Projection isn’t just a cool technology developed to present motion pictures to eager audiences. Projection has become so much more, and sometimes just as entertaining but even more distasteful.
So…what is it?
Grab some popcorn for this.
Act 1.
Projection, in psychology, is when we take our ideas, feelings or attitudes and attribute them to someone else.
WHAT!?
Here’s an example:
If a teammate gets annoyed and criticizes another team member for asking a lot of questions, but they also tend to ask a lot of questions.
The reason this person might miss this projection is because it often manifests as an avoidance behavior or defense mechanism that subconsciously helps them disregard a deeper issue.
Act 2.
What’s happening is that the person projecting is struggling to understand themselves and how they are avoiding to recognize their own feelings and desires. This also means a person will use this as a way to avoid that part of themselves.
There’s a lot of past baggage—is a what I’m sayin’.
Years and years of building up clothes and packing it into bags create a lot of baggage. Imagine growing old and carrying bags everywhere you go…what a pain that might be.
Ok, let’s move on from the analogy for a moment.
Act 3.
Projection comes from baggage carried over the years and we think others have the same baggage so we project. And the cycle continues.
What to do?
Stop, and self analyze. The best way to stop carrying so much luggage (the analogy again) is to recognize you’re carrying it. Hopefully we can do this when we’re younger, because let’s face it there’s usually more energy in us then, but settle for any time in your life.
One way to do this is by taking a free assessment that tells you what your strengths and weakness are as a person. This is a good first option (link below).
Another way is to read books and apply as much as you can into your life.
A third way is to ignore everything you just read, complain about the length or shortness of it, and keep doing what you’re doing. Either way, all the options are always available to you. I hope you pick one or two.
Fin.
After credits scene:
One more thing about projection. We can also project positive things onto other people. Optimistic people look at others through optimistic lenses and attribute positivity. Maybe on another post I’ll write about that but to be honest, most projection is noticed because of negative behavior. Plus it’s makes for a more enticing note for the week. ;)
Fin. Again.
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Hey! Thanks for reading.
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Love what you said here: "we can also project positive things onto other people. Optimistic people look at others through optimistic lenses and attribute positivity."
When I think about projection, I often think about the negatives. I am projecting the negative part of myself onto someone else, but this is a nice frame to think through too. What positive things can I project onto others.