Similarity Between Subject and Stimulus as an Influence on Projection

Abstract

Summary It was hypothesized that there would be a difference in the amount of projection elicited by figures viewed by Ss as highly similar and highly dissimilar to themselves. Ss rated 20 figures of the MAPS test and the concept “Myself” on 15 scales of the Semantic Differential. Ss then were asked to describe six figures, three which they had rated as highly similar and three as highly dissimilar to themselves. For each S the mean Transcendence Index of the three highly similar and highly dissimilar figures were computed. No significant differences were found between the amount of projection elicited by the different sets of figures. The results are in agreement with previous studies on the effect of similarity on projection.