ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the concept of projection in the work of Freud and that of projective identification in Melanie Klein's and W. R. Bion's. It examines the mechanism of projective identification with internal objects. In Bion's view, projective identification cannot be considered simply as a phantasy concerning an object, but is seen as an operation aiming at communicating something to an object that is capable of containing the phantasy. Klein advanced the concept of projective identification with reference to the paranoid-schizoid position, which she described as the first phase in the infant's life. By intxojective identification, Donald Meltzer means the introjection of an object-relations experience that modifies the qualities and capacities of a corresponding internal object. In children, the pseudomature personality is characterized by model behaviour towards adults both at home and at school, where they are good achievers and show high verbal capacities, whereas towards other children the tendency is to feel superior and bossy.
