Klein: Object Relations Theory Flashcards
Melanie Klein’s rival
Edward Glover
This theory was built on careful observations of
young children. (MELANIE KLEIN)
object relations theory
Her mother ran a shop selling what? (MELANIE KLEIN)
plants and reptiles
After her sister’s death, Klein became deeply attached to her only brother
Emmanuel Reizes
Freud’s only case study of a child was (MELANIE KLEIN)
Little Hans
is an offspring of Freud’s instinct theory, but it differs from its ancestor in at least three general ways (MELANIE KLEIN)
Object relations theory
what are the three ways that Object Relations Theory differs from Freud’s instinct theory (MELANIE KLEIN)
First, object relations theory places less emphasis on biologically based drives and more importance on consistent patterns of interpersonal relationships
Second, as opposed to Freud’s rather paternalistic theory that emphasizes the power and control of the father, object relations theory tends
to be more maternal, stressing the intimacy and nurturing of the mother.
Third, object relations theorists generally see human contact and relatedness—not sexual pleasure—as the prime motive of human behavior
Margaret S. Mahler’s work
was concerned with (MELANIE KLEIN)
the infant’s struggle to gain autonomy and a sense of self
Heinz Kohut’s work was concerned with (MELANIE KLEIN)
the formation of the self
Mary Ainsworth’s work was concerned with (MELANIE KLEIN)
the styles of attachment
John Bowlby’s work was concerned with (MELANIE KLEIN)
the stages of separation anxiety
one of Klein’s basic assumptions
is that the infant, even at birth, possesses an active
phantasy life
In their attempt to deal with this dichotomy of good and bad feelings, infants
organize their experiences into ______, or ways of dealing with both internal and external objects (MELANIE KLEIN)
positions
the two basic positions are (MELANIE KLEIN)
the paranoid-schizoid position
and the depressive position
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. (MELANIE KLEIN)
paranoid-schizoid position
According to Klein, at what age does the infant develop the paranoid-schizoid position?
first 3 or 4 months of life
What are the feelings of anxiety over losing a loved object coupled with a sense of guilt for wanting to destroy that object constitute what Klein called
the depressive position
what are the four psychic defense mechanisms in Klein’s chapter?
introjection, projection, splitting, and projective identification
In this defense mechanism, Klein simply meant that infants fantasize taking into their body those perceptions and experiences that they have had with the external object, originally the mother’s breast (MELANIE KLEIN)
introjection
is the fantasy that one’s own feelings and impulses actually reside in another person and not within one’s body (MELANIE KLEIN)
Projection
a psychic defense
mechanism in which infants split off unacceptable parts of themselves, project them
into another object, and finally introject them back into themselves in a changed or distorted form (MELANIE KLEIN)
projective identification
When object relations theorists speak of ____________, they mean that the person takes in (introjects) aspects of the external world and then organizes those introjections into a psychologically meaningful framework (MELANIE KLEIN)
internalizations
is mostly unorganized at birth, it nevertheless is strong enough to feel anxiety, to use defense mechanisms, and to form early object relations in both phantasy and reality (MELANIE KLEIN)
the ego
Klein believed that people are born with two strong drives (MELANIE KLEIN)
life instinct and death instinct
A person’s adult ability to love or to hate originates with (MELANIE KLEIN)
the early object relations they experience in life
Margaret Schoenberger Mahler birthplace
Sopron, Hungary
With this term, Mahler meant that the child becomes an individual separate from his or her primary caregiver, an accomplishment that leads ultimately to a sense of identity
psychological birth
Mahler’s first major developmental stage
an “objectless” stage, a time when an infant naturally searches for the mother’s
breast
normal autism
the second developmental stage in Mahler’s theory
begins around the 4th or 5th week of age but reaches its zenith during the 4th or 5th month. During this time, “the infant behaves and functions as though he and his mother were an omnipotent system—a dual unity within one common boundary”
normal symbiosis
the third major developmental stage in Mahler’s theory
During this time, children become psychologically separated from their mothers, achieve a sense of individuation, and begin to develop feelings of personal identity. Because children no longer experience a dual unity with their mother, they must surrender their delusion of omnipotence and face their vulnerability to external threats
separation-individuation,
3 stages of separation anxiety (in order)
protest stage, despair stage, and detachment stage
4 types of attachment styles by Ainsworth
Secure, Avoidant, Ambivalent, Disorganized/Disoriented
In this attachment style, when their mother returns, infants are happy and enthusiastic and initiate contact; for example, they will go over to their mother and want to be held
secure attachment style
In this attachment style, infants are ambivalent. When their
mother leaves the room, they become unusually upset, and when their mother returns
they seek contact with her but reject attempts at being soothed. In this attachment style, infants give very conflicted messages
anxious-resistant attachment style
With this style, infants stay
calm when their mother leaves; they accept the stranger, and when their mother returns, they ignore and avoid her
anxious-avoidant style
