Assignment no 1

Life & Learning -Group no 09

Topic: Self Reflection, Projection and
Introspection.
Group Head: Muhammad Junaid Arif
Group Members: Areeba Asim, Minahil Sadaqat,
Malika Nisar, Abdullah Afzal, Esha Shahzad, Hafiza
Rizwa Fatima, Noor-e-Sahar, Kaneez Fatima, Kanz-ul-
Eman, Eman Ashfaq, Iqra Zaheer, Aiman Younus.

University of Management and

Technology
 SELF-REFLECTION
Introduction:
In 1933, John Dewey first introduced self-reflection.

Reflection is the process of proactively thinking about

specific personal practices, experiences, emotions, actions,
issues, motivations, processes, and outcomes to determine
the advantages and disadvantages of a particular approach,
the personal and professional learning that arose, and the
lessons for the future.

Example:
I have low patience, I get more anger. I can get a way to overcome it by
sitting at peaceful place and thinking about it (SELF-REFLECTION).
Importance:
It helps you empathize better with others and opens your mind to
everything else around you, to be able to analyse often-challenging
situations so you know where to improve next time. Self-reflection
enables you to move from just experiencing, into understanding,
Encourages a level of self-awareness, Enables you to identify your
weaknesses as well as strengths. It also help to overcome all your weak
points.

Benefits:
• Self Acceptance. • clarity of thoughts .

• Increase ability to face fears. • Big-picture thinking.

• Increase confidence. • Better relationships.

• Improve quality of life. • Knowing true values

• Better decision making ability.

Projection:
In the world of psychology, projection means unconsciously taking
away someone’s hidden emotions and feelings that they don’t discuss
and projecting them to someone else.
 Now the question arises that why do people project? In my
opinion it is a defense-mechanism used by us humans to make our
own selves feel better.

EXAMPLES:
1: When someone comments on other that he/she is ugly.
According to psychological observation they do that because deep
down somewhere they are insecure about their own self.

Ways to stop projection:

Projection is something that you don’t have to be ashamed of because
it happens to everyone. All you have to do is research on your own
self like what you truly think of yourself or out of 10, where do you
put your self and why? This phenomenon is known as soul-searching.
This helps us heal in a way that other can’t.

To some people seeing a therapist has helped a lot. Therapists

are skilled in dealing with psychological errors. Therapist doesn’t
always have to be a strange, talk to a particular person who
understands you in a way others don’t. If you have a good friend who
can listen you while you talk and is a good advisor can be your
therapist.

BOTTOM LINE:
 It is our human nature to protect ourselves from pain or negative
energies. Sometimes we use projection as a defense shelter for
protect when we are insecure and we can hurt someone else’s
feelings. So there should be time to take a look on what are you doing
and why are you doing it? This will help us become a better person
and not only this it will also heal our relationships with other people,
it can be your wife or your children or your colleagues.

INTROSPECTION:
(from two Latin words intra means “to look” spicere means “within”)
It was first developed by psychologist WILHELM WUNDT. In order to
understand mind Wundt believed that researchers needed to do more
than simply identify the structure and elements of mind. Introspection
is the examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional
processes. It refers to the informational process of exploring one’s
inner life. As a tool it is a way of looking inward and examining our
thoughts and feelings.

How to be introspective?

Scientists suggest that many states are accessible to us through

introspection. On the other hand, it's thought that our personality
traits are not available to us through introspection, largely because
we often have a difficult time knowing precisely what our character
 traits are. I might argue that introspection need not result in a right
answer—our beliefs about our personality traits are useful
information too—but I won't digress here.

Examples of introspection:

To give you some introspection examples, I did this exercise to see

what I could find inside me. Each time I asked a question, there was a
little pause, almost as if my shy side was nervous about revealing
itself. Then, I heard a thought or inner voice offer me some
information. Then, I reflected on the information briefly. I'm sure I
only scratched the surface. We can all learn more if we introspect
more often. Here are my examples. Hopefully, this can help you get a
sense of what you might find inside yourself when you use
introspection.
Benefits of Introspection:
Introspection can be a great source of personal knowledge. This
process provide knowledge that is not possible in any other way. It can
help people make connections between different experiences and
response.

Down Side of Introspection:

Introspection, when done carefully, can help us learn about ourselves.

But we do have to be cautious that well-intentioned introspection
doesn't turn into rumination. Rumination is where we turn thoughts
over and over again in our minds, continuing to think about something
we said—or did or even about who we are—in an effort to solve a
problem that can't be solved.

If you find that introspection is making you feel anxious or getting you
stuck in your thoughts, then you've gone astray. Take a step back and
try to remember to let thoughts come and go like clouds in the sky or
leaves in a river. Also, be careful not to judge yourself or your
discoveries. If introspection leads us to learn difficult things about
ourselves, it can be hard to stay objective. So if you're finding it to be
unproductive, seeking the help of a therapist may be helpful.

Criticism of Introspection:
The use of introspection as experimental technique was often
criticized .Practically introspection is limited in its use it is difficult to
use with children and impossible to use with animals.