Jeromy has been having an affair with another woman. one afternoon, his wife came home later than usual and jeromy became angry- accusing his wife of infidelity. which defense mechanism is behind jeromy's accusation

Jeromy is using a defense mechanism known as "projection". This means that one person accuses somebody else of something they themselves are guilty of. In this case, it serves Jeromy by deflecting the guilt of his own actions to somebody else so his negative behavior is not brought to attention. By doing this, he doesn't have to acknowledge his cheating and he feels less guilty about it.