Is every interpersonal problem a problem of projection?

159100.jpg (4585 bytes) How can you tell when someone, or yourself, is projecting?

Everyone makes projections , i.e., makes interpretations, consciously, or unconsciously, of the experience called life itself.

Note: The unconscious process of making interpretations of our perception is referred to here as projection, whereas the conscious process of making interpretations of our perceptions is referred to here as the process of communication.

[ Review lesson 15 for a definition of projection] Although facts may be described as those interpretations which have an agreement in consensus, i.e., data which is measured by our senses, few facts are established with absolute certainty, if ever at all..

Does life exist without the observer, observing, the observed?[1]

Click your mouse pointer on this hyperlink to read an article written by Dr. Wolf http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~sai/wolf.html

Rhetorical Questions: Are you alive when defined by you, others, both, or neither? Although such discussions may be more relevant in courses, of philosophy, psychology, and physics, nonetheless, your success in relationships depends largely on the way you and the other person picture each other. In short: your success, depends in a practical way, on the projections you and another person hold, and in the way you deal with those projections.

Watch for these common projections: [2]

1. New behavior is suddenly directed at you,

2. When everyone sees the same thing about you,

3. When you don't understand how you deserve the perceptions people hold,

4. When the picture of you seems permanent and fixed and determines how that person treats you.

Notice how you and your friends perceive each other. What sort of labels do you use to describe others? Talk to several friends and see what projections you can identify which you use in your interpersonal relationships. Be sure and include to whom you spoke and include what words they used to describe you. What words did you use to describe them?. What was the context within which this assignment was done? What projections did you notice that you used?

What have you learned about yourself and others? What do you think now, is every problem in a relationship due to your projections of others and of their projections of you? Explain your reasoning.

1. Fred Wolf, Taking the Quantum Leap, San Francisco, Harper & Row,1981, p.146
2. George Weinberg, Dianne Rowe The Projection Principle, New York, St. Martin Press, 1988, p.8