Introjection: what it is, characteristics and examples

An introjection is a term that has been used in the field of psychology and psychiatry, but especially within the current of psychoanalysis, being described as the adoption of the unconscious of each person of attitudes or ideas of others people.

In everyday life we ​​can see various examples of introjection in psychology such as "men do not cry", "you must find your better half to be happy”, introject in oneself the love for a sport that previously did not interest him but someone who admires what is productive, and also pejorative phrases that someone has been told on many occasions by other people such as "you are a clumsy”.

In this article, in addition to presenting 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, since both concepts are closely related.

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What are projection and introjection?

First of all, it is convenient to understand what projection and introjection are, two widely used concepts, especially within the current of psychoanalysis.

In the first place, a projection, in traditional psychology, has been defined as a mechanism through which a person is capable of freeing himself from certain intolerable situations at the affective level, locating his own feelings abroad. 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) this type of projection is common.

An introjection is the opposite of projection., being a concept that was initially introduced within 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 the personality of people by influencing the reorganizations of the self and the construction of the superego.

Introjection is also considered to be an unconscious mechanism used to help internalize most of of the qualities, ideas and attitudes of other people, this being a fairly common process in the lives of people. Therefore, introjection is essentially 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. In addition, introjection is considered an unconscious defense mechanism that could cause one to ignore the reality around him.

In short, introjection could be considered as the mechanism by which human beings tend to place in ourselves things that belong to others. This phenomenon tends to occur more frequently to those people who have a greater predisposition to feel guilty and take responsibility for things because they are very demanding with themselves.

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Examples of Introjection in Psychology

There is a wide variety of examples of introjection in psychology that can be seen in everyday life. people, being put into practice unconsciously constantly by the people. Let's look at some of those examples of introjection below.

The first of the examples of introjection in psychology is one that occurs quite frequently and occurs when a person discovers that someone he admires likes swimming a lot and then, although that person had never been interested in that sport before, he begins to practice it, this being an introjection.

In this type of case it can even happen that the person who has introjected from the other person whom he admires that fondness for swimming put your opinion above your own feelings regarding this new taste for this sport, so that you will assume automatically and even unconsciously that, as someone he admired introduced him to the idea of ​​playing that sport, it must be successful. In this case, you will have found an argument to combat a possible cognitive dissonance that could occur in his mind regarding putting this new hobby into practice.

The second of the examples of introjection we find 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 form part of his attitudes and his reality.

Another example of introjection, also quite common, is the one that occurs when a person has grown up in a family environment where It is very common to hear from parents and even from other family members the following statement: “you should never trust anyone”. Then 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 in establishing interpersonal relationships of trust and perhaps even sentimental.

The fourth of the examples of introjection that we are going to see is another one that, unfortunately, has also been seen quite frequently, and is what happens when a person develops in an environment, both family and social and cultural, in which the people who are People around him, especially adults, repeatedly tell him: “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 listening to that statement continuously I end up assimilating it, and that introjection will cause me to believe that it is an irrefutable truth, so that will live with the need to find "their ideal partner" by all means and that could cause a strong need to find a partner. And, when he finds her, it will be easy for him to develop a strong dependency on her to such levels that it could become very harmful for both of them.

This does not mean that having a partner is not one of the main sources of happiness; since establishing healthy and lasting, from the respect, care and mutual interest are extremely important for the mental health and general well-being of the 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 well with oneself, it can cause more harm than good.

There is a wide multitude of examples of introjection in psychology such as the ones we are going to list below:

• "You can not do that".

• "You are a loser".

• "You are a jerk."

• "You are worth nothing."

• "You should always behave politely with others."

• "You must always show yourself strong, without exposing your weaknesses."

• “It is inappropriate for you to show your feelings in front of other people.”

• "You should always show your appreciation."

• "You must always forgive."

• "A couple should be for life."

• “When you are older you should get married and have children.”

• “No pain, no gain”, etc.

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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 abroad; In addition, we can add those attitudes that we see are quite widespread within our culture and that we have been able to introject (p. g., cultural introjects).

Once the list is made, we must think about where each of those examples of introjection that we have noted down can come from and if it is possible, which people were the ones who transmitted that idea, attitude or rule to us, etc. (p. 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 in the list and to what extent they fit our way of understanding life. We should also analyze whether those examples of introjection that we have noted down favor 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 way.