Projection
Projection is a defence mechanism in which an internal desire]/thought/feeling is displaced and located outside the subject, in another subject.
For example a person who has been (or who feels) unfaithful to his partner may defend himself against feelings of guilt by accusing the partner of being unfaithful.
Whereas Freud and many other psychoanalysts use the term 'projection' to describe a mechanism which is present (to differing degrees) in both psychosis and neurosis, Lacan understands the term 'projection' as a purely neurotic mechanism and distinguishes it clearly from the apparently similar phenomenon that occurs in psychosis (which Lacan calls foreclosure). Whereas projection is rooted in the Imaginary dual relationship between the ego and the Counterpart,[1] foreclosure goes beyond the Imaginary and instead involves a signifier which is not incorporated in the Symbolic.
Lacan also rejects the view that introjection is the inverse of projection, arguing that these two processes are located on quite different levels. Whereas projection is an Imaginary mechanism, introjection is a Symbolic process.[2]
Cutting off what the [superego]] perceives as "bad" aspects of oneself (e.g. weakness or homosexual desire) and projecting them onto someone else "over there" where they can be condemned, punished, etc..
In a general sense, the term projection refers to the displacement of something from one space to another, or from one part of a single space to another. More specifically, this term denotes an operation that consists of transporting a form, or certain elements of that form, onto a receptive support that may be real (as is the case with cinematographic projection) or imaginary (as is the case in projective geometry—for example, the projection of a cube onto a plane, which..
Projection, 34, 46, 51, 54, 62,116,169, 199,200,203,204,227,228,240, 241,254 [3]
References
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book III. The Psychoses, 1955-56. Trans. Russell Grigg. London: Routledge, 1993. p.145
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p.655
- ↑ Muller, John P. and William J. Richardson. Lacan and Language: A Reader's Guide to Ecrits. New York: International Universiites Press, Inc., 1982.
