Projection in psychology is a defense mechanism that people use to cope with difficult feelings or emotions. It is the process of displacing ones feelings onto a different person, animal, or object. The concept was introduced to psychology by Sigmund Freud, who considered that in projection, thoughts, motivations, desires, and feelings that cannot be accepted as ones own are dealt with by being placed in the outside world and attributed to someone else. Projection can be conscious or unconscious and can manifest as blame shifting or shame dumping.

For example, a person who is feeling angry may project their anger onto someone else and see that person as the angry one. Similarly, a bully may project their own feelings of vulnerability onto the target, or a person who is confused may project feelings of confusion and inadequacy onto other people. Projection tends to come to the fore in normal people at times of personal or political crisis and is commonly found in narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, or paranoid personalities.

Empirical studies of defense mechanisms have supported clinical observations about projection, including the idea that it is one of many universal psychological defenses that evolve and mature in normal development. However, when people project aspects of the self that are denied, unconscious, and hated and when they distort the object of projection in the process, projection can be felt as invalidating and destructive.