Then I realized that I have done the same thing to other people, and I just project my faults onto them. I used to strongly dislike one kid in class because he was really shy and never spoke up, even though he was smart. I used to get frustrated with him and wanted to tell him to be more assertive. Then when I reflected on this kid one day, I realized that when I was in elementary school I was also shy. I still have the tendency to be shy but have worked on it, so projection is a defense mechanism. My projecting my shyness onto other people, I pretend that my own insecurities no longer exist. Now that I have become more self-confident, I end up projecting those same insecurities onto other people.

My ego also uses projection as a defense mechanism in more general ways. For instance when...
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