Projection

Projecting your own flaws into others. A common defense mechanism for dealing with repressed guilt for one's actions.

She tells people that Jack cheated on Mary as a projection of her guilt for cheating on her boyfriend.

by AU.DC May 21, 2024

Projectile bro

Excessive, exaggerated, over the top”bro” ness ever

Why they gotta projectile bro like that. "Spent the whole concert yelling over the music about how they could totally throw a football from the stage to the back row, missing the show in the process and annoying the people in front of them”

by Oompaliumpa October 17, 2024

projectionist

An individual who projects their own personal shortcomings and/or toxic traits onto others to such an extent that it appears as though they genuinely believe it themselves.

Projectionist - Why do people make fun of a flat earther while they can't obviously provide any proof of a globe?

*whispers - because they can..

by Burdensomeknowing February 13, 2026

Projection of the Scientific Method

A cognitive bias where one projects the scientific method—as one understands it—onto all forms of inquiry, assuming that any legitimate search for knowledge must follow the same procedures. This projection operates when someone insists that history isn't real because it can't run experiments; that philosophy is worthless because it doesn't test hypotheses; that personal experience is invalid because it's not reproducible. The projection lies in taking a method that works brilliantly for certain questions and assuming it must work for all questions—that the scientific method isn't one tool among many but the only tool worth having. This projection closes off whole domains of understanding, dismissing them as "unscientific" rather than recognizing that different questions require different methods.

Example: "He claimed that literary criticism wasn't real knowledge because it didn't use the scientific method—projection of the scientific method onto a domain where it simply doesn't apply."

by Dumu The Void March 19, 2026

Projection of Objectivity

A cognitive bias where one projects the claim of objectivity onto one's own perspective while denying it to others—assuming that one's own views are simply "how things are" while everyone else is biased, ideological, or subjective. Projection of objectivity operates when someone says "I'm not biased, I just see things clearly" while describing opponents as hopelessly biased; when they present their own position as neutral and others' as partisan; when they claim to speak from nowhere while everyone else speaks from somewhere. The projection lies in the blindness to one's own situatedness—the assumption that one's own perspective is the perspective, that one's own values are just common sense, that one's own framework is simply reality. It's the deepest form of bias: the bias of believing oneself unbiased.

Example: "He described his own views as 'objective' and everyone else's as 'biased'—projection of objectivity, assuming that his perspective was the view from nowhere while everyone else was hopelessly situated."

by Dumu The Void March 19, 2026

Projection of Neutrality

A cognitive bias where one projects the claim of neutrality onto one's own position while denying it to others—assuming that one is simply describing things as they are while others are advocating, promoting, or pushing an agenda. Projection of neutrality operates when someone says "I'm just asking questions" while those questions are designed to undermine; when they claim to be "just presenting facts" while the selection of facts serves a purpose; when they present themselves as above the fray while actively participating in it. The projection lies in the invisibility of one's own commitments—the assumption that one's own framing is just description, one's own values are just common sense, one's own agenda is just reality. It's a form of bad faith disguised as good faith, a way of participating in debate while claiming to transcend it.

Example: "He claimed to be 'just playing devil's advocate' while systematically undermining every progressive point—projection of neutrality, using the pose of open-mindedness to advance a closed-minded agenda."

by Dumu The Void March 19, 2026

Projection of Truth

A cognitive bias where one projects the property of "truth" onto one's own beliefs while denying it to others—assuming that what one believes is simply what's true, and that disagreement can only be explained by error, bias, or bad faith. Projection of truth operates when someone says "I'm just telling the truth" as if that settled the matter; when they treat their own interpretations as facts and others' as opinions; when they cannot entertain the possibility that they might be wrong. The projection lies in the identification of one's own perspective with truth itself—the assumption that one doesn't have beliefs, only knowledge; doesn't have opinions, only insights; doesn't have a perspective, only reality. It's the cognitive foundation of dogmatism, the certainty that makes dialogue impossible.

Example: "He didn't argue—he just asserted that he was telling the truth and she was lying. Projection of truth: assuming that his version of events simply was reality, and any alternative was deception."

by Dumu The Void March 19, 2026