PART I

The Theoretical Foundations of

Projective Psychology

INTRODUCTION

BOTH of the papers that comprise Part I

may be looked upon as an
introduction to projective methods through an examination of
their theoretical foundations. Since the explicit formulation of
the projective hypothesis by Lawrence K. Frank^ in 1939, not
only have projective methods had increasingly wider application,
but their number, scope, and purpose have become correspond-
ingly enlarged.
The almost inevitable consequence of the devel-
in this area during the past decade has been an ever-
opments
widening gap between the several projective test procedures and
their theoretical substructures. There is a continuous interac-
tion between theory and practice in any science or discipline,
and it is becoming increasingly necessary to seek an integration
between theory and practice in projective psychology as one step
in the direction of continuous mutual enrichment of empiricism
and construct building.
There is impressive evidence on all sides, as work goes forward
feverishly in the development
of new projective tests, that these
methods have begun to
outgrow their theoretical backgrounds
and that the time for serious stock-taking of their basic theoret-
ical foundations has long been at hand. It is in the form of con-
sideration of such issues that the two chapters that follow
con-
cern themselves.
In common with other scientists, psychologists develop five
chief kinds of materials: (i) intellectual tools and concepts; (2)
as repre-
descriptions of specific situation-person relationships
sented by genetic and dynamic studies of personality; (3) hy-
(4) physiological and psychological models;
and (5)
potheses;
some degree of which have been found
propositions of generality

L. K. Frank: "Projective Methods for the Study of Personality," Journal

1

of Psychology, Vol. 8, (1939), pp. 3 8 9-4*3*

3
4 The Theoretical Foundations of Protective Psychology

to be consistent with more or less comprehensive bodies of phys-

iological and psychological evidence.
The intellectual tools and concepts of the science of psychol-
ogy consist of a multitude of definitions, distinctions, and con-
structs to which psychological data may be ordered. These intel-
lectual tools and concepts, of whatever sort and degree of gen-
the
erality, represent the habits of thought of psychologists
manner in which they have found it useful and rewarding to think

and talk about psychological phenomena, the classifications they

have found helpful, the concepts that have demonstrated their
fruitfulness in the construction of hypotheses and models, and
those portions of the language of mathematics and of statistical
methods which have demonstrated value in psychological in-
quiries.
There is a
growing body of genetic and dynamic studies of per-
sonality which has in recent years reached impressive propor-
tions. These personality inquiries have suggested concepts, hy-
potheses, and models,
and they have provided information that
may be used to test the "truth" of psychological propositions. A
to stimulate
prominent example of a concept that has helped
and guide research is that of the self which currently enjoys
great vogue.
Hypotheses and models fall largely in the realm of speculation
and cannot usually be sharply distinguished from each other. A
hypothesis is a proposition that the investigator has some reason
to believe may turn out to be "true" that is, one which may
turn out to be consistent with a substantial body of relevant
evidence. An instance of such a hypothesis is the notion that
as a Gestalt which runs a
personality may be looked upon dy-
namic course in Models may be simply an elaborate form of
time.

hypothesis assumptions and conclusions deduced to be consist-

ent with a set of propositions and therefore capable of being re-
garded as probably "true." Such models frequently help to refine
existing concepts and tools of analysis and somewhat less often
play a role in the development of further hypotheses,
In psychology models have the important advantage of
requir-
ing the investigator to offer an explicit statement of his as-
sumptions. Hence the process of model building helps to give
precision to psychological thinking, contributes to forcing the
investigator to recognize the limitations of the particular set of
 The Theoretical Foundations of Protective Psychology 5

assumptions with
which he is working, and may aid him in recog-
nizing and perhaps accepting alternative possibilities which
might otherwise not have come to his attention. The current
conception of the ego, id, and superego, as originally developed
by Freud and elaborated by many others, is of the order of a
model that may possess great heuristic value in clinical psycho-
formulations.
logical
There reason to believe that during the past two decades in
is

the psychology of personality has made substantial

particular
in adding to the store of its intellectual tools, in in-
progress
creasing the volume of studies concerned with the "total per-
in contrast to more segmental in
sonality" inquiries, developing
important and potentially far-reaching hypotheses. The projec-
tive hypothesis is an example that may be continuously put to
crucial test short of actual experimentation by means of any one
or a combination of the several projective methods.
The projective hypothesis, it is
becoming more and more clear,
has to be handled with considerable care. There is, for example,
the possibility of an incautious extrapolation of the notion be-
limits for which it was devised. Of
yond the perhaps greater cur-
rent significance, however, stands an additional consideration.
Behind the projective hypothesis itself stands a whole matrix of
assumptions which probably differ from one projective psycholo-
gist
to another and which have largely been kept implicit. If

projective psychology
is to
grow in acceptance and validity, it is
essential that these assumptions be made fully explicit and it is

necessary that they be tested to ascertain whether they have

established validity and generality within the area of inquiry in
which they are being employed. It is clear that the conditions
of their testing must be public and repeatable upon demand if the
data they provide are to be admitted to the general
body of
concepts and propositions which will prove useful in personality
study and in clinical psychological evaluation.
The question of the validity and reliability of the several pro-
jective
methods is
something of concern to a considerable body of
professional workers, and developments in projective psychology
must be in the direction of satisfying demands with respect to
these matters. There is an
impressive body of professional experi-
ence, however, which testifies to the need, at least as far as pro-

jective tests are concerned, for looking upon validity and reliabil-
6 The Theoretical Foundations of Projective Psychology

ity of projective procedures as likely to be something of a quite

different order from similar notions about psychometric tests.
Behind the expressed concern for validity and reliability probably
exists a series of reservations about the body of propositions upon
which the projective hypothesis actually rests. In the broadest
sense of the expression, these propositions are derived from psy-
choanalysis, and their specific nature has to be set forth before
new ground can be broken in projective psychology.
More important than the full statement of the propositions
of psychoanalysis upon which projective psychology rests is the
undertaking of a serious effort to relate analytical and non-
analytical psychology more closely to what is likely to be the
advantage of each. In a small -way the two chapters that next fol-
low move in this direction.
IN this first paper Dr. Leopold Bellak traces the historical development
of the concept of projection, now so widely and loosely used. At-

tempting to verify experimentally Freud's original clinical description

of projection, he found it
necessary to redefine the perceptual proc-
esses involved in what are known as projective methods. While he
to use the terms "apperceptive
prefers psychology" and "apperceptive
distortion" in preference to the more familiar terminology, Bellak's
contribution places him quite clearly in the main stream of projective
psychology.
If his
terminology should appear convincing and useful,
it will find acceptance in due time. His attempt to restate basic psycho-

analytical concepts in terms of the process of apperceptive distortion

and the Gestalt theory of learning will certainly require further ex-
perimental
work and exploration.
His formulation of personality theory based upon this reconcep-
tualization should, however, help to resolve some of the problems

facing the clinician using projective methods. It constitutes one span

of the bridge across the schism that still separates nonanalytical from

analytical psychology. The span is completed, and further supported,

in the next paper.

On the Problems of the Concept

of Projection

A THEORY OF APPERCEPTIVE DISTORTION

Leopold Bellak

INTRODUCTION

PROJECTION is a term
very much in use in present-day clinical,
1
dynamic, and social psychology. Frank [8] suggests
that projec-
tive methods are typical of the current general trend toward a
and holistic in recent science as
dynamic approach psychological

1
Italic figures in. brackets refer to the "References" at the end of each
paper,
7
S The Theoretical Foundations of Projective Psychology

well as in natural science. In the context of his article he likens

of spectral analysis in
protective techniques to the position
physical science.
7
The term "projection* was introduced by Freud [9] as early
"The in which he said:
as 1
894 in his paper Anxiety Neurosis,"
"The psyche develops the neurosis of anxiety when it feels itself
unequal to the task of mastering [sexual] excitation arising endpg-
this excita-
enously. That is to say, it acts as if it had projected
tion into the outer world."
In 1896, in a paper "On the Defense Neuropsychoses" [10],
stated more explicitly
elaborating further on projection, Freud
that projection is a process of ascribing one's own drives, feelings,
and sentiments to other people or to the outside world as a
defensive process that permits one to be unaware of these
"undesirable" in oneself. Further elaboration of the
phenomena
concept took place in his paper on the case of Schreber [u]
in
connection with paranoia. In brief, the paranoiac has certain
homosexual tendencies which he transforms under the pressure
of his superego from "I love him" to "I hate him/' a reaction form-
ation. This hatred he then projects onto or ascribes to the former
love object, who has become the persecutor. The ascription of
hatred takes place presumably because emergence into conscious-
ness and realization of the hatred is prohibited by the superego,
and because an externalized danger is more readily dealt with than
is an internal one. More specifically,
the superego inhibits expres-
sion of the hatred because it
morally disapproves of it.
Healy, Bronner, and Bowers [16] define projection, similarly, as
"a defensive process under the sway of the pleasure principle
whereby the ego thrusts forth on the external world unconscious
wishes and ideas which, if allowed to penetrate into consciousness,
would be painful to the ego."
While projection thus originated in connection with psychoses
and neuroses, it was later applied by Freud to other forms of be-
havior; for example, as the main mechanism in the formation of
religious beliefs as set forth in The Future of an Illusion [12] and
in Totem and, Taboo [13]. Even in this cultural context,
projec-
tion was still seen as a defensive
process against anxiety. While
Freud originally considered repression the only defense mechan-
ism, at least ten mechanisms are at present spoken of in the
psychoanalytic literature. Although projection is firmly estab-
 On the Problems of the
Concept of Projection 9

lished as o*ne of themost important defensive

processes, relatively
little work has been done on it. Sears
[26] says: "Probably the
most inadequately defined term in all
psychoanalytic theory is
There is a long list of
projection." papers on projection, however,
particularly clinical-psychoanalytic ones and some academic ones.
The widest use of the term "projection" has been made in the
field of clinical psychology in connection with so-called
projec-
tive techniques. These include the Rorschach
Test, the The-
matic Apperception Test, the Szondi, Sentence
Completion, and
a great number of other procedures. The basic
assumption in the
use of these tests is that the
subject presented with a number
is

of ambiguous stimuli and- is then invited to

respond to these
stimuli. By such means it is assumed that the
subject projects his
own needs and press and that these will
appear as responses to
the ambiguous stimuli.
The
definition of
projection previously stated served our pur-
well until a crucial
poses point arose in connection with attempts
at the experimental
investigation of the phenomenon which are
reported elsewhere [3, 4]. The first experiment consisted in pro-
voking a number of subjects and giving them pictures of the
Thematic Apperception Test under controlled- conditions. In
the second experiment the
subjects were given the posthypnotic
order to feel aggression (without
being directly aware of it)
while telling stories about the In both instances the
pictures.
subjects behaved according to the hypothesis of projection and
produced a significant increase of aggression as compared with
their
responses to the pictures without having been made to feel
aggressive first.
Similarly, when
the subjects were under
post-
hypnotic order and were told that
they were extremely de-
pressed and unhappy, it was found that they projected these
sentiments into their stories. Until this there was no need
point
to change the concept of projection as the ascription to the
outside world of sentiments that are to the
unacceptable ego.
Whenthe experiment was varied, however, to the extent that
the posthypnotic order was
given to the subject that he should
feel extremely elated, it was found that elation too was pro-
jected into the stories to the Thematic Apperception Test pic-
tures.At this point it occurred to me that this could not
pos-
be subsumed under the concept of
sibly projection as a defense
mechanism, siace there obviously was no particular need for the
10 The Theoretical Foundations of Protective Psychology

effects of joy. Such a case

ego to guard against the "disruptive"
can be hypothesized, for example, as when joy is inappropriate,
a toward whom ambivalence is felt. Such
as in the death of person
was not the case, however, in the experiment. Therefore it was
of projective phenomena
necessary to examine further the concept
and to suggest a re-examination of underlying processes.
As so often happens, it was found on careful rereading of Freud
(following a reference
by Dr. Ernst Kris) that Freud had antici-
He said in Totem and Taboo
pated our present trend of thought.
[*3l> P a
g e 8 57
But projection is not specially created for the purpose of defence,
it also comes into being where there are no conflicts. The projec-

tion of inner to the outside is a primitive mechanism

perceptions
so that
which, for instance, also influences our sense-perceptions,
it normally has the greatest share, in shaping our
outer world.
Under conditions that have not been sufficiently determined
yet
even inner perceptions of ideational and emotional processes are
and are used to shape
projected outwardly, like sense perceptions,
the outer world, whereas they ought to remain in the inner world.

And (on page 879):

The in outer
thing which we, just like primitive man, project
can be else but the recognition of a state
reality, hardly anything
in which a given thing is present to the senses and to conscious-
ness, next to which another state exists
in which the thing is
but can that is to say, the co-existence of per-
latent, reappear,
to generalize it, the existence of uncon-
ception and memory, or,
scious psychic processes next to conscious ones.

believe that this thought of Freud's, not further elaborated

I
and stated with-
upon or not systematically expressed anywhere
out any of the sophistication of modern semantics, contains
of projection and
everything necessary for a consistent theory
general perception.
Freud's main assumption is that memories of percepts influence
stimuli. The interpretation of the
perception of contemporary
Thematic Apperception Test is, indeed, based on such
an assump-
tion. I believe that the subject's past perception of his own father
influences his perception of father figures in TAT
pictures, and
that this constitutes a valid and reliable sample of his usual per-
as well as experi-
ceptions of father figures. Clinical experience,
 On the Problems of the Concept of Projection 11

mental investigation, has borne out this point. own experi-

My
ments have shown that the behavior of the experimenter can
bring out sentiments that originally were probably related to
the father figure. While these sentiments had a demonstrable
but over-all influence on the of stimuli,
temporary perception
individual differences were maintained according to the genetic-
ally
determined structure of the personality.
It seems, then, that percept memories influence the
percep-
tion of contemporary stimuli and not only for the narrowly de-
fined of defense, as stated in the definition of
purposes original
projection.
We
are compelled to assume that all
present percep-
tion is influenced by past perception, and that indeed the nature
of the perceptions and their interaction with each other con-
of the psychology of 2
stitutes the field
personality.
It is necessary to describe the nature of these
perceptual proc-
esses and later to attempt to formulate a
psychoanalytic psy-
chology of personality based on these conceptions.

APPERCEPTION AND APPERCEPTIVE DISTORTION

To use the term "projection" for the general

perceptual proc-
esses described above does not seem very useful in view of the his-

tory of the concept and its present clinical applications. On the

other hand, "perception" has been so definitely linked with a

system of psychology which has not been concerned with 'the

<whok personality that I hesitate to use it in the context of dynamic
psychology any further. While terminology is certainly not a mat-
ter of
primary importance here, I propose that the term "apper-
3
ception" be used henceforth. I define apperception as an organ-

2
This theory, in its broadest implications namely, that perception is
subjective and is the primary datum of all psychology is, of course, not
original with Freud. Hume's "Nihil est in intellectu quid non antea fuerit
in seTisibus"is
practically a perceptual theory of personality. Similarly,
philosophical idealism, such as Schopenhauer's Die Welt als Wille und
Vorstellung and Kant's transcendental state, represents a similar position.
3
1
prefer the following definition (from C. P. Herbart: Psychologic als
Wissenschaft, Part III, Sect, i, Ch. 5, p. 15, as quoted in Dagobert D. Runes,
(ed.): Dictionary of Philosophy): "Apperception (lat. ad plus percipere
to perceive), in
psychology: The process by which new experience is
assimilated to and transformed by the residuum of past
experience of any
individual to form a new whole. The residuum of past experience is called
apperceptive mass."
12 The Theoretical Foundations of Protective Psychology

ism's (dynamically) meaningful interpretation of a perception.

This definition and the use of the term "apperception" permit us
to suggest, purely for the purpose of a working hypothesis, that
there can be a process of noninterpreted perception,
hypothetical
and that every subjective interpretation constitutes a dynamically
meaningful apperceptive distortion. Instead,
we can also establish,
a condition of nearly pure cognitive "objective" per-
operationally,
of subjects agree on the exact defi-
ception in which a majority
nition of a stimulus. For instance, the majority of subjects agree
that Picture No. I of the TAT
shows a boy playing the violin.
Thus we can establish this as a norm, and say that any-
perception
one who, for instance, describes this picture as a boy at a lake (as
one schizophrenic patient did) distorts the stimulus situation ap-
of our subjects go on to further de-
perceptively. If we let any
scription of the stimulus, however, we find that each one of them
interprets
the stimulus differently; for example, as a happy boy, a
sad boy, an ambitious boy, a boy urged on by his parents. There-
fore we must state that purely cognitive perception remains a
distorts apperceptively, the dis-
hypothesis, and that every person
tortions differing only in degree.
In the clinical use of the TATit becomes
quite clear
that we
deal with apperceptive distortions of different degrees. The sub-
ject is frequently unaware
of any subjective significance in the
he tells. In clinical practice [f] it has appeared that simply
story
asking the subject to read
over his typed-out story may often
give him sufficient distance
from the situation to perceive that
the gross of it refer to himself. Only after considerable
aspects
psychotherapy, however, may he see
his more latent drives; yet
he may never be able to "see" the least acceptable of his subjective
on the presence of which any number of independent
distortions,
observers might agree. It may be permissible, then, to introduce a
number of terms for apperceptive distortion of different degree
for purposes of identification and communication. 4

FORMS OF APPERCEPTIVE DISTORTION

Projection. suggested that the term "projection" be re-
It is
served for the greatest degree of apperceptive distortion. Its

*It must be understood that these various forms of apperceptive distor-

tions do not necessarily exist in pure form and frequently patently coexist
with each other.
 On the Problems of the Concept
of Projection 13

opposite pole
would be, hypothetically, a
completely objective
was described
perception. Projection originally in clinical psy-
choanalysis as pertaining to psychoses in particular and to certain
neurotic defenses generally, and to some "normal" maturational
processes.
We may say that in the case of true projection we are
dealing not only with an ascription of feelings and sentiments
which remain unconscious, in the service of defense, but which
are table to the ego and are therefore ascribed to
unacceip objects
of the outside world. We
may also add that they cannot be made
conscious except by special prolonged
therapeutic techniques.
This concept covers the phenomenon observed in a
paranoid that
can be essentially stated as the change from the unconscious "I
love him" to the conscious "He hates me." True
projection in this
case is actually a very complex process,
probably involving the fol-
lowing four steps:

(a) "I love him" (a homosexual object) an

unacceptable id drive;
(b) reaction formation "I hate him";
(c) the aggression is also unacceptable and is repressed;
(d) finally, the percept is changed to "He hates me."

Only the last

step usually reaches consciousness.
I
suggest calling this process inverted projection, as contrasted
with simple projection, which is discussed below. The first
step in
the process usually involves the operation of another defense
mechanism, reaction formation. It is sufficient to say here that, in
the case of the paranoid, "I hate him" is
approved, while "I love
him" (homosexually) is and was learned early
socially disapproved
by him in relation to his father as a
dangerous impulse. Therefore
in this case "I hate him" extinguishes and
replaces the loving
sentiment Thus in inverted projection we really deal first with
the process of reaction formation and then with an
apperceptive
distortion that results in the ascription of the subjective senti-
ment to the outside world as a simple projection.
Simple Projection. This is not at all necessarily of clinical
significance, is of frequent everyday occurrence, and has been well
described in the following joke:

Joe Smith wants to borrow Jim Jones's lawn mower. As he walks

across his own lawn he thinks of how he will ask Jones for the
w
lawn mower. But then he thinks: "J ones *^ Sa7 t ^lat t*ie *ast ^ me
I borrowed something from him I
gave it back dirty." Then Joe
14 The Theoretical Foundations of Projective Psychology

answers him in fantasy by replying that it was just

in the condi-

tion in which he had received it. Then Jones replies in fantasy

fence as he
by saying that Joe will probably damage Jim Jones's
lifts the mower over. Whereupon Joe replies
. . and so the
.

fantasy argument continues. WhenJoe finally arrives at Jim's

house, Jim stands on the porch and says cheerily: "Hello, Joe,
what can I do for you?" And Joe responds angrily: "You can
keep your damn lawn mower!"

Broken down, means the following: Joe wants some-

this story
a previous rebuff. He has learned (from parents,
thing, but recalls
siblings, etc.)
that the request may not be granted. This makes
him angry. He then perceives Jim as angry with him, and his
response to the imagined aggression is: "I hate Jim because Jim
hates me."
In greater detail this process can be seen as follows: Joe wants
the image of asking some-
something from Jim. This brings up
his brother, for example, who
thing from another contemporary,
is seen as jealous and would refuse angrily in such
a situation.
^

Thus the process might simply be: the image of Jim is

appercep-
tively distorted by
the percept memory of the brother, a case of
of learning. I shall have to attempt to explain
inappropriate transfer
later why Joe should not relearn if reality proves his original
fact is established that such
conception wrong. The empirical
neurotic behavior does not usually change except under psy-
chotherapy.
Joe differs from the paranoid not only by the lesser rigidity
with which he adheres to his projections but also by less fre-
as the smaller degree of lack
quency and less exclusiveness as well
of awareness, or inability to become aware, in addition to how
patently subjective and
"absurd" the distortion is.
a not infrequent process may be the following. Some-
Certainly
one arrives late at work on Monday morning and believes, incor-
rectly, that his supervisor
looks angrily at him later on. This is
of as "a that is, he behaves as though
spoken guilty conscience";
the supervisor knew that he had come late, when actually the

supervisor may not know of it. This means that he sees in the
supervisor the anger that he has come to expect in such a situa-
tion. This behavior can then be understood
again as a simple
(associative) distortion through transfer of learning, or in more
 On the Problems of the Concept of Projection 15

situations the influence of

complex previous images on present
ones.
If we
Sensitization. modify the above case of a subject's com-
ing late to work
to the degree that we have a situation in which
the supervisor feels a very slight degree of anger at the latecomer,
we may observe a new phenomenon. Some subjects may not at all
observe the anger or react to it, while others observe it and
may
react to it In the latter case we shall find that these
subjects are
the ones who tend to perceive anger even at times when it does
not objectively exist. This is a well-known clinical fact and has
been spoken of as the
"sensitivity" of neurotics. Instead of the
creation of an objectively nonexistent now
percept, we deal with
a more sensitive perception of existing stiymili. 5 The hypothesis
of sensitization merely means that an object that fits a preformed
is more
pattern easily perceived than one that does not fit the
This is a widely
preformed pattern. accepted fact, for example,
in the perceptual problems of reading, wherein
previously learned
words are much more easily perceived by their pattern than by
their spelling.
took place in
Sensitization, I believe, is also the process that
the experiment Levine, Chein, and Murphy [iy]. When these
by
experimenters first starved a number of subjects and then fleet-
ingly showed them pictures in which, among other things, were
depicted objects of food, they found two processes: (a) when
starved, the subjects saw food in the fleeting pictures even if
there was none, and (b) the subjects correctly perceived actual
of food more frequently when starved.
pictures Apparently in
such a state of deprivation there is an increased cognitive effi-
ciency of the ego in recognizing objects that might obviate its
deprivation, and also a simple compensatory fantasy of wish ful-
fillment which the authors call autistic
perception. Thus the
organism is
equipped for both reality adjustment and substitu-
tive gratification where real gratification does not exist This is
really an increase in the efficiency of the ego's function in
response
to an emergency a more accurate
perception of food in the state
process can also be subsumed un-
of starvation, I believe that this
der our concept of sensitization, since food images are recalled by

5
A very similar process has been described by Edoardo Weiss as objec-
tivatkm.
16 The Theoretical Foundations of Protective Psychology

the starvation and real food stimuli are more easily perceived.
Anexperiment by Bniner
and Postman [7] may possibly also
follow the same principle. The authors had their subjects adjust a
variable circular patch of light to match in size a circular disk held
in the palm. The perceptual judgments were made under the in-
fluence of varying degrees of shock and during a recovery period.
Results during shock did not vary markedly. During the post-
shock period, however, the deviations of perceived size from ac-
tual size became very marked. The authors tentatively proposed
a theory of selective vigilance. In terms of this theory, the or-
discriminations under conditions
ganism makes its most accurate
of stress. But when tensions are released, expansiveness prevails
and more errors are likely to result We may make the additional
the tension results immediately in a greater aware-
hypothesis that
ness of the image in memory, and more acute judgments of
the percept memory of the disk and the
equality of size between
are made.
light patch
Whether autistic perception, the perception of desired food
starvation among stimuli that do not ob-
objects in the state of
food constitutes a form of simple
jectively represent objects,
or is a that should be described as distinct from
projection process
Both Sanf ord [24] and Levine,
it
depends on rather fine points.
and have demonstrated the process experi-
Chein, Murphy fiy]
mentally. Wemay say that the increased need for food leads to a
recall of food objects, and that these percept memories distort
The only argument
apperceptively any contemporary percept.
that I can advance for a difference from simple projection is that
we deal here with simple basic drives that lead to simple gratify-
to the more complex situations pos-
ing distortions rather than
sible in simple projection.
The concept of the mote-beam mechanism of Ichheiser [18]
Ich-
may also be subsumed under the concept of sensitization.
heiser proposes to speak of the mote-beam mechanism in cases of
distortion of social in such a way that one is
exagger-
perception
of an undesirable trait in a minority
atedly aware of the presence
within oneself. In
group although one is unaware of the trait
other words we can say that there is a sensitization of awareness
(coexistent with unawareness of the process itself and of the ex-
istence of the trait within oneself, as inherent in any defensive
 On the Problems of the Concept of Projection 17

mechanism) owing to one's own unconsciously operating selec-

tivity and apperceptive

distortion.

Extemalization. Inverted projection, simple projection, and

processes of which the subject is ordinarily
sensitization are un-
aware, and decreasingly so in the order mentioned. It is corres-

pondingly
make anyone aware of the processes in him-
difficult to

self. On the other hand every clinician has had the experience of a

subject's telling
him a story about one of the TAT
pictures
as

follows: "This is a mother looking into the room to see if Johnny

has finished his homework, and she scolds him for being tardy." On
looking over the stories
in the
inquiry, the subject may sponta-
that really was the way it was with my
neously say: "I guess
mother and myself, though I did not realize it when I told you the
story."
In psychoanalytic language one may say that the process of
storytelling
was preconscious; it was not conscious while it went
on, but could easily have been made so. This implies that we deal
-with a slightly repressed pattern of images which had an organiz-
effect that could be easily recalled. The term "exteraaliza-
ing
tion" is
suggested for such a phenomenon, purely for the facilita-

tion of the clinical description of a frequently occurring process.

Purely Cognitive Perception and Other Aspects of the Stimu-
lusResponse Relationship. Pure perception is the hypothetical
process against which we measure apperceptive distortion of a
type, or it is the subjective operationally defined
subjective
a stimulus with which other inter-
agreement on the meaning of
are compared. It supplies us the end point of a con-
pretations
tinuum upon which all responses vary. Inasmuch as behavior is
considered by general consent to be rational and appropriate to a
given situation, we may speak of adaptive behavior to the "objec-
tive" stimulus, as discussed below.
In my own earlier experiments it was found that aggression
could be induced in subjects and that this aggression was "pro-
jected" into their stories in accordance with
the projection
It was further found that certain pictures are more
hypothesis.
often responded to with stories of aggression, even under normal
circumstances, if the experimenter does nothing but simply re-
quest a story about the pictures.
Also it was found that those
pictures, which by their very nature suggested aggression, lent
18 The Theoretical Foundations of Protective Psychology

themselves much more readily to projection of aggression than

others not suggesting aggression by their content.
It is believed that the first fact that a picture showing a hud-
dled figure and a pistol, for example, leads to more stories of ag-
gression than a picture of a peaceful country scene is nothing
more than what common sense would lead one to expect. In psy-
chological language this means simply that the response is in part
a function of the stimulus. In terms of apperceptive psychology
itmeans that a majority of subjects agree on some basic appercep-
tion of a stimulus and that this agreement represents our opera-
tional definition of the "objective" nature of the stimulus. Be-
havior consistent with these "objective" reality aspects of the
stimulus has been called adaptive behavior by Gordon W. Allport
[ij. In Card No. I of the TAT, for example, the subject adapts
himself to the fact that the picture shows a violin.
Several principles may be enumerated:
(a) The degree of adaptive behavior varies conversely with the
degree of exactness of the definition of the stimulus. pic- TAT
tures and the Rorschach Test ink blots are purposely relatively
unstructured in order to produce as many apperceptively dis-
torted responses as possible. On the other hand, if one of the pic-
tures of the Stanford-Binet Test the one depicting a fight be-
tween a white man and Indians is presented, the situation is well
enough defined to elicit the same response from the majority of
children between the ages of ten and twelve.
(b) The exact degree of adaptation is determined also
by the
Aufgabe or set. If the subject is asked to describe the picture,
there is more adaptive behavior than if he is asked to tell a
story
about In the latter case he tends to disregard
it.
many objective
aspects of the stimulus. If an air-raid siren is sounded, the
subject's
behavior likely to differ greatly if he knows about air raids, ex-
is

pects to hear sirens, and knows what to do in such situations. He

subject who does not know the significance
will differ from the
of the sound and who may the noise as from
interpret anything
the trumpet of the
Day of Judgment to the announcement of a
stoppage of work and behave accordingly.
(c) The nature of the perceiving organism also determines the
ratio of
adaptive versus projective behavior, as previously dis-
cussed. The Levine, Chein, and
Murphy experiment demon-
strated sensitization, and we have found that
people distort ap-
 On the Problems of the Concept of Projection 19

person when
in differing degrees. Even the same
perceptively
awakened from sleep may react altogether differently to a stimu-
lus than when wide awake.
Other aspects of the subject's production for example, those

given
in
response to TATpictures have been more simply dis-
cussed in an earlier paper [3]. I referred there to what Allport has
termed "expressive behavior."
By expressive aspects of behavior we mean that if a variety of
artists are exposed to the same conditions, one cannot
expect the
same creative productions. There would be individual differences
in the way the artists make their strokes with their
expressed
brushes or with their chisels; there would be differences in the
colors they prefer and differences in arrangement and distribution
of space. In other words, certain predominantly myoneural char-
acteristics, as Mira [21] calls them, would determine some fea-
tures of their product.

Expressive behavior is of a nature that differs from both adap-

tation and apperceptive distortion. Given a fixed ratio of adapta-
tion and apperceptive distortion in a subject's response to either
Stanford-Binet picture, persons may vary in their style and in
their organization. One may use long sentences with many ad-

jectives;
another may use short sentences with pregnant phrases
of strictly logical sequence. If individuals write their responses,

they may vary as to upper length and lower length in spacing. If

they speak, they may differ in speed, pitch, volume. All these are
personal characteristics of rather stable nature for every person.
Similarly, the artist may chisel in small detail and with precision
or choose a less exacting form. He may arrange things either

symmetrically or off-center. And again in response to the air-raid

signal,
someone may run, crouch, jump, walk, talk and do each
of these things in his own typical way.
If, then, adaptation and apperceptive distortion determine
what one does and expression determines how one does it, it is
needless to emphasize that one may always ask how one does 'what
one does. Adaptive, apperceptive, and expressive behavior are al-
ways coexistent.
In the case of artistic production, for example, the ratio of

adaptive to apperceptive material and to

the expressive charac-
teristics may
vary, of course, from artist to artist and, to a cer-
tain extent, from one to the other of the same artist. In
product
20 The Theoretical Foundations of Projective Psychology

a similar way, expressive behavior influences the TAT

produc-
in style, sentence
tions, accounting for individual differences
structure, verb-noun ratio [8], and other formal
characteristics.
ho<w one does
Expressive features reveal, then, something; adap-
tation, and distortion speak of what one does.
apperceptive

AN ATTEMPT TO INTEGRATE CONCEPTS OF APPERCEPTIVE DISTOR-

TION AND BASIC CONCEPTS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS

clinical instruments are chil-

Apperceptive psychology and
its

dren both of psychoanalysis and of academic clinical psychology

theories of Gestalt psychology con-
(particularly of
the dynamic
Nevertheless there has been a
cerning learning and perception).
of the two methods of approach
deplorable lack of integration
and a lack of understanding between the exponents of psycho-
analytic and those of nonanalytic psychology.
A
later paper by

Dr. Abt presents a systematic discussion of apperceptive distor-

tion (projective psychology) within the frame of contemporary
Here I wish to show that the basic
nonanalytic psychology.
psychoanalytic;, concepts
can be stated in experimentally verifi-
able form, as problems of learning theory, and particularly of ap-

perceptive distortion.
I important since the clinical
believe that such a restatement is

often finds it neces-

psychologist using projective techniques
with un-
sary to employ psychoanalytic approach and does so
a
necessary misgivings and insufficient clarity.
At the same time,
the clinical is not
infrequently called upon to treat
psychologist
the patient he has tested. The relationship between projective
is close, as further de-
testing and planning of psychotherapy
scribed in the chapter on the Thematic Apperception Test. With
this thought in mind, the subsequent discussion is presented:

problems of psychotherapy and a number of special dynamic

problems seen in terms of apperception.
We believe it can be said that psychoanalysis is a theory of
learning concerned especially with the life history of the acquisi-
tion of percepts, their lawful interaction with each other, and
their influence upon the perception of later stimuli. This formu-
lation is a rudimentary
attempt at present and is merely designed
to set the general frame of reference for the theory of
appercep-
tion advanced earlier.
Systematic restatement of all psycho-
 On the Problems of the
Concept of Projection 21

analytic doctrines and experimental verification must remain for

the future. 6
Thelearning of percepts is chiefly stated in terms of the libido
theory, primarily a series of genetic propositions
concerning per-
sonality. The complex constellation of the
oedipal triangle and
its fate constitutes a nuclear
concept. The lawful interaction of
percepts and the memories thereof is covertly present in what
Freud has to say about
parapraxes and symptom and character
formation. The influence of
past percepts upon the contempo-
rary apperception is implied in the concept of defense mechanism
and the genetic interpretation of
In this light the libido
contemporary behavior
theory may be regarded as involving
propositions concerned with the history of the
perception of
oral, anal, and genital stimuli, and the reaction of
the significant
adults (parental figures) to them. Since
psychoanalysis developed
as a clinical
empirical science in which the beginnings of method-
ology are only now becoming manifest, it does not distinguish
between underlying
learning hypotheses and the actual results
It describes the effect of
early oral frustration of an individual
without stating that the law of
primacy is consistent with the
assumptions of the importance of early experience. It does not
systematically explore, in terms of reward and
punishment, the
effect the mother's reaction has
upon the acquisition of cleanli-
ness, but deals nevertheless, in a manner
yet to be experimen-
tally stated, with the effect that the of the mother will
image
have on this individual's later
perception of bodily functions.
That is, the percept
memory of the mother will have a determin-
ing influence on later perceptions. "The child identifies with the
mother" can be stated as the fact that the child
perceives the
mother and retains a
memory of that percept. The child learns
to associate
pleasure or avoidance of anhedonia with the maternal
It learns to behave
percept. according to the rules of the mother
in order to avoid anhedonia which can derive from
inorganic real-
ity (the child might burn itself) or from the mother's
disapproval,
which could take the form of withdrawal of love or actual
physi-
cally painful punishment. The percept memory of the mother be-
comes a guiding image, motivated
by the wish to avoid anhedonia,

'This is not meant to be another

attempt at neo-Freudianism; rather, it is
an attempt to advance Freud's
teachings methodologically.
22 The Theoretical Foundations of Protective Psychology

which exerts a selective influence on behavior; it becomes part of

the self-system of the child, or an "ego ideal," in Freud's language.
Actually, of course, there is not a single percept of the mother
but a whole series of percepts, as Paul Schilder has already pointed
giving, mother taking, mother clean-
out [2?]. There is mother

ing, mother playing, and so on. The percept of the mother dif-
fers with the age of the child, and one percept becomes superim-
posed upon another. Thus the percept of the mother, say at age
fourteen of the child, is the final outcome of all the percepts of
mother up to that time. This composite, according to the con-
cepts of Gestalt 'psychology, will be more than the sum total of
the percepts. It will have its own configuration.
Psychoanalysis, we can say, has been particularly interested in
the selective fate and organization of these memory traces. Freud
had discovered that earlier learned percepts had become unrecog-
nizable to the individual and to the outsider in the process of
integration of percepts. He spoke of their having become uncon-
scious. The psychoanalytic technique was designed to recognize
the parts that constitute the whole which is immediately ob-
servable. Dream images and their analysis by means of free associa-
tion are probably the best example. The manifest dream consti-
tutes the final Gestalt. "Free associations" reveal the parts that
went into the image and permit us to order the dream events
into the continuity of the stream of thought processes. Freud's
principle of over determination can then be stated as merely a
demonstration of the Gestalt principle that the whole is more
than the sum of the details.
If the self-system
(personality) can be seen as a complex system
of percepts of diverse nature, influencing behavior selectively, it
makes no difference whether the organism at birth is seen as a
tabula rasa, to be structured entirely by the later learned
pat-
terns, or whether it is thought of as born with a number of de-
termining factors of ontogenetic, familial, or a general biological
nature. Which biological drive a theory postulates, whether it
speaks of sexual drive, aggression, need for security, or avoidance
of anhedonia, any one alone or any number combined, is not essen-
theory. Whatever drive presents itself is modified and
tial for our

shaped by the various learned percepts. Furthermore, each

per-
cept is modified and integrated with every other percept.
Psychoanalysis has chosen to speak collectively of those per-
 On the Problems of the Concept of Projection 23

the behavior that is consistent with avoid-

cepts determining
ance of reality difficulties and the testing of logical propositions
as the ego. It has chosen further to identify those of the ego
per-
cepts
which are more definitely associated with goal ideas of long-
range nature,
or more
closely circumscribed and more definitely
patterned
after a particular
person as the ego ideal. The percepts
"moral" behavior are
governing collectively called the superego.
Originally, the parental images (or those of other significant
adults talcing the parental role) constitute the representation of

society, which,
of course, later becomes
enlarged.
At first Freud arrived at the awareness of these perceptions by
reconstruction from adults that is, by breaking down the whole
of the patient's percept of a maternal figure into its historical
component parts. Later on, his reconstructions were confirmed
by direct observation of children. Psychoanalysis also treats of
the laws of changes of percepts by interaction among them-
selves into different configurations. The best
example of this
is the dream work in which
process symbolization, condensation,
and displacement are the processes leading to the final configura-
tion of the manifest dream.
The theory of defense mechanisms is really a theory concerned
with the selective influence of memory percepts on the
percep-
tion of contemporaryevents. Each defense mechanism is a
hypo-
thesis concerning the lawfulness of interaction of images under
certain circumstances. If, for instance, a mother has
aggressive
feelings toward her child along with affectionate at the feelings
same time, one of the possible results of this conflict of senti-
ments may be described by psychoanalysis as reaction formation
the mother may be entirely unaware of her
aggressive feelings and
may manifest excessive affection. We
can restate this by saying
that the following lawfulness is
implied: when a stimulus arouses

percept memories that elicit both aggressive and nurturant at-

titudes, and the aggressive one has met with disapproval, then
the disapproved one is extinguished and the
approved one rein-
forced. This statement makes reaction formation an
experimen-
tally verifiable concept, at least in principle. Of course any number
of further supplementary
hypotheses may have to be made to fit
the complex model of real life situations. Furthermore, Gestalt

principles possibly be better able to fit the model. It may be

may *

experimentally demonstrated that when a

fc

good" image and

24 The Theoretical Foundations of Protective Psychology

a "bad" the result will be a rein-

image are simultaneously exposed,
forced "good" image modified by some aspects of the "bad" image.
Mother love of reaction formation has the restric-
as the result
tive features of overprotectiveness; that is, some of the originally
itself in the new guise. Reaction
coexisting aggression manifests
formation may, in fact, be adequately expressed, as for instance in
Guthrie's principle of conditioned discrimination, which is stated
as follows [17]: "If two stimuli are sufficiently dis-
by Hilgard
tinguishable,
the organism can be taught to respond to one of
them and to cease responding to the other. This is done by the
methods of contrast. That is, one of the stimuli is regularly rein-
forced, the other regularly nonreinforced. The
selective extinc-

tion which results is known as conditioned discrimination because

the organism has learned to react differentially to the two stim-
uli. . ." As I mentioned earlier, the paranoid originally reacts to
.

the homosexual love object with love and then with hate as in
the typical ambivalence of the boy to the father. He has an
the big protector) and an image of
image of the loved father (as
the aggressive-sadistic father (of primal scene origin). These im-
other perception of males.
ages may apperceptively destroy any
the social mores and the
By conditioned discrimination through
fears of the father, love-response is extinguished and the hate-
response remains
to be projected.
Freud'stheory of neurosis has always been stated as a compro-
mise formation. That a statement of the best possible Ges-
is, it is

talt in a of forces the id, the ego, the superego,

given system
and reality. Freud's theory of the outbreak of an adult neurosis
U
may be stated as follows: A
neurosis becomes manifest when a
constellation of forces coincides with the pattern
contemporary
of a traumatic childhood situation." Under such circumstances
the neurosis is a repetition of the earlier established reaction
a patient was married to a much older
pattern. For example,
woman who dominated him in manyways. He had early been a
the mother. When his wife deserted
partial orphan brought up by
adjusted man broke into
him this otherwise well acute anxiety
attacks. When by chance he visited the near-by city in which he
was born and which he had visited frequently in the past few
years, he wandered aimlessly
into a department store, became un-
comfortable and increasingly anxious as he approached the exit.
At this point he spontaneously recalled that as a small boy he had
 On the Problems of the Concept of Projection 25

one day been lost by his mother and had stood crying in the door
of the same department store. He instantly experienced a de-
cided relief. It appeared, on exploration, that being left by his
wife had created a terror in him similar to the emotion felt when
he had been lost by his mother; that is, the situation
present
fitted a preexisting pattern.
Freud's original contributions, which were concerned with
amnesia or with the traumatic
hysterical origin of neurosis, with
parapraxes,
and with dreams, were really hypotheses concerning
learning, forgetting, and the methods of recall (hypnosis, per-
suasion, and free association).

SOME SPECIAL DYNAMIC PROBLEMS SEEN AS CASES OF APPER-

CEPTIVE DISTORTION

is one of the
Hypnosis. Hypnosis processes in which a subject's
apperception can be temporarily altered and in which major dis-
tortions can be introduced. While we cannot
hope to solve the
problems of this highly controversial
phenomenon, we can at-
tempt to understand it with the
help of the concepts so far ad-
vanced.
The hypnotic process starts with a gradual decrease of the sub-

ject's apperceptive
functions and a final limiting of these func-
tions to the apperceptions of the
hypnotist's voice (appercep-
tion it is indeed, since different subjects often give the hypnotic
instructions a different meaning). This process of exclusion of ap-

perception is similar to the one instituted by a person when he

gets ready to sleep. In fact Ferenczi's theory of hypnosis suggests
that the hypnotist represents the parental image that once upon
a time lulled the child or ordered it into sleep. In our terms the

hypnotist is
apperceptively distorted by the image memories of
the parent. Accordingly, if the hypnosis proceeds well, these

parental images,
via the
hypnotist, have as highly controlling an
influence upon the perception of any other stimuli as did the

parents in early infancy, during which there was no differentia-

tion between thought and reality.
Obedience to posthypnotic orders demonstrates conclusively
that image memories of which the subject is not aware and of
which he is unable to become aware may have a controlling in-
fluence over action. The percept memory of the subject of the

hypnotist apperceptively distorts the present stimulus. When,

26 The Theoretical Foundations of Protective Psychology

for example, the hypnotist asks the subject how his seat feels,
the subject may obediently jump up with a feeling of heat on his
seat. In
experiments I ordered subjects to feel angry or depressed.
That is, the subject recalled a past situation of anger or depres-
sion and the memory of this situation distorted the apperception
of the TAT cards in such a way as to suggest social situations in-
volving aggression, grief, etc.
Mass Psychological Phenomena. Mass psychological phenom-
ena can be understood in a way very similar to hypnosis. As Freud
pointed out in Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego
[14], each individual introjects the "mass" or group as a transi-
tory factor into the ego and the superego. We can say that while
the individual is a member of the group, he "sees the world

through the eyes of the mass." The group is seen

temporarily as
an authoritarian and,
figure, as in hypnosis, the apperception of
the group gains a controlling influence over most other image-
memories. Thus lynching, stampeding, and fighting come about
by facilitation of primitive impulses.

Transference. While the term "transference" is frequently

used quite loosely, I wish to restrict its meaning to the emo-
tional relationship of the patient to his psychoanalyst. An inte-
of this is that the is at least theo-
gral part relationship analyst
retically a figure who does not enter actively into emotional re-
lationships and refrains from punishing, praising, or in any way
manifestly reacting to the patient's moods.
Transference implies that the patient transfers to the analyst
sentiments that he has learned previously. He may thus expect to
hear criticism, punishment, or praise from the analyst and may
frequently apperceptively distort the analyst's reactions. It is
part of the analytic work to show the patient at plausible points
the difference between his distortions and the facts.
The analyst's lack of response has a unique effect which differ-
entiates the transference situation from that of
any other ap-
perceptive distortion of a similar parental figure. When a patient
has found that one particular
way of attempting to manipulate
the relationship does not succeed, another
pattern of behavior
emerges. For instance, one patient bluffed a great deal in a part of
his analysis, showed off his considerable
knowledge, and tried to
amuse the analyst. When this was pointed out to him and it was
clear that the
analyst failed to respond to the patient's exhibi-
 On the Problems of the Concept of Projection 27

tions, the patient reacted with aggression and later with

plain
anxiety and dependence. We can say that this patient had origi-
a number of behavior
nally developed patterns for dealing with his
anxiety. When his most
recently learned pattern failed, he re-
gressed to
an earlier one, just as Mowrer [22] has demonstrated in
another context, and then again to an earlier one.
Eventually his
relation to the analyst became similar to the one he had had with
when he was quite small. His
apperception of the
his parents
analyst wasdistorted by the various
images of the parents at var-
ious ages. When, for instance, his oedipal fear of the father was re-
enacted, he was made aware of his fearful expectations. He
learned that these fears are unfounded; that
is, he relearned the
earliertroublesome patterns by insight and
conditioning in the
transference situation and by "working through" in his external
world.
The transference situation can then be described as one in
which the patient distorts his
apperception of the analyst with
increasingly earlier images of the parents and other significant
figures of
his early life.

Psychoses. In psychotic delusions and hallucinations we may

say that the early images have emerged so strongly as to have a
greater distorting influence upon the apperception of the con-
temporary world than in any other condition.
If we say that our current
apperception is a Gestalt, a com-
posite picture of all the
previously learned apperceptions, then we
can say, schematically speaking, that certain
early images of a fear-
ful nature were so strong in a given
patient as to powerfully dis-
tort all later ones that might have been of a more harmless nature.

Usually the apperceptive distortion at first affects only a small

group of stimuli. In the
early paranoid involves only otie
it still

individual or a very few. Sometimes the original distortion is not

necessarily absurd and can keep juries busy checking for long peri-
ods. With the progress of the disease the
patient's distortions
usually become more marked and more nearly all-inclusive. The
system formation of the paranoid becomes more and more rami-
fied until it involves the whole world his whole
apperceptive field.
Therapy. The psychoanalytic theory of therapy can be re-
stated in the following
steps [6J:
Communication: The patient communicates with the analyst
by means of free associations. Through these the analyst learns
28 The Theoretical Foundations of Protective Psychology

of the patient's behavior in a great many situations and finds a

number of common denominators in the patient's behavioral pat-
terns.

Interpretation: Whenthe analyst has become acquainted with a

number of life situations of the patient, he may perceive a
certain common denominator in the behavioral patterns and

point it out to the patient in such doses as seem to him to be suit-

able at various times.
(a) Horizontal Study: The therapist may fiijd a common de-
nominator among the behavior patterns and interpersonal rela-
tions of the patient's contemporary life situation, and we may

speak of this process as a horizontal study of patterns.

(b) Vertical Study: Sooner or later it will be possible to trace
by free association or otherwise the historical development of
these patterns in the life history of the patient, leading to a more
or less definitely defined early set. Wemay speak of this part of the
therapeutic investigation as the vertical study of life patterns.
it is to point out both the vertical and the
Frequently necessary
horizontal common denominators of the patient's current be-
havior in order to lead to a solution of his problems.
(c) Relationship to the Therapist: As a special case of current
life situations of the horizontal pattern in its relation to the
earlier historical ones, the relationship to the therapist may be
discussed specifically in what is known in psychoanalysis as
analysis of the transference situation.
Interpretation, then,
means that the therapist points out to
the patient the common denominators in his behavioral patterns,
horizontally, vertically, and in special relation to
the therapist.
In all three instances the therapist finds that the patient suffers
from apperceptive distortions of life situations. Interpretation
really consists in pointing
out the common denominators of the
apperceptive distortions and, in certain cases, in demonstrating
the relationships of earlier life situations to percept memories in
which these apperceptive distortions arose. The process involves
the analysis of the present complex apperception into the parts
that came to constitute the whole.
A brief example may be of help here. The patient may have ap-
peared with the presenting problem of vague anxiety attacks.
It may develop that these apparently
puzzling attacks occur
typically when the patient is in contact with a strict
authority
 On the Problems of the Concept of
Projection 29

who produces hostility in him. After this horizontal pattern has

at one time or another a vertical one
appeared, may also be found
the patient had a more or less to his father,
specific relationship
who originally produced these
feelings of hostility in him with
the resulting anxiety. Further study will reveal a whole
history
of relationships to similar authorities prior to the current situa-
tion and a similar attitude that is
expressed to the therapist.
Insight: Insight development is the next step in the therapeu-
tic process. The term one abused almost as much as
"insight" is

psychotherapy itself.
Frequently the term "insight" is used to
mean simply that the patient is aware of being
mentally ill. This
is used most often in the discussion of
psychotics, usually without
implying any more than just that. In the context of dynamic
psychotherapy insight must have this meaning the patient's
ability to see the relationship between a given symptom and the
previously unconscious apperceptive distortions underlying his
symptoms. More strictly speaking, we define insight as the pa-
tient'sapperception (i.e., meaningful perception) of the common
denominators of his behavior as
pointed out by the therapist.
The problem is seen in a new light and handled
differently from
then on.
This process may be analyzed into two
parts:
(a) Intellectual Insight: The patient can see the interrelation-
ship of his different horizontal and vertical patterns; he can see
them as special cases of a class, or, in Gestalt
general helanguage,
learns by and experiences closure. The pieces of isolated
insight
happenings become a memory whole, and a repatterning and re-
learning takes place.
(b) Emotional Insight: The patient reproduces the affect
pertaining to the intellectual insight relief, anxiety, guilt, happi-
ness, etc.
If the intellectual
insight alone is produced, limited or no thera-
peutic results maybe achieved because emotional repatterning is
an essential of the therapeutic process, be it conceived of as a
regular libidinal-metapsychologic process or as a learning process
psychological terms. The affect must
in conventional academic
be part of the Gestalt of a
therapeutic experience.
Working Through: The next step in therapy consists in the
working through of the new insight:
(a) Intellectually: The patient now applies what he has learned
30 The Theoretical Foundations of Protective Psychology

to pertain to a few situations, as pointed out by the therapist,

to a number of other situations to which the same general de-
nominator If a pattern of apperceptive distortion was
applies.
pointed out to exist as applying to the patient's present em-
his analyst, and his father, he may now remem-
ployer, his teacher,
ber situations involving an uncle, a superior officer in the army,
an elder brother, or others as having been reacted to similarly.
(b) Therapeutically (Emotionally): In the therapeutic situa-
tion, psychoanalytically known as the transference situation,
the patient originally "transfers" the emotional patterns of be-
havior as discussed previously and works them through.
(c) Behaviorally: Outside the therapeutic session the patient
on meeting situations discussed and new ones similar to the
goes
ones scrutinized. While in real situations, he is aware of the in-
sight he recently gained. Under
the influence of that new "men-
tal set" he reacts differently to a progressive extent to these
situations in the corrective direction suggested by the analysis
of the situation. Newproblems arising are re-analyzed and the
problem is worked out by persistent adjustment and readjust-
ment between mental set and reality.
While the process of insight and the purely intellectual aspects
of working through are best explained by Gestalt learning
theory, the therapeutic and behavioral working through are ac-
tually best seen as a matter of conditioning and reconditioning,
as well as a problem in which trial and error and reward and pun-
ishment lead to the final best result.

SUMMARY
The concept of projection has been re-examined. Earlier experi-
mental investigations of mine had shown that the definition of
projection as a defense mechanism was inadequate. Instead, pro-
jection is shown to be one of a number of processes of "appercep-
tive distortion." These
apperceptive distortions are best seen as due
to the structuring influence of the memories of past apperceptions
on present apperceptions. Thus the dynamic theory of the psycho-
analytic psychology of personality can be seen in terms of the
history of past apperceptions (e.g., of the parents, etc.) and of
their influence on the individual's
apperceptions of the contempo-
rary world. Psychoanalysis can be seen as a theory of learning ap-
plied to the genesis of percept memories and their lawful inter-
 On the Problems of the Concept of Projection 31

action with each other. These are expressed in the

theory of
defense mechanisms, symptom formation, and character formation.
The hypotheses advanced were tentatively applied to an under-
standing of hypnosis, group psychological phenomena, transfer-
ence, psychoses, and the processes involved in psychoanalytic
therapy, in an attempt to integrate concepts important for the
clinician using apperceptive methods.

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