Transference

Transference is a phenomenon in psychotherapy in which repetitive feelings, attitudes, desires, or fantasies that a person displaces are subconsciously projected onto others, including their therapist. An example is a person transferring feelings about their parents to their partners or children (cross-generational entanglements), mistrusting another who resembles an ex-spouse in manners, voice, or external appearance, or being overly compliant to someone who resembles a childhood friend. In The Psychology of the Transference, Carl Jung stated within the transference dyad (a group of two), both people typically experience opposites. In love and in psychological growth, success is the ability to endure and power through the tension of opposites—key to personal growth and transformation. However, transference can become pathological in a personally or socially harmful context. When a person meets someone new reminding them of someone else, they unconsciously infer the new person also has similar traits. Research finds this is how people repeat relationship patterns from the past in the present.