Unit 5—Klein: Object Relations Theory

Front 1

Discuss differences between object relations theory and Freudian theory.

Back 1

Klein thought personality was formed in the development stage occurring in the first 4 - 6 months of life, as opposed to the first 3 - 4 year.

Klein allocated greater emphasis on drives of interpersonal relationships and less importance on biologically based drives: sex and aggression.

Freud paternalistic theory placed a great deal of weight on the power and control of the father figure. Where
Klein emphasized the maternal view and stressed the importance of intimacy and nurturing of the mother.

According to Freud, sexual pleasure is the prime motive drive, where Klien thought human behaviour was driven primarily by human contact and relatedness.
Phantasy not stages of development.

Front 2

Discuss similarities between object relations theory and Freudian theory.

Back 2

Similar to Freud put a heavy significance on aim and an object, two components of a drive.

The underlying aim is to reduce tension.

They also both thought infants were not born with a blank slate. They believe humans have a predisposition to reduce anxiety they experience. In other words, it is an innate readiness rooted in phylogenetic endowment.

Front 3

Discuss the role of phantasies in Klein's theory.

Back 3

According to Klien’s theory, the basic assumption is that from birth humans have an active phantasy life. Phantasies stem from one’s unconscious id instincts that are both good and bad. Phantasies are visual representations of these kinds or instincts and are an imperative part in developing our ability to think. For example: Full stomach is linked to a good image, whereas an empty stomach is connected to a bad image. Further to this, if the child falls asleep sucking their thumb, this image is connected to the good breast. Alternatively, the hungry child will kick and scream and according to Klein is phantasizing about hurting the bad breast that is denying the child a source of nourishment. Phantasies are formed partly from the experiences in the environment and partly from universal predispositions.

Front 4

Explain the following psychic defence mechanism:

1) Introspection

Back 4

1) is defined as the infant fantasizing absorbing the experiences and perceptions of an object in their environment into their own body. This is done to protect themselves against anxiety. It is common for an infant to desire to protect the good object by taking it inside themselves. On the other hand, bad objects become internal persecutors. They have the power to terrify the infant and may appear in dreams. Introjected objects are flavored by a child’s imagination/fantasy and they are not actual visual representations of the object.

Front 5

Explain the following psychic defence mechanism:

2) Projection

Back 5

The complete opposite of Introjection is ___ . This type of defense mechanism discards both good and bad in order to alleviate anxiety. The child don’t believe that their good and bad feelings/impulses reside in them, they fantasize that they can place them in an external object.

Front 6

Explain the following psychic defence mechanism:

3) Splitting

Back 6

3) attempts to separate the good and bad aspects. To accomplish this the ego must first split. This allows the infant to form both good and bad self images and better control the destructive and pleasurable impulses one has toward external objects.

Front 7

Explain the following psychic defence mechanism:

4) Projective identification

Back 7

_____ is the final defence mechanism. It involves splitting the bad aspects from one self and projecting them into an external object. This bad aspect is distorted and in turn is introjected back into the infant. This process is in place to allow the person to iian control over both the good and bad sides of an object.

Front 8

Name Klein's four psychic defence mechanisms

Back 8

1) Introspection

2) Projection

3) Spitting

4) Projective identification

Front 9

Discuss Klein's view of the male Oedipus complex

Back 9

In the initial stage of the ___ the male redirects his desire for his mother’s breast to his father’s penis. At this point the male adopts a feminine position and has a passive homosexual attitude directed at his father. His feelings of affection move from his dad to having heterosexual feelings for his mother. Klein identifies the previous homosexual feelings as the reason why the male is not initially worried about being castrated. At this time, the male must first have positive feelings about his father’s penis before he can see value in his own. Castration anxiety occurs as the boy matures and adopts oral-sadistic impulses aimed at his father. At this point, he sees his father as a threat that intends to do the same harm as he wishes to do to his father. The fear that materializes is what inhibits the male from attempting to have sex with his mother. Castration anxiety only partly resolves the ___ In order to be fully resolved the male has to build a positive r'ship w. both parents

Front 10

Discuss Klein's view of the female Oedipus complex

Back 10

At 6 months, the female starts to see the breast in a more positive light. At this point, she attributes good traits with her mother. According to Klein, the female fantasizes of how the father is capable of using his penis to provide the mother with babies and other riches. This leads the female to have positive feelings toward her father, as she feels he will be able to bare her children too. The ___ is transitioned flawlessly if the female takes on the female position and develops a positive relationship with her mother and father.

Occasionally the smooth transition does not occur. When this happens the female is threatened by her mother and sees her as a rival. Klien states, penis envy originates from the female’s desire to introject her father’s penis in the hopes that he will give her a baby. Klein research findings found no evidence to support Freud’s view that the female had hostile feelings toward the mother for bringing her into the world without a penis.

Front 11

List and discuss Mahler's three developmental stages

1. Normal autism

2. Normal symbiosis

3. Separation-individuation

Back 11

Psychological birth involves a child becoming an individual separate from caregiver, leading to a sense of identity

1. (birth to 3-4 weeks), or a state of primary narcissism, where infant is unaware of others.

2. (4th week to 4-5 months), when infant behaves as though he and mother are omnipotent system.

2. (4th to 30-36th months), involving differentiation, practicing, rapprochement crisis, and libidinal object constancy.

Front 12

Discuss Kohut's views of object relations

Back 12

believed that infants are naturally narcissistic in that:

They have the need to exhibit the grandiose self.

They have the need to acquire an idealized image of parent(s).

Front 13

Describe Ainsworth's Strange Situation.

1. Secure attachment

2. Anxious-resistant

3. Anxious-avoidant

Back 13

1. happiness with mother’s return; initiate contact

2. ambivalence; both seek and reject mother’s contact

3. ignore and avoid mother’s contact upon her return.

Front 14

Define object relations theory and compare it to Freudian theory.

Back 14

1. places less emphasis on biologically based drives and more on drives of interpersonal relationships.

2. is more maternal, stressing the intimacy and nurturing of the mother

3. sees the primary motive of human behavior to be human contact and relatedness, rather than sexual pleasure and aggression.

Front 15

Discuss the psychological life of the infant as seen from Klein's point of view

Back 15

Infants are born with an inherited disposition, phylogenetic endowment, to reduce anxiety associated with life and death instinctual conflicts.

Infants possess active fantasies in terms of “good” and “bad.”

Later, more fantasies encompassing both reality and inherited predispositions, emerge. Objects include any person or thing through which a drive is satisfied.

Introjection is the effort to internalize objects of pleasure such as mother’s hands, face, or breast, both cognitively and physically.

Front 16

Explain Klein's concepts of :

A.paranoid-schizoid position

B. depressive position

Back 16

2 positions that inhabit an infant as needed. Can alternate back & forth from the 2 positions in order to deal with both internal & external objects. Not stages that one would progress through.

a. the internal battle btwn gratification & frustration. The ego divides the two incompatible sides. The good & bad parts of the person are projected onto an external object. This is represented by the operation of the life & death drive. The nourishment, love & life are on the positive side, whereas hunger, hate & death fit on the negative side.
b. the infant’s feeling of anxiety of both wanting to destroy an object & paranoia of losing the object. The <3 can see an object can possess both good & bad traits. ex: be able to identify they have destructive feelings toward the same object. The ___ is resolved when the infant understands that if the parent departs they will not be gone permanently. The once split good&bad ego is now melded together. Now <3 can be recipient & sender luv.

Front 17

Compare and contrast Klein's concept of the Oedipus complex with that of Freud.

Back 17

F: OCx occurs at the phallic stage of psychosexual development when the child was 4 - 5 years old. K. thought it occurred at a much earlier age. She thought it initially overlaps oral & anal stage; finally climaxes at genital /phallic stage.

K: the OCx stemmed from a <3 being terrified that their parents would exact vengeance for emptying their bodies.

Key factor differ F: child continues to have + feelings for both parents thru this stage of life.

K thought the initial stage of OCx was the same for male and female. Thought both strived toward gratificationd &t he “good” object & find ways to avoid the bad object. Explains how children can control their love by singling out one parent or by simultaneously sending them both both love.

K didn't think the superego stemmed from the OCx.. In her view it was developing at the same time and emerges as realistic guilt once the OCx has been resolved.

Front 18

Discuss Mahler's ideas on psychological birth.

1) Normal Autism

Back 18

birth 3-4 wks. Labeled the “objectless” phase.
Mahler rejects the Klein’s concept of good/bad breast. Does not believe the infant has tension at this stage as observed by the infant’s ability to sleep for long stretches of time. Requires mother’s care in order for the infant’s needs to be met.
Primary narcissism - infant is unaware of other people’s needs. The infant’s needs are met automatically and require little effort on behalf of the infant.

Front 19

Discuss Mahler's ideas on psychological birth.

2) Normal Symbiosis

Back 19

4-5th week to 4-5th month
The stage is“pre objects”, as there is no object relations at this phase.
Mother and child are an intertwined unit, though not truly symbiotic as the mother does not require her needs met by the infant.
Infant and Mother are able to communicate to each other by sending and responding to cues.
Child is able to identify their mother’s facial features. Is capable of recognizing both distress and pleasure.

Front 20

Discuss Mahler's ideas on psychological birth.

3) separation-indivduation

Back 20

4th-5th month to 30-36 month
The child has developed feelings of personality. It has broken away from the mother and they are no longer a dual unit. The final stage of the psychological birth is broken down into 4 overlapping substages.

Front 21

Discuss Mahler's ideas on psychological birth.

3) separation-indivduation con't

i. differentiation

ii. practicing

iii. rapprochement

iv. libidinal object constancy.

Back 21

The final stage of the ____ is broken down into 4 overlapping substages.

i. 5th month to 7-10th month The infant’s desire to explore the world beyond the narrow scope of their mother and comfort with strangers.
ii. 7-10 mth to 15th and 16th month. The child learns to crawl and has the ability to physically move away from their mother. Initially the child has apprehension of losing sight of their mother.
iii. 16th month - 25th month. the child’s desire to adopt the same traits and characteristics of the mother. The child at this point will want to share their ability to acquire new skills.
At this stage, separation anxiety is evident.
Also the child’s cognitive skills have matured to point that they are separate from their mother and explore ways to regain the dual unit.
iv. approx 3 yr. The final substage is marked by the child having the ability to perform in the world without their mother and to adopt other object r'ship. The <3 needs to build a fixed portrait of mum.

Front 22

Bowlby’s Attachment Theory

Back 22

-observed childhood attachment behaviors and linked those to behaviors in adulthood.

- assumed that attachment is instinctual and evolutionary, in that separation of infant and parent would threaten baby’s safety.

Goal is to maintain proximity

Threats to proximity initiate reaction in parent and child.
Infant separation anxiety involves protest, despair, and finally detachment from other people.

Parental separation anxiety involves balancing the desire
to be close to the child with desire for child’s growth and self-reliance.