself and hears only the good. This psychological device is called the selection of information, it is somewhat similar to the mechanism of denial or avoidance, when the individual does not want to believe what has happened and denies it.
The so-called "protective facade" also refers to the mechanism of "overprotection" when a quiet person suddenly begins to behave unusually brazenly and this plunges others into shock. The devaluation of the threat, as well as the personalization of anxiety, are also methods of overprotection. And if in the first case a person pushes thoughts of a threat looming over him because of the commission of certain actions (for example, smoking - as a consequence of the threat of lung cancer), then in the second case, he is in his anxieties, which are most often unreasonable, looking for culprits from the outside. Over-protection also includes reinsurance (never fly on planes, eat healthy food, etc.), fixation, crowding out, over-conservatism, difflexion (the same as withdrawal), disconnection from reality, depersonalization (when a person disconnect from the main problem, begins to engage in something insignificant, etc.), “dissection of the Gordian knot” (unconscious risk), symbolic or ritual actions (faith in signs), sublimation (reappraisal of life values), etc.
By the way, people with a high level of psychological defense resort to completely different methods, such as optimism, clarity of thought, analysis, a real outlook on things, attitude to oneself with humor, etc. However, only a real person can treat such problems. In psychology, despite the fact that the word “personality” is understood as any creature that is endowed with consciousness, speech, creative abilities, etc., nevertheless, in everyday life speaking about personality, they mean people who have the power of will and character are extraordinary and powerful people.
Protection through rationalization
These primarily include attitudes of self-defense, or as psychology calls it “a lawyer to himself”. Probably everyone saw the film "The most charming and attractive." In it, the main character uses this particular form of psychological defense. Projection, distortion, substitution of reality, introjection, identification of oneself with a socially significant person, dissolution of responsibility, etc. also belong to protection through rationalization. Sometimes the distortion of reality happens in the form of a time shift. When for a person everything that took place several years ago seems to be almost prehistoric. Further in the article we will try to explain the essence of one of the mechanisms of psychological defense - projection. As noted above, protection in this case is carried out through rationalization.
What is a projection?
Projection in psychology is a way of transferring one's own feelings and secret desires to another animate or inanimate object. With the first, it seems, everything is clear, as for inanimate objects, this happens when a person endowed with objects or natural phenomena, his sensations, for example, the disturbing sea, hostile sky, weeping willow , etc. In the simplest Understanding, a person who occasionally experiences outbreaks of cruelty, sees cruelty in other people, a liar thinks that everyone around him is deceiving him. This happens because a person does not accept these qualities in himself, cannot really evaluate himself as if from an outsider, however this constant conflict with himself leads to the fact that he unconsciously resorts to a projection, which, like introjection, is a psychological defense. Freud believed that they are most often found in people with paronoid or hysteroid disorders. In this context, this term refers to the mechanism of subjective perception, which can be both positive and negative.
Negative and positive sides of the projection
When people feel guilty for some time, or if they experience anxiety and fear, then certain protective mechanisms begin to work in their minds. For example, a projection. In psychology, this is a way of transferring your own feelings and secret desires to another object. For example, a person who has a secret desire to change his wife, but does not accept and is even ashamed of this, begins to project these desires on his wife. As a result of this, he begins to believe that he, not his wife, wants to change him. As a result, he continually rolls up scenes of jealousy, accuses her of all mortal sins, although he has no reason for this. Another example is the story of an aging beauty, who, fearing old age, begins to see signs of aging in her peers and express it in their faces. In a word, projection in psychology is a mechanism of subjective perception, which can be both positive and negative. The above examples indicate the negative side of this mechanism.
On the other hand, projection in psychology can also have positive aspects. For example, empathy is a positive projection, which can increase mutual understanding between people. Empathy for someone in psychological science is called empathy. It is based on the same mechanism of projection when a person empathizing with another projects his feelings on himself. As a result, he is able to better understand the state of this "other."
Conclusion
The main problems of personality psychology, which include the problem of its mental health, are closely interconnected with the mechanisms of psychological protection that the individual resorts to (unconsciously) in order to maintain the integrity of his mental health.