Projection is one of many ways that people keep themselves safe psychologically and emotionally. It is called a defense mechanism, which is a common term for those mental tricks we pull on ourselves that help us feel less anxious or uncertain, and more calm and secure in our world.
Defense mechanisms are very common, almost everybody uses a couple of them. Projection is one of the more frequently used ones. Let’s look at what it is specifically, how and why people use it, and why it is both useful and unhelpful.
What Is Projection
The example above gives you a beginning understanding of how it plays out. Let’s get a good basic definition for projection, so it is more clear.
The idea of defense mechanisms and projection as one of them was first put forth by Sigmund Freud. He noticed that his clients would often feel or act one way, and then act as if it was the other party feeling or acting that way. Freud had a classic example of a woman who was cheating on her husband, who was constantly worried and agitated that her husband was cheating on her.
Psychological projection is a defense mechanism people subconsciously employ in order to cope with difficult feelings or emotions.
It involves putting uncomfortable or painful feelings onto someone else, rather than dealing with the uncomfortable feelings. Have you ever disliked someone only to become convinced that the person had a vendetta against you? This is a common example of psychological projection.
Projection is an unconscious thing, meaning you are not really aware you are doing it.
To become aware of these defense mechanisms, you would need to spend time thinking about what you are feeling, and where the sources of those feelings are. Has this person ever really done anything to make you think they are out to get you? If there is no objective proof yes, then maybe it is projecting to cover what you do not like.
The Use of Projection
Projection is an unconscious process that happens automatically. It happens mainly when there is something we do not like or can not tolerate in our minds. It mostly has to do with feelings that make us uncomfortable or are frightening to us.
Projection is a defense mechanism that we likely learned when we were growing up.
One day we probably broke something. Then, we told a parent that it was our brother who really did it. When we got away with it, we learned put the blame on someone else. And then we continued that until we really believed it. By then it was so common, that it happened automatically, and we did not even think about it anymore.
Feelings can be very scary or uncontrollable at times, and we do not like that at all.
This is a normal response to things that are scary and seem outside of our control. One mental trick that humans have picked up over thousands of years is projection. If, for example, we are not the one with the problem, it is the other person, we feel a whole lot better and sleep at night.
The why of its use is pretty simple: it makes us feel better. We get to skip being anxious or agitated or helpless or whatever the feeling is we are trying to escape. For better or worse, we also get to ignore what it is that is really bothering us, however.
The Good and the Bad of Projection
Often we hear the terms, “projection,” or “defense mechanism,” and think something is wrong with us. No it is not. We all do things in our minds at times to make life more tolerable and us less anxious. Really it is quite normal and common. That does not mean it is good or bad. It has a bit of both to it.
The good about It is that it is an easy way to help us sleep at night.
We do not have to worry about our problems, they are really someone else’s. It cuts down on anxiety and stress by avoiding what the problems are. So if we look for a quick easy fix to feelings we do not like, projection works.
The bad about it is that it does work, and it avoids the problems altogether.
We do not own our problems with projection.
No, we make them someone else’s problems. So we just made ourselves helpless to solve anything because we cannot change someone else. We have been relieved of all responsibility in the drama.
Another thing to be aware of is that projection is a quick fix, like taking a pain pill. It makes us feel better, but does not actually solve anything. We avoid dealing with what the real problem is, that’s all that happened
Projection is good to help us get through a hard time, like a pain pill is also, but long term use of it can cause tremendous problems, also like pain pills.
Eventually we can lose touch with reality, become paranoid, alone, and friendless because continual use of projection instead of dealing with our own feelings has cost us everything.
One last sacrifice that comes with using projection is that we no longer own our feelings. We give up any agency or control we have over this basic human experience. In other words, we give up a lot, like our thoughts and feelings, our control, and our ownership of what we are, just to feel better for a little while.
What we know is that projection is a habit of the mind.
It is a shortcut to deal with things we do not like in our heads. It is a defense mechanism, and like others, it functions to help us feel safe and less upset.
This works well, but unfortunately comes at a cost. With someone thought and focus on what we are thinking and feeling, we can all figure out what the true source of our feelings are, and make any changes to what we do not like. Projection does not always have to be the answer.