Projections
The mind projects images of itself onto other people.
Projection is an instinctive rejection of the shadow. In projecting, we displace qualities we dislike in ourselves onto others, and then we punish them for being like us.
How is it that we blame others for our faults while remaining blind to our own? Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung showed that our personality type biases us against other personality types, hindering our ability to distinguish character flaws from integrity. Moreover, others are judging us based on their personality types. Therefore, we tend to project our shadow functions onto others, and to overvalue our ego functions.
When people criticize us, they are really criticizing unwanted aspects of themselves. Often there is a grain of truth, because projections have an uncanny way of targeting our jugular, but the source is self-criticism. If we can keep that in mind, we can feel compassion for the critic. If we just distance ourselves from the critic for a while, the projection dissipates because, after all, it’s not real.
Examples from the news
America invaded Iraq to seize weapons of mass destruction, when America itself was the major owner of weapons of mass destruction.
Boeing executives accused the pilots of Lion Air, the Ethiopian national airline, of “stupidity” for asking for simulator training for their pilots before buying the 737 MAX. Those executives were later found guilty of withholding critical information from pilots that could have prevented the fatal crashes of the new plane and the ensuing lawsuits—a prime example of stupidity.
Senator Ted Cruz called out the governor of Texas for taking a trip to Cabo during a crisis on Dec 2, 2020, and then on Feb 17 – 18, 2021, Sen. Cruz was photographed flying out to Cancun during the great freeze in Texas when the power grid went down.
Examples from history
“In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility because the masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods … . From time immemorial, however, the Jews have known better than any others how falsehood and calumny can be exploited.” – Hitler, Mein Kampf (1974) Vol. I, chapter X, p. 253.
What are you projecting? What are others projecting onto you?
When others project their weaknesses onto us, if we are not conscious of it, we begin to reflect those weaknesses. To find out what you are projecting and what others are projecting onto you and your type, see Projection and Personality Type via the Eight-Function Model. It can help reveal the parts of the mind where counter-intentional motives may be hiding.
The book Projection and Personality Development via the Eight-Function Model applies Beebe’s model to the sixteen types, showing how each of the types tends to express or manifest the functions and their associated archetypes. Order from Amazon.
Artwork by Phil Samulski / Web creation by Lars Sahl