Human Relations Theory

Question 1

autonomous self

Answer 1

In Kohut’s theory, an ideal self with qualities of self-esteem and self-confidence.

Question 2

borderline personality disorder

Answer 2

A serious mental illness in which early human relationships set up an abnormal self-structure and representation of others.

Question 3

connections

Answer 3

In relational-cultural theory, the basic origins of growth and development.

Question 4

disconnection

Answer 4

The break that is experienced when a person cannot engage in mutually empathetic and empowering relationships.

Question 5

empathy

Answer 5

The ability to recognize and understand another’s feelings.

Question 6

idealization

Answer 6

In Kohut’s theory, the tendency children have to idealize their parents.

Question 7

mirror neurons

Answer 7

Neurons representing the action that are activated when an animal observes or performs an action.

Question 8

mirrored

Answer 8

In Kohut’s theory, the need for children to have their talk and their accomplishments acknowledged, accepted, and praised.

Question 9

mutuality

Answer 9

A way of relating and sharing in which all participants are fully participating.

Question 10

narcissism

Answer 10

A form of self-encapsulation in which an individual experiences as real only that which exists within him or herself.

Question 11

nuclear self

Answer 11

In Kohut’s theory, a well-developed self that ideally emerges in the second year.

Question 12

object relations

Answer 12

The intrapsychic experience of early relationships with others.

Question 13

relational development

Answer 13

The study of how people develop in terms of their ability to connect and relate with others.

Question 14

relational-cultural theory

Answer 14

A perspective for understanding personality developed by scholars working out of the Stone Center at Wellesley College in which the two-directional dynamic of the mother-daughter relationship is an early model or pattern for studying and learning about emotional connectedness and mutual empathy.

Question 15

relationship-differentiation

Answer 15

The process of cultivating increasing levels of complexity and maturity within the framework of human relationships.

Question 16

reproduction of mothering

Answer 16

In Chodorow’s theory, a cyclical process by which the mother-daughter relationship instills in the daughter maternal capacities and the desire to mother.

Question 17

self-theory

Answer 17

Theory and school of psychology developed by Heinz Kohut.

Question 18

separation-individuation

Answer 18

A sequence of stages posited by Mahler through which the ego passes in the process of becoming an individual.

Question 19

splitting

Answer 19

In object relations therapy, separating an object image into opposites in the internal world of fantasy that permits children to treat the internalized object as clearly good or bad while continuing to trust and love the actual external person who is an intricate combination of both.

Question 20

transference-focused psychotherapy

Answer 20

Kernberg’s method of treatment that emphasizes current behavior and focuses on the patient’s distortions of reality, such as a distorted view of the therapist.

Question 21

Describe the major ideas of the object relations theorists.

Answer 21

Object relations theorists look at how people develop intrapsychic patterns of living out of their early relationships with significant others, particularly their mothers.

Question 22

Identify the essential components of Melanie Klein’s theory.

Answer 22

Klein introduced the concept of splitting and emphasized the interaction of unconscious fantasies and real experiences in the development of children’s object relations.

Question 23

What contributions did Margaret Mahler make to psychoanalytic theory?

Answer 23

Mahler explored the process of separation-individuation by which the child emerges from a symbolic fusion with the mother and develops individual characteristics. Mahler constructed a sequence of stages through which the ego passes in the process of becoming an individual.

Question 24

Explain how Heinz Kohut clarifies narcissism.

Answer 24

Kohut accounted for narcissism and narcissistic character disorders that occur when an individual fails to develop an independent sense of self. Kohut has developed psychoanalytic techniques designed to work through transferences and resistances stemming from pre-Oedipal phases of development

Question 25

Describe how Otto Kernberg accounts for borderline personality disorders, and discuss his method of treatment.

Answer 25

Kernberg elaborated on the notion of splitting to describe the interpersonal relationships of patients with borderline personality disorder, and he developed a method of treatment called transference-focused psychotherapy. More recently, Kernberg has focused on aggression, and he has suggested changes to Freud’s drive theory.

Question 26

Describe what Nancy Chodorow means by the reproduction of mothering, and explain why social and historical forces are insufficient to account for gender developments.

Answer 26

Chodorow believes that mothering by women reproduces cyclically, producing daughters with the desire and capacity to mother but sons whose nurturing abilities are limited and repressed. Social and historical forces are insufficient to account for gender development. A person’s gender is a fusion of personal and cultural meaning.

Question 27

Identify the Stone Centre group.

Answer 27

The Stone Centre Group is a group of women who have developed a new collaborative theory of human development within relationships.

Question 28

Describe the thesis of Jean Baker Miller’s ‘Toward a new Psychology of Women’

Answer 28

Miller’s thesis is the both sexes have been constrained by a framework of inequality and the the concepts of affiliation and relationship are central to the development of human beings

Question 29

Describe the paradigm shift made by Relational-Cultural Theory.

Answer 29

Relational-cultural theory makes a paradigm shift away from a concept of separation-individuation and individualistic values to a concept of relationship differentiation and relational values

Question 30

Explain the significance of connections, and tell why empathy is central for growth within relationships.

Answer 30

Connections are the basic origins of growth. Empathy, experiencing the feelings and thoughts of another while being aware of one’s own different feelings and thoughts, fosters connections and lead to growth within relationships.

Question 31

Explain how disconnections are the major source of psychological problems.

Answer 31

The major source of psychological problems is disconnections, which prevent people from engaging in mutually empathetic relationships.

Question 32

Describe how psychotherapy can change and overcome the negative effects of disconnection.

Answer 32

Psychotherapy can change and overcome the negative effects of disconnection by establishing new relationships that empower individuals. The emphasis is on creating a new relational experience that fosters healing.

Question 33

Describe how neurobiological basis of relationships and relational-cultural theory

Answer 33

Research in neurobiology provides confirmation of RCT. Our brains grow through interactions with others. Mirror neurons facilitate our felt sense of connection. Positive social interactions discharge pleasurable chemicals that build connection; negative social interactions lead to chemical changes destructive to emotional centres and neurotransmitter receptors

Question 34

Evaluate the human relations theories from the viewpoints of philosophy, science, and art.

Answer 34

The human relations theorists do not insist on a simply scientific basis for their work but make explicit philosophical assumptions. They include many variables in their discussion, believing that narrow scientific methodology is not appropriate for the study of personality. their work has had an enormous impact in clinical psychology.