The 12 Most Common Defense Mechanisms

Projection

Projection is also similar with displacement because of the movement of the emotion from one person to another. But the difference lies with how it is moved, and to whom. This ego defense mechanism is characterized by the misattribution of a person’s undesired thoughts onto another person who does not have those thoughts. Let’s take a look at an example of a person who is troubled by his desire to have sex with a co-worker whom he doesn’t talk to very often. If he would use projection to cope with his troubled feelings, he would start to think that that co-worker would have the sexual frustration towards him, and not the other way around.