Prejudiced people disown their own negative traits and project them outward

Evidence

How on earth could one tell whether a criticism is ego-alien? By any of several signs. The prejudiced subject said: “I have let my carnal self get away from me.” The carnality is distinguishable from himself, it is not really he. Another subject said that his lack of industriousness was inherited from one side of his family. It was imposed on him, not something for which he himself could be held to account. In speaking of their parents prejudiced subjects frequently began with generalized glowing praise and then seemed to let slip some specific criticism. Such criticisms were often promptly retracted: “He forced some decisions on me”but “He allowed me to do as I pleased; arguments were about things he didn’t want me to have” but “He never denied me anything I needed.” There is an impression that the criticism pops out against the subject’s intention and is then denied or blamed on an external cause or isolated from the essential self or parent. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 543

Categorization

• DEFINE: Concretely operationalizes the ego-alien construct: criticism that pops out unintentionally and is then retracted, denied, or blamed on external cause.
• XREF: connects to: Civilized subjects project their own repressed mimetic impulses onto others as repellent remnants. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1426