


Psychological projection

Psychological projection (or projection bias) can be defined as unconsciously assuming that others share the same or similar thoughts, beliefs, values, or positions on any given subject. According to the theories of Sigmund Freud, it is a psychological defense mechanism whereby one "projects" one's own undesirable thoughts, motivations, desires, feelings, and so forth onto someone else (usually another person, but psychological projection onto animals and inanimate objects also occurs). The principle of projection is well-established in psychology.

An illustration would be an individual (Alice, for example) who feels dislike for another person (let's say Bob), however her unconscious mind will not allow her to become aware of this negative emotion. Instead of admitting to herself that she feels dislike for Bob, she projects her dislike onto Bob, so that her conscious thought is not "I don't like Bob," but "Bob doesn't seem to like me." Another, and an ironic, example is if Alice were to say, "Bob seems to project his feelings onto me."


The concept was anticipated by Friedrich Nietzsche:


Psychological projection is the subject of Robert Bly's book A Little Book on the Human Shadow. The "Shadow" - a term used in Jungian psychology to describe a variety of psychological projection - refers to the projected material.

