CLASSICAL PROJECTION: AN ATTEMPT AT EXPERIMENTAL DEMONSTRATION.
Item
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Title
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CLASSICAL PROJECTION: AN ATTEMPT AT EXPERIMENTAL DEMONSTRATION.
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Identifier
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AAI8103929
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identifier
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8103929
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Creator
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GIUNTA, NANETTE MARGARITA.
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Contributor
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I. H. Paul
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Date
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1980
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical
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Abstract
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The psychoanalytic literature utilizes the term "projection" to designate a specific psychological defense mechanism, described as the attribution to another person of one's own unconscious unacceptable wishes. To avoid confusion of this process with others also denoted "projection" or "projective", I will call it "classical projection". There is almost no empirical support for the existence of classical projection beyond the clinician's inference based on ill-defined contextual evidence. All but one study in the literature purporting to demonstrate classical projection adduce results which are either artifactual or which can be explained in terms of other processes. The present study is based on the only instance of previous research providing some support for the existence of classical projection. Here the attempt was to provide further confirming results, to validate a new homosexual defensiveness scale, and to explore the use of the individual subject as his own control for more in-depth study of the factors associated with the presence or absence of classical projection in a given case. The subjects used were heterosexual male college students. They were tested individually and paid for their participation. Each subject first completed a Defensiveness Scale. He then rated himself on usual level and direction of sexual drive, inhibitedness, and attiude toward pornography. He next rated each of five photographs of male target figures on a scale similar to the one for himself. He then viewed a portfolio of pornographic photographs depicting homosexual acts. Then he rated a second set of targets. The order of presentation of the two sets of targets was switched for half the subjects. Finally, he rated himself on his reactions to the pornographic material and was asked to volunteer comments. The main analysis of the data consisted of a comparison of 30 subjects' ratings of the targets before and after viewing the pornography in relation to their ratings of themselves on the Self and Arousal Scales and to their Defensiveness Scale scores. The results indicated that the subjects as a group denied homosexual tendencies as part of their self image, denied homosexual feelings in response to the pornography, and attributed significantly more homosexual feelings than before to the targets after viewing the pornographic pictures, thus supporting the main hypothesis. There was no direct correlation, however, between Defensiveness Scale scores and change in ratings between the pre and post viewing conditions. The indications were that the sample was heavily skewed in the defensive direction. Nor was there a significant correlation between ratings of dislike for and of homosexuality of the targets. There was evidence suggesting that the relationship between defensiveness and target ratings was curvilinear. After the elimination of four uncooperative subjects, 26 were divided into three groups, low, middle, and high defensive. Since the middle group appeared heterogeneous, the main comparisons were between the two extreme groups. The results for the two groups indicated that the low defensive subjects admitted some homosexual drive as part of self image and homosexual feelings in response to the pornography while the high group denied these, providing support for attributive projection, the attribution to others of accepted characteristics of one's own, in low defensive subjects and for classical projection in high defensive subjects.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Clinical Psychology
