Feist−Feist: Theories of
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however, are usually temporary, whereas fixations demand a more or less permanent
expenditure of psychic energy.
Projection
When an internal impulse provokes too much anxiety, the ego may reduce that anx-
iety by attributing the unwanted impulse to an external object, usually another per-
son. This is the defense mechanism of projection,which can be defined as seeing in
others unacceptable feelings or tendencies that actually reside in one’s own uncon-
scious (Freud, 1915/1957b). For example, a man may consistently interpret the ac-
tions of older women as attempted seductions. Consciously, the thought of sexual in-
tercourse with older women may be intensely repugnant to him, but buried in his
unconscious is a strong erotic attraction to these women. In this example, the young
man deludes himself into believing that he has no sexual feelings for older women.
Although this projection erases most of his anxiety and guilt, it permits him to main-
tain a sexual interest in women who remind him of his mother.
An extreme type of projection is paranoia,a mental disorder characterized by
powerful delusions of jealousy and persecution. Paranoia is not an inevitable out-
come of projection but simply a severe variety of it. According to Freud (1922/1955),
a crucial distinction between projection and paranoia is that paranoia is always char-
acterized by repressed homosexual feelings toward the persecutor. Freud believed
that the persecutor is inevitably a former friend of the same sex, although sometimes
people may transfer their delusions onto a person of the opposite sex. When homo-
sexual impulses become too powerful, persecuted paranoiacs defend themselves by
reversingthese feelings and then projecting them onto their original object. For men,
the transformation proceeds as follows. Instead of saying, “I love him,” the paranoid
person says, “I hate him.” Because this also produces too much anxiety, he says, “He
hates me.” At this point, the person has disclaimed all responsibility and can say, “I
like him fine, but he’s got it in for me.” The central mechanism in all paranoia is pro-
jection with accompanying delusions of jealousy and persecution.
Introjection
Whereas projection involves placing an unwanted impulse onto an external object,
introjectionis a defense mechanism whereby people incorporate positive qualities
of another person into their own ego. For example, an adolescent may introject or
adopt the mannerisms, values, or lifestyle of a movie star. Such an introjection gives
the adolescent an inflated sense of self-worth and keeps feelings of inferiority to a
minimum. People introject characteristics that they see as valuable and that will per-
mit them to feel better about themselves.
Freud (1926/1959a) saw the resolution of the Oedipus complex as the prototype
of introjection. During the Oedipal period, the young child introjects the authority
and values of one or both parents—an introjection that sets into motion the begin-
ning of the superego. When children introject what they perceive to be their parents’
values, they are relieved from the work of evaluating and choosing their own beliefs
and standards of conduct. As children advance through the latency period of devel-
opment (approximately ages 6 to 12), their superego becomes more personalized;
Chapter 2 Freud: Psychoanalysis 37