Chapter 5- Klein: Object Relations Theory Flashcards
Klein did not reject Freud’s ideas, but tried to validate them, she extended Freud’s developmental stages downward to the first __ to__ months after birth.
4 to 6
Clines object relations theory differs from Freudian theory in three important ways:
1) it places more emphasis on interpersonal relationships than on biology
2) it stresses the infants relationship with the mother rather than the father
3) it’s suggests that people are motivated primarily for human contact rather than for sexual pleasure
The term _____ in object relations theory refers to any person or part of a person that infants introject, or take into their psychic structure and then later project on to other people
Object
Klein believed that infants begin life with an inherited predisposition to reduce the anxiety that they experience as a consequence of the clash between the life instinct and the
Death instinct
Klein assumed that very young infants possess an active unconscious fantasy life. Their most basic fantasies are images of the good breast and the
Bad breast
Client agreed with Freud that drives have an object, but she was more likely to emphasize the child’s ________ with these objects. Parents’ face, hands, breast, penis.
Relationship
According to Klein, infants organize their experiences into _______, or ways of dealing with both internal and external objects.
Positions
As a way of organizing experiences that includes both paranoid feelings of being persecuted and a splitting of internal and external objects into the good and the bad, four instance it’s relationship with the ideal breast and the persecutory breast, Klein believed infants adopt the
Paranoid-schizoid position
According to client, the feelings of anxiety over losing a loved object coupled with a sense of guilt for wanting to destroy that object is called the
Depressive position. Infants experiences around six months of age
To control the anxieties of early infancy, Klein believed that children adopt several psychic defense mechanisms. Name the four
Introjection, projection, splitting, and projective identification
According to Klein this is described as the fantasy of taking into one’s own body the images that one has of an external object, especially the mothers breast.
Introjection
Client described this term as the fantasy that one’s own feelings and impulses reside within another person
Projection
According to Klein, infants tolerate good and bad aspects of themselves and of external objects by _______, or mentally keeping apart incompatible images.
Splitting
According to Klein, this is the psychic defense mechanism whereby infants split off unacceptable parts of themselves, project them onto another object, and finally introject them in an altered form.
Projective identification
After introjecting external objects, infants organize them into a psychologically meaningful framework, a process Klein called
Internalization
In Kleinian theory, three important internalizations are:
The ego, the super ego, and the Oedipus complex
According to Klein, the ego reaches maturity at a much earlier stage than Freud had assumed, she ignored the id and based her theory on the ego’s early ability to sense both destructive and loving forces and to manage them through splitting, projection, and introjection. Before a unified ego can emerge, it must first become
Split
Climbs picture of the superego differs from Floyd’s in at least three important ways, it emerges much earlier in life, it is not an outgrowth of the Oedipus complex, and
It is much more harsh and cruel
Contrary to Freud, Klein believed that the Oedipus complex begins during the first few months of life, then reaches its maturity during the ______ stage at about three or four years of age. The same time that Freud had suggested it began.
Genital
Klein believed that a significant part of the ______ ______ is children’s fear of retaliation from their parents for their fantasy of emptying the parents body
Oedipus Complex
Klein stressed the importance of children retaining positive feelings toward both parents during the
Oedipus complex
According to Klein, little boys adopt a feminine position early in life and has no fear of being castrated as punishment, later he projects his destructive drive onto his father, who he fears will castrate him. The male Oedipus complex is resolved when the boy establishes
Good relations with both parents
According to Klein, during the female Oedipus complex, The little girl also adopts a feminine position toward both parents. Sometimes she develops hostility towards her mother, who she fears will retaliate against her and rob her of her babies but in most cases is resolved without any jealousy toward the
Mother
Margaret Mahler expanded on Klein’s theory of object relations in what way? 3 developmental stages
Children passed through a series of three major developmental stages.
Normal autism-the first 3 to 4 weeks of life, infant satisfy their needs with the all-powerful protective orbit of their mothers care.
Normal symbiosis-infants behave as if they and their mother were a symbiotic unit
Separation-individuation- from about four months until three years, children are becoming psychologically separated from their mothers and achieving individuation, or a sense of personal identity
How did Heinz Kohut expand on Kleins object relations theory?
He emphasized the development of the self. In caring for their physical and psychological needs, adults treat infants as if they had a sense of self which eventually help children to form a sense of self that gives unity and consistency to their experiences.
How did John Bowlby’s attachment theory expand on Kleins object relations theory? Three stages of separation anxiety
1) protest-infants will cry and resist soothing, search for their caregivers when their caregiver is out of sight
2) despair/apathy-infants become quiet, sad, passive, listless, and apathetic
3) despair-infants become emotionally detached from other people, including their caregiver. When they return they will disregard and avoid her and no longer become upset when she leaves. Children who reach the third stage of separation anxiety lack warmth and emotion in their later relationships.
How did Mary Ainsworth and the strange situation expand upon Klein’s object relations theory? Three types of attachment styles
1) Secure attachment-when mother returns infants are happy and enthusiastic and initiate contact
2) anxious-resistant attachment-infants are ambivalent. When mom leaves the room they become unusually upset and when she returns they seek contact but reject being soothed
3) anxious-avoidant attachment-infant stay calm when their mother leaves, accept the stranger, and when she returns they ignore and avoid her
In her work with young children, Klein used to this kind of therapy in her psychotherapy in exchange for Freudian dream analysis and free association
Play therapy. Client provided each child with a variety of small toys, pencil and paper, paint, crayons and so forth
The aim of Klein’s therapy was to reduce depressive anxiety and persecutory fears and to lessen the harshness of internalized objects. To do this, Klein encourage patients to read experience early fantasies and pointed out the differences between conscious and
Unconscious wishes
There has been much research on clients object relations theory including eating disorders and adult relationships. One study of both topics found that bulimia was associated with _______ from parents, whereas anorexia was associated with high levels of guilt and conflict over ______ from parents.
Detachment, separation
Object relations theory rates low on 4 dimensions:
It’s ability to be falsified, parsimony, it’s ability to organize knowledge, and it’s ability to generate research.
Object relations theory rates well in 2 areas:
It’s usefulness as a guide to action, and it’s internal consistency
How does Klein’s object relations theory rate on it’s concept of humanity?
Because object relations theory is based on the early mother child relationship, determinism is stressed over free choice, and it has a low rating on uniqueness.it has a high rating on social influences, causality, and unconscious forces. It rates average on optimism versus pessimism.
The object relations theory of Melanie Klein was built on careful observations of
Young children
