Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor LCPC Practice Exam

Projection is a defense mechanism where a person avoids facing their own unacceptable thoughts by attributing them to someone else. For example, if someone feels anger they don’t want to own, they might insist others are the ones who are angry or hostile toward them. This shifts the uncomfortable thought away from the self and onto another person.

Introjection, by contrast, is taking in others’ qualities or standards as if they’re part of oneself. Denial means refusing to accept a painful reality, and repression involves pushing unwanted thoughts out of conscious awareness. The described process—placing one's own unacceptable thoughts onto another person—best fits projection.