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Rapunzel: Maybe it can be understood in terms of "transference." We react to people based on how we have reacted to someone else in our past. The less that we understand about someone, the more likely that one detail may stand out and trigger a transference reaction.

In the rope and snake example, there was some common ground shared between the rope and the snake. These characteristics in common are the "hooks" that will hold a projection in place. Once a projection is "hooked" we become engaged in a relationship with our projection and not the object of our projection -- we are no longer seeing reality as it really is. Within Buddhist terms, this would be called maya -- delusion.

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How can you tell your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck of chaff that is in your eye,' when you yourself don't see the beam that is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck of chaff that is in your brother's eye.

Luke 6:42


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It's worth noting that we can project in a negative or positive fashion but the projection itself always begins with us. What the other provides is the "hooks" we hang our projections upon.

See also: The Psychology of Projection

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