“Projection occurs when we see an unconscious characteristic of our own in another person or object.” From Jung: The Key Ideas by Ruth Snowden.
One of the most valuable commitments each of us can make is to try to be aware of when projection is occurring or may have occurred. As the above quote by therapist and author Ruth Snowden says, projection involves seeing a characteristic in another person that is actually a characteristic of ourselves of which we are unaware. Learning about psychological projection has helped me to better understand other people and to better understand myself as well. It has helped me to be more accepting and less judgmental of people who are different from me.
Projection is an unconscious phenomenon; therefore, it’s not something we consciously cause to happen or over which we have control. But we can become better at recognizing when it might have occurred. One way to do that is to pay attention to those times when we feel strong emotions about a person or group of people, either positive or negative emotions. And then to ask ourselves what might have caused that emotional reaction, what is it we’re thinking about that person or group of people and is there a factual basis for those thoughts. Or are they instead ideas we learned as children passed on to us by parents and other authority figures, ideas that we naturally don’t question as children but should question as adults.
Projection is the basis of much that is wrong in our world. It is the underlying cause of prejudice against people who are different from us, including differences of race, ethnicity, religious tradition, age, gender, and/or gender identity. If more people would do the work of trying to become more conscious, far less injustice, inequity, and other forms of hurt would occur as a result of prejudice against others. By exploring our biases and recognizing that they are based on characteristics we project onto others and neglect to see in ourselves, we live more genuine lives. And we join with others who are doing similar inner work that is both personally beneficial and also helps to heal the divisions among people.