International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

In a projection , a person attributes certain aspects of him or herself to others (→  Attribution Processes ). The process is closely tied to →  identification in the psychology of personality. A disowning projection involves attributing negative aspects of the self to others, such as “selfish motives, evil intent … [or] stupid attitudes” ( Cameron 1947 ). Cameron includes the exclusion of those characteristics from the self as part of that projection (hence the disowning portion of the name). Theoretically, a disowning projection should be contrasted with an assimilative projection , in which a person similarly projects his or her own qualities onto others. Although both are projections, the content and effects of the projections are quite different. When negative characteristics are projected, the person who is projecting disassociates him or herself from the characteristics. When positive characteristics are projected, no such disassociation occurs. Instead, the person who is projecting maintains the view of him or herself as being described by these characteristics, and, after projecting them onto others, sees him or herself as similar to those others. When facing a group of people who have been brought together for a particular purpose, such as a political meeting, a person may assume they are very different from him or herself, and so react very negatively to the group ... log in or subscribe to read full text