Understanding Psychological Projection
Human beings have a natural tendency to project ourselves into any given problem space. Its just one of the short-cut ways we make sense out of complicated situations – its one of the natural biases. Understanding projection bias is a handy way to figure out the people behind the problem. It was first pointed out to me in my previous occupation, so I’ll start with the examples old Beardie put to me.
People who run around calling everyone a dog (traitor is the literal old school meaning, not someone you don’t like), the one’s who say such and such is an informant and so and so has been talking to the police – its because that’s how their mind works. If you rely on secrecy or confidentiality I’d suggest avoiding these people like the plague. Partly its a distraction tactic, but mostly its because they truely believe thats what person x would do in that position of difficulty is reveal your secrets to avoid their own consequences. Why would they expect others to do anything different?
People who are inherent cowards will harrass vulnerable family members over a son’s / brother’s life actions, or they’ll telephone and make threats anonymously, and they’ll convince themselves you are a coward. Why? Because in their worldview that’s the way they picture you – they project their own fears and apprehensions into the problem space. For example, someone who phoned anonymously and called you a coward but didn’t tell you their name might fall into that category. To some extent they’re only projecting onto your blank canvas their own psychological profile.
So what does this teach us about doing business with people and dealing with consumers of our products? Be cautious of the business partner who is overly obsessed that you’re out to steal the deal, and be very good to the partners who always think the best of you. Misers generally suspect you of being miserly, cheaters of cheating, and deviants of deviant behaviours.
Another related bias is that of counter-projection. As Wikipedia puts it:
When addressing psychological trauma the defense mechanism is sometimes counter-projection, including an obsession to continue and remain in a recurring trauma-causing situation and the compulsive obsession with the perceived perpetrator of the trauma or its projection.
Jung writes that “All projections provoke counter-projection when the object is unconscious of the quality projected upon it by the subject.”
The concept was anticipated by Friedrich Nietzsche:
“He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.”
I’m not at all suggesting that in every case where someone challenges you the motive will be projection. For all I know you’re out there cooking the books, hiding under your office desk, having a relationship with another species and telephoning people at 3am with a passion. However, if you know anyone who keeps on and on about something you should probably ask yourself if its the case. Maybe their real message is that their head works in a certain direction.
