24,656
edits
Changes
no edit summary
projection (projection)
Projection is a defence mechanism in which an internal desire/thought/feeling is displaced and located outside the subject, in another subject. For example a person who has been (or who feels) unfaithful to his partner may defend himself against feelings of guilt by accusing the
partner of being unfaithful.
Whereas Freud and many other psychoanalysts use the term 'projection' to describe a mechanism which is present (to differing degrees) in both [[psychosis]] and neurosis, Lacan understands the term 'projection' as a purely neurotic mechanism and distinguishes it clearly from the apparently similar phenom- enon that occurs in [[Psychosis]] (which Lacan callS FORECLOSURE). Whereas projection is rooted in the [[Imaginary]] dual relationship between the ego and the [[Counterpart]] (S3, 145), foreclosure goes beyond the [[Imaginary]] and instead involves a signifier which is not incorporated in the [[Symbolic]].
Lacan also rejects the view that INTROJECTION is the inverse of projection, arguing that these two processes are located on quite different levels. Whereas projection is an [[Imaginary]] mechanism, introjection is a [[Symbolic]] process (Ec, 655).
== def ==
Scapegoating. Cutting off what the super-ego perceives as "bad" aspects of oneself (e.g. weakness or homosexual desire) and projecting them onto someone else "over there" where they can be condemned, punished, etc..
