displacement

In psychoanalysis, the transference of an emotion from the original idea with which it is associated to other ideas. It is usually thought to be indicative of repression in that the emotional content of an unacceptable idea may be expressed without the idea itself becoming conscious.

Sigmund Freud's original discussion of displacement focused on its occurrence in dreams, where strong emotions are often expressed in material which the subject usually finds of indifferent interest. As a defence mechanism, it is also associated with a number of afflictions, including phobias and schizophrenia.