Introjection: What It Is, Characteristics And Examples
An introjection is a term that has been used in the field of psychology and psychiatry, although especially within the current of psychoanalysis, being described as the adoption of each person’s unconscious of other people’s attitudes or ideas.
In everyday life we can see various examples of introjection in psychology such as “men don’t cry”, “you must find your better half to be happy”, introjecting into oneself the love for a sport that was not of interest to one before but someone who he admires for how productive he is, and also pejorative phrases that other people have said to someone on quite a few occasions, such as “you’re a clumsy.”
In this article, in addition to exposing some examples of introjection in psychology, we will see how this phenomenon develops ; Although first we will explain what this concept consists of, as well as that of projection as both concepts are closely related.
First of all, it is convenient to understand what projection and introjection are, two widely used concepts, especially within the current of psychoanalysis.
First of all, a projection, in traditional psychology, has been defined as a mechanism through which A person is capable of freeing himself from certain intolerable situations on an emotional level, locating his own feelings externally Another way of defining a projection would be as a judgment of exteriority through which a sensation of one’s own body is attributed to a phenomenon that occurs outside. In some psychopathologies (for example, in schizophrenia) it is common for this type of projections to occur.
An introjection is the opposite term to projection, being a concept that was initially introduced into the current of psychoanalysis by Sándor Ferenczi and in turn was adapted by Sigmund Freud. It was defined by the latter as a psychological mechanism that intervenes in the formation of people’s personalities by influencing the reorganizations of the ego and the construction of the superego.
Introjection is also considered an unconscious mechanism used to help internalize most of the qualities, ideas and attitudes of other people, this being a fairly common process in people’s lives. Therefore, introjection in essence is based on the assumption of external beliefs or behaviors, but in this case without understanding the reason that explains why one has made this adoption Furthermore, introjection is considered an unconscious defense mechanism that could cause one to ignore the reality around them.
In short, introjection could be considered the mechanism by which human beings tend to place things in ourselves that belong to others. This phenomenon tends to occur more frequently to those people who have a greater predisposition to feel guilt and take responsibility for things because they are very demanding of themselves.
Examples of introjection in Psychology
There are a wide variety of examples of introjection in psychology that can be seen in people’s daily lives, being constantly put into practice unconsciously by people. Let’s see below some of these examples of introjection.
The first example of introjection in psychology is one that occurs quite frequently and occurs when a person discovers that someone they admire really likes swimming and then, Even though that person had never been interested in that sport before, they start practicing it this being an introjection.
In this type of case it may even happen that the person who has introjected from the other person whom he admires that hobby for swimming puts his opinion above his own feelings regarding this new taste for this sport, so that it will go automatically and even unconsciously assuming that, since someone he admired introduced him to the idea of practicing that sport, it must be right. In this case you will have found an argument to combat a possible cognitive dissonance that could occur in her mind regarding putting this new hobby into practice.
The second example of introjection is found quite frequently in those cases in which a father instills in his children the idea that “boys and men never cry” This premise said by the father encourages the child to take it as his own, so that he will end up assimilating it as an introjection and thus it will become part of his attitudes and his reality.
Another example of introjection, also quite common, is what occurs when a person has grown up in a family environment where it is very common to hear from parents and even other family members the following statement: “you should never trust anyone.” ”. So An introjection will occur in the person that will cause it to cost more than normal to develop certain social skills and throughout his life he will also have difficulties establishing trusting and perhaps even sentimental interpersonal relationships.
The fourth example of introjection that we are going to see is another that, unfortunately, has also been seen quite frequently, and it is what occurs when a person develops in an environment, both family and social and cultural, in which the People around him, especially adults, tell him repeatedly: “when you grow up you will have to look for your better half to be happy.”
In these cases, it is common for the person who has grown up continually listening to that statement to end up assimilating it, and that introjection will cause him to believe that it is an irrefutable truth, so that You will live with the need to find “your ideal partner” by all means and that could cause a strong need to find a partner. And, when you find it, it will be easy for you to develop a strong dependence on it to such levels that it could become very harmful for both of you.
This does not mean that having a partner is not one of the main sources of happiness; since establishing healthy and lasting interpersonal relationships (both with family, with your partner, and with friends), based on respect, care and mutual interest, are extremely important for the mental health and general well-being of people. But it is true that when a strong dependency and a great need to have a partner is created, without knowing how to be good with oneself, it can cause more harm than good.
There is a wide multitude of examples of introjection in psychology such as those we are going to list below:
How could we identify our own introjects?
After having seen several examples of introjection in psychology, we are going to see a simple exercise that we could put into practice to try to identify our own introjects.
The first step of this exercise would be make a list in which we write down all those ideas, norms and beliefs that we believe have come to us from outside ; Furthermore, we can add those attitudes that we see are quite widespread within our culture and that we have been able to introject (e.g., cultural introjects).
Once the list is made, we must think about where each of those examples of introjection that we have noted can come from and if possible, which people were the ones who transmitted that idea, attitude or norm, etc. to us. (e.g., our parents, teachers, siblings, the society we live in, etc.).
Finally, we must make the mental effort to analyze what we really think about those attitudes, norms or ideas that we have written down on the list and to what extent they adjust to our way of understanding life. We should also analyze whether those examples of introjection that we have noted benefit us or if, on the contrary, they really harm us, so we should make an effort to get rid of them and keep assimilated those that fit our way of understanding things and that also benefit us in some way.
