07/03/2023
The general psychological reason for projection is always an activated unconscious that seeks expression.
- CARL JUNG.
Projection is a mechanism of defence; it prevents us from having to face parts of ourselves we do not like. By unconsciously ‘projecting’, that is, attributing, an emotion to another person, we can ‘disown’ this feeling, and even become ‘irritated,’ critical or angry towards the other person for displaying it.
It is possible to project certain characteristics onto another person who does not possess them at all, but the one being projected upon may unconsciously encourage it.
Quite often, emotions like rage, anger, grief, hatred will be projected onto another person. Jung described these kind of feelings as being part of our ‘shadow’ side.
Through projection one can create a series of imaginary relationships that often have little or nothing to do with the outside world. The effect of projection is to isolate the subject from his environment, since instead of a real relation to it there is now only an illusory one.
Jung’s shadow refers to the darker parts of the personality of which we may be unaware. If we remain in denial about the existence of our own shadow, as has been seen, it will become even darker and we will tend to project that darkness onto others. Such paranoid ways of thinking involve unconscious projection onto the other of one’s own unwanted or unacceptable fears.
