Defense mechanism
Introjection
Other people's views and judgments are taken in as one's own.
Introjection is the inner counterpart of projection. Something that comes from another person, an attitude, a way of judging or a feeling, is taken inside and experienced as part of the self. Much of growing up works this way: children take in their parents' voices, and those voices go on speaking long after.
It acts as a defense when facing something from outside, criticism above all, would be harder than carrying it inside. Taking the blame on oneself can feel safer than being angry at someone one depends on, because the bond stays intact.
When her friend cancels their plans at the last minute, Maria immediately wonders what she did wrong. By evening she has found three reasons why she is tiresome company, in words that sound a lot like her father's. Being annoyed with the friend does not occur to her.
When it helps
It is how people learn values, skills and ways of looking after themselves from others. Taking some responsibility on oneself can also keep important relationships steady when they are under strain.
What it can cost
When harsh judgments are taken in, the inner critic can become relentless, and anger that belongs elsewhere may be turned against oneself. People who rely on it may blame themselves for things that were never theirs to carry.
How it differs
Projection places an inner feeling in someone else; introjection brings an outer one inside. It often goes together with turning anger against oneself, which McWilliams lists separately, among the secondary defenses, as turning against the self.
In McWilliams' model
McWilliams counts it among the primary defenses. These deal with the border between the self and the outside world, and they shape experience as a whole: what is felt, what is seen, and whose feeling is whose.
Character styles that lean on it
Everyone uses defenses, every day, and noticing one in oneself does not mean that something is wrong. This page describes a general way of coping, not a diagnosis. If something described here is frequent, distressing, or gets in the way of daily life, it is worth discussing with a doctor or a mental health professional.