Introjection

in theory of knowledge, the concept, introduced by the Austrian philosopher R. Avenarius, of the inadmissibility—from his point of view—of the insertion of perceived images into the consciousness of the individual. According to Avenarius, this follows from the inadmissibility of dividing the ideal and the real in general; this view is the result of his basing his philosophy on the concept of experience, dissolving within it the contrast between the spiritual and the material and thus attempting to refute materialism entirely. Criticism of these concepts of experience and introjection is provided by V. I. Lenin in his Materialism and Empiriocriticism (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 18).

In psychology introjection is the individual’s inclusion of other persons’ views, motivations, and purposes in his inner world. It is a basis for identification. Projection is the opposite of introjection. The concept of introjection was introduced by the Hungarian psychoanalyst S. Ferenczi into depth psychology, where it is viewed as a psychological mechanism that plays an important role in the formation of the superego, conscience, and other personality phenomena.