Jung’s approach to projection builds upon a psychoanalytic
base. Projection may be seen as normal or pathological and as
a defence against anxiety. Difficult emotions and unacceptable parts
of the personality may be located in a person or object external to
the subject (see PERSONIFICATION). The problematic content is thereby
controlled and the individual feels a (temporary) release and sense
of well-being. Alternatively, aspects of the personality sensed to be
good and valuable may be projected so as to protect them from the
ravages of the rest of the personality, fantasised as bad or destructive.
In terms of experience, a person feels something about another person
(or institution or group) which he regards as applicable to that
person; later he may realise that this is not the case. An impartial
observer, an analyst, perhaps, may realise this sooner rather than
later. The general result of projection beyond an optimum level is an
impoverishment of personality. Normal levels of projection in infancy
are considered pathological in an adult.
In ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY, stress has also been laid on projection
as the means by which the contents of the inner world are made
available to ego-consciousness (see EGO). The assumption is that an
encounter between the ego and such unconscious contents is of value
(see UNCONSCIOUS). The external world of persons and things serves
the internal world by providing the raw material to be activated by
projection. This can be seen most clearly when what is projected is
also representative of a part of the psyche. ANIMA AND ANIMUS projections
are ‘carried’ by real women and men; without the carrier
there would be no meeting. Similarly, the SHADOW is frequently encountered
in projection. By definition, the shadow is the repository
of what is unacceptable to consciousness. It is therefore ripe for
projection.
For anything of value to be gained, though, it is necessary for
some re-integration or re-collection of that which is projected to take
place. Jung suggested that, for convenience of understanding, this
process could be divided into five phases:
(1) The person is convinced that what he sees in the other is the
case.
(2) A gradual recognition dawns of a differentiation between the
other as she/he ‘really’ is and the projected image. The dawning of
such awareness may be facilitated by DREAMS or, equally, events.
(3) Some kind of assessment or judgment is made of the discrepancy.
(4) A conclusion is reached that what was felt was erroneous or
illusory. (Jung argued that this was as far as psychoanalysis went.)
(5) A conscious search for the sources and origin of the projection
is undertaken. This includes COLLECTIVE as well as personal determinants
of the projection (see ARCHETYPE).
Jung noted the role of projection in empathy, though estimating
that of INTROJECTION as greater. Projection may be required to draw
the object into the orbit of the subject; but it will be introjection of
the object which facilitates the empathic response. A contemporary
parallel is with Kohut’s definition of empathy as ‘vicarious introspection’.
In Kohut’s theory, projection and introjection are more or
less evenly weighted.
A similar debate arises with Jung’s insistence that one function of
projection is to effect a separation of subject and object, leading to
an isolation of the subject. The Kleinian emphasis on defensive control
of the object by projective identification emphasises the elimination
of whatever separation there might be (see PARTICIPATION
MYSTIQUE).
An automatic process whereby contents of one’s own unconscious are perceived to be in others. (See also archaic, identification and participation mystique.)
Just as we tend to assume that the world is as we see it, we naïvely suppose that people are as we imagine them to be. . . . All the contents of our unconscious are constantly being projected into our surroundings, and it is only by recognizing certain properties of the objects as projections or imagos that we are able to distinguish them from the real properties of the objects. . . . Cum grano salis, we always see our own unavowed mistakes in our opponent. Excellent examples of this are to be found in all personal quarrels. Unless we are possessed of an unusual degree of self-awareness we shall never see through our projections but must always succumb to them, because the mind in its natural state presupposes the existence of such projections. It is the natural and given thing for unconscious contents to be projected.[“General Aspects of Dream Psychology,” ibid., par. 507.]”Projection means the expulsion of a subjective content into an object; it is the opposite of introjection. Accordingly, it is a process of dissimilation, by which a subjective content becomes alienated from the subject and is, so to speak, embodied in the object. The subject gets rid of painful, incompatible contents by projecting them.[Definitions,” CW 6, par. 783.]
Projection is not a conscious process. One meets with projections, one does not make them.
The general psychological reason for projection is always an activated unconscious that seeks expression.[“The Tavistock Lectures,” CW 18, par. 352.]
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.
It frequently happens that the object offers a hook to the projection, and even lures it out. This is generally the case when the object himself (or herself) is not conscious of the quality in question: in that way it works directly upon the unconscious of the projicient. For all projections provoke counter-projections when the object is unconscious of the quality projected upon it by the subject.[General Aspects of Dream Psychology,” CW 8, par. 519.]
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. Projections change the world into the replica of one’s own unknown face. In the last analysis, therefore, they lead to an autoerotic or autistic condition in which one dreams a world whose reality remains forever unattainable.[The Shadow,” CW 9ii, par. 17.]
Projection also has positive effects. In everyday life it facilitates interpersonal relations. In addition, when we assume that some quality or characteristic is present in another, and then, through experience, find that this is not so, we can learn something about ourselves. This involves withdrawing or dissolving projections.
So long as the libido can use these projections as agreeable and convenient bridges to the world, they will alleviate life in a positive way. But as soon as the libido wants to strike out on another path, and for this purpose begins running back along the previous bridges of projection, they will work as the greatest hindrances it is possible to imagine, for they effectively prevent any real detachment from the former object.[“General Aspects of Dream Psychology,” CW 8, par. 507.]
The need to withdraw projections is generally signaled by frustrated expectations in relationships, accompanied by strong affect. But Jung believed that until there is an obvious discordance between what we imagine to be true and the reality we are presented with, there is no need to speak of projections, let alone withdraw them.
Projection . . . is properly so called only when the need to dissolve the identity with the object has already arisen. This need arises when the identity becomes a disturbing factor, i.e., when the absence of the projected content is a hindrance to adaptation and its withdrawal into the subject has become desirable. From this moment the previous partial identity acquires the character of projection. The term projection therefore signifies a state of identity that has become noticeable.[“Definitions,” CW 6, par. 783.]
Jung distinguished between passive projection and active projection. Passive projection is completely automatic and unintentional, like falling in love. The less we know about another person, the easier it is to passively project unconscious aspects of ourselves onto them.
Active projection is better known as empathy-we feel ourselves into the other’s shoes. Empathy that extends to the point where we lose our own standpoint becomes identification.
The projection of the personal shadow generally falls on persons of the same sex. On a collective level, it gives rise to war, scapegoating and confrontations between political parties. Projection that takes place in the context of a therapeutic relationship is called transference or countertransference, depending on whether the analysand or the analyst is the one projecting.
In terms of the contrasexual complexes, anima and animus, projection is both a common cause of animosity and a singular source of vitality.
When animus and anima meet, the animus draws his sword of power and the anima ejects her poison of illusion and seduction. The outcome need not always be negative, since the two are equally likely to fall in love.[The Syzygy: Anima and Animus,” CW 9ii, par. 30.]
