Category: Glossary Part 5

 An unconscious psychic process by which a person incorporates into his or her own psyches the good and/or bad characteristics of another person or object.

Recognition that response (from or to) the other which makes one’s own or the other’s feelings, intentions and actions meaningful. It shows that we have had an impact on the other. . It allows the self to realise its agency and authorship in a tangible way. But such recognition can only come from an other whom we, in turn, recognise as person in his or her own right. Recognition is integral to…”differentiation” – the individual’s development as a self that is aware of its distinctness from others. Lack of recognition is associated with victimhood and loss of agency; or dependency on recognition, as Benjamin has discussed, may lead to people engaging in power struggles; ie when people feel their suffering, their point of view, their needs, their value and dignity, or their actions are being denied recognition. Social traumas require social recognition so that people feel their suffering is known, has meaning, and their need for dignity and value is respected. ( Benjamin J.The Bonds of Love: (1988) Pantheon Books. NY.)

Projection or projective identification is an unconscious process, a phantasy in which aspects of the self or an internal object are split off and projected onto the other. .
Withdrawing projection – through recognition of the other’s similarities and differences to the self the split off good or bad projected attribute is reclaimed and owned as part of the self. The self is then able to integrate the good and bad attributes into an authentic self, and likewise the other is recognised fors the person they are, with their good and bad attributes.  Acquisitive projective identification, where the person being projected onto takes on the split off projected attributes, feelings and role of the person projecting. Projective counter-identification (Grinberg, 1962), where the therapist unwittingly assumes the feelings and role of the patient

To perceive an individual or a human group as devoid of human characteristics and qualities perceiving them instead with animalistic or mechanistic characteristics. Baron-Cohen suggests dehumanization is the result of low or no empathy so that the pain of others is not felt; moral and ethical thought and behavior is likewise suspended. (Baron-Cohen S: Zero Degrees of Empathy. Allen Lane Publishing. 2011). However, Baron-Cohen’s critique does not include cultural, hierarchical, or personal interest or survival as components in dehumanization.