According to Sigmund Freud, projection is a psychological defense mechanism whereby one "projects" one's own undesirable thoughts, motivations, desires, and feelings onto someone else.
The reason I bring this up now, and it may seem narcissistic of me to do so, is because I was repeatedly accused of being a narcissist on these Newsvine blogs. However, after doing a considerable amount of personal research, I truly believe that the person who accused me of being a "narcissist" was actually "projecting" as Sigmund Freud and other professionals of psychiatry have described.
To be perfectly honest, I did not really know what being a "narcissist" was all about, other than the brief statement that I learned many many years ago as a kid, that a narcissist was just somebody who was "stuck on himself". That's it. I have never, ever, before in my life been accused of being a narcissist, and here on Newsvine I was suddenly and repeatedly being accused of it.
So, I did what I always do when confronted with new issues: I did some research. And, I questioned myself. Because I asked, "Could I really be a narcissist and not know it?"
As it turns out, most people who really are narcissists will never ever admit to themselves that that is exactly what they are. Narcissists are, among other things, self-deniers. Because they have such a high opinion of themselves, they cannot conceive of the possibility that they might have a character flaw, such as narcissism, in their own personality. They are in constant denial of personal faults and character flaws.
And it also turns out that real true narcissists are prone to projection. They tend to accuse others of being what they really are themselves. That is so weird!!!
Let's take a quick look at Narcissism as it's described in the APA Diagnostic Classification DSM-IV-TR:
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Narcissistic Personality Disorder
- mental disorder
- mental disorder - Personality Disorder
- Personality Disorder - Cluster B
Individuals with this Cluster B Personality Disorder have an excessive sense of how important they are. They demand and expect to be admired and praised by others and are limited in their capacity to appreciate others' perspectives.
Diagnostic criteria for 301.81 Narcissistic Personality Disorder
(DSM IV - TR) (cautionary statement)
A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
(1) has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
(2) is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
(3) believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
(4) requires excessive admiration
(5) has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
(6) is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
(7) lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
(8) is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her
(9) shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudeshttp://behavenet.com/narcissistic-personality-disorderPlease
http://behavenet.com/narcissistic-personality-disorder
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(Please Note: for any roaming Newsvine rule-mongers, who may have a problem with the above text not being presented in Block Quotes: I tried several times to block quote this text and it just won't take. It is a quote, and not plagiarized, okay!)
PLEASE NOTE Item #6 above. "is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends"
Now read this from our Wikipedia reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection on Psychological projection it states:
Psychopathology
In psychopathology, projection is an especially commonly used defense mechanism in people with certain personality disorders: 'Patients with paranoid personalities, for example, use projection as a primary defense because it allows them to disavow unpleasant feelings and attribute them to others'.
According to Kernberg, all 'the primitive defenses, such as splitting, projection and projective identification, are commonly connected with primitively organized personalities, such as:
- Borderline personality disorder
- Narcissistic personality disorder
- Antisocial personality disorder
- Psychopathy
So, there you go. Narcissists can and will employ tactics such as psychological projection in order to win their debates and arguments, because they must win at all costs, since narcissists cannot admit they are ever wrong about anything.
By the way, in my research about narcissism I found a lot of funny jokes, and I also posted an article including those as well. It's just funny stuff. You might enjoy it. Here's the link: And the category is: Narcissists! (Humor)
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