ABSTRACT
I distinguish among a projective mode of thought, which makes possible and enlivens a wide range of experience, projection as a defense, which entails the attribution to others of unwanted aspects of oneself, and projective identification, which adds the interactional component of inducing in the other feelings and thoughts one has projected. I also discuss research on the question of whether projecting unwanted traits or feelings on to another succeeds in lessening access to these traits and feeling in oneself. I also discuss the considerable problems attending the concept of projective identification.
