Eva Losco

Projection

Presentation: Hello, we are the projection group and we are going to introduce you the
concept of projection in a psychoanalytical approach.
First and foremost, I’m going to define the concept of projection and then I will present you
the several meanings that Freud gave to projection.
1. According to the publication « Projective methods » (Anzieu, Chabert & Louët, 2017), the
concept of projection has evolved over time and simultaneously to the psychoanalytical
elaboration of its time. Consequently, we can now count three senses.
In the common sense, projection from the Latin word projectio (which means « throw
forward ») refers to a jet, an action which tends to something, it is « the displacement of
something from one space to another, or from one part of a single space to another » (de
Mijolla, 2005), a psychic action, under Freud. Therefore, there are two spaces: the space of
origin and the space of destination, which refers to the inside and the outside world.
The second meaning of projection stipulates that the response protocol of the subject in the
projective test corresponds to the organization of its personality, but you will see that aspect
deeper with my colleague.
Then, the third meaning refers to the projection surface itself, the screen, where the obvious
content becomes the latent content. For instance, in the Yellow Wallpaper from Charlotte
Perkins Gilman, the wallpaper could be the screen where the narrator projects her psychotic
part.
2. Now that we have defined what projection is, we are thus led to see how Freud thinks
projection. According to Freud, projection is governed by primary processes and its very
essence is displacement. He also distinguished a normal and a pathological projection (as used
in paranoia and revels a delusion construction of psychosis).
Freud thirst thought that projection returns to an intolerable or objectionable desire and its
rejection outside the person. In this way, we project that we do not want to be and that we
cannot accept in ourselves. This notion took on a very special importance in his discussion of
his case of Judge Daniel Schreber, a classic case of paranoid delusion. Schreber felt
persecuted but he actually used projection as a defence mechanism to transform the: « I love
him » to: « He hates me », which is much more tolerable to him.
Finally, projection refers to the ignorance by the subject of his desires and emotions that he
does not accept as his. He attributes the existence of these feelings to external realities. In the
Yellow Wallpaper for example, the narrator projects disturbing feelings to the house, which
might be a way to avoid recognizing something terrifying about her and unconscious. “I
thought seriously of burning the house” she said, which could illustrates how much this is
bearable.
 Juan Zambrano

Projection and projective techniques/tests

As it was mentioned before, projection is a nuclear part of what is known as projective

tests or techniques. First of all, it’s important to remark that the concept was created after the
creation of some tests (Anzieu & Chabert, 2004): “projective methods” was a concept that
first appeared in a publication by Lawrence K. Frank in 1939 on the Journal of Psychology
where he explained that Jung’s test, the Rorschach test and the TAT had in common that they
aim to describe a subject’s personality globally and dynamically. So in order to define
projective tests, one must also take into consideration their commonalities: they all use a
material that is ambiguous (in order to approach internal conditions of the subjects) but
concrete at the same time, they can be answered in any way that the person would feel like,
and they also represent a transitional space between the clinician and the patient (Chabert,
2018; Anzieu & Chabert, 2004). These three aspects as well as what was pointed by Frank in
1939 is important because it shows the concern that is given to the study of a person’s
particular and unique personality.
Projection in these tests is understood as Freud’s second approach of projection: he
describes it as a normal, non-pathological ignorance about one’s desires and emotions that
aren’t accepted as one’s own, being this process unconscious and it’s attributed to the external
realities (Anzieu & Chabert, 2004). Therefore, the psychological test is considered as a brief
psychological process because it frees drives and emotions, there is a structural isomorphism
into the personality and the subject’s productions in the tests but it is also considered to
transmit archaic representations of the body image.
Projective tests are commonly divided into two categories (Anzieu & Chabert, 2004;
Roman, 2016; Chabert, 2018): On one hand, thematic tests which main characteristic is its
figurative quality. In these tests, the cards are saturated with conflicts, notably oedipal
conflicts. So they make clear the significant contents of a personality, subject’s motivations
and his/hers defense mechanisms. Among these tests the most used are the CAT, the Patte
Noire and the TAT. On the other hand, structural tests share the characteristic that the stimuli
don’t have a predefined form so the subject has to give it a form through a spoken answer (in
The Yellow Wallpaper this happened as the narrator gave form to an unstructured stimulus
and she verbalized those impressions). Their aim is to investigate the people’s personality
system. Some examples are the Z test and of course the Rorschach test which will be
presented right next to me.
 Bibliography

Eva’s Bibliography.

Anzieu, D., Chabert, C., Louët, E. (2017). Les méthodes projectives. Paris : PUF.

de Mijolla, A. (Ed.). (2005). International dictionary of psychoanalysis, Vol. 1. A–F. New

York, NY, US: Macmillan Reference USA.

Gilman, C.P, 1860-1935. (1980). The Charlotte Perkins Gilman reader: The yellow
wallpaper, and other fiction. New York :Pantheon Books.

Juan’s Bibliography.

Anzieu, D., & Chabert, C. (2004), Les méthodes projectives. Paris : PUF.
Chabert, C. (2018), Psychanalyse et méthodes projectives. Paris : Dunod.
Roman, P. (2016), Les épreuves projectives dans l’examen psychologique. Paris : Dunod.