Klein: Object Relations Theory

Question 1

Melanie Klein’s rival

Answer 1

Edward Glover

Question 2

This theory was built on careful observations of
young children.

Answer 2

object relations theory

Question 3

Melanie Reizes Klein birthdate and birthplace

Answer 3

March 30, 1882 & Vienna, Austria

Question 4

a belief of Melanie Klein that led to feelings of being
rejected by her parents

Answer 4

Klein believed that her birth was unplanned

Question 5

Her mother ran a shop selling what?

Answer 5

plants and reptiles

Question 6

After her sister’s death, Klein became deeply attached to her only brother

Answer 6

Emmanuel Reizes

Question 7

Freud’s only case study of a child was

Answer 7

Little Hans

Question 8

is an offspring of Freud’s instinct theory, but it differs from its ancestor in at least three general ways

Answer 8

Object relations theory

Question 9

what are the three ways that Object Relations Theory differs from Freud’s instinct theory

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Margaret S. Mahler’s work
was concerned with

Answer 10

the infant’s struggle to gain autonomy and a sense of self

Question 11

Heinz Kohut’s work was concerned with

Answer 11

the formation of the self

Question 12

Mary Ainsworth’s work was concerned with

Answer 12

the styles of attachment

Question 12

John Bowlby’s work was concerned with

Answer 12

the stages of separation anxiety

Question 13

one of Klein’s basic assumptions

Answer 13

is that the infant, even at birth, possesses an active
phantasy life

Question 14

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

Answer 14

positions

Question 15

the two basic positions are

Answer 15

the paranoid-schizoid position
and the depressive position

Question 16

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.

Answer 16

paranoid-schizoid position

Question 17

According to Klein, at what age does the infant develop the paranoid-schizoid position?

Answer 17

first 3 or 4 months of life

Question 18

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

Answer 18

the depressive position

Question 19

what are the four psychic defense mechanisms in Klein’s chapter?

Answer 19

introjection, projection, splitting, and projective identification

Question 20

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

Answer 20

introjection

Question 21

is the fantasy that one’s own feelings and impulses actually reside in another person and not within one’s body

Answer 21

Projection

Question 22

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

Answer 22

projective identification

Question 23

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

Answer 23

internalizations

Question 24

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

Answer 24

the ego

Question 25

Klein believed that people are born with two strong drives

Answer 25

life instinct and death instinct

Question 26

A person’s adult ability to love or to hate originates with

Answer 26

the early object relations they experience in life

Question 27

Margaret Schoenberger Mahler birthplace

Answer 27

Sopron, Hungary

Question 28

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

Answer 28

psychological birth

Question 29

Mahler’s first major developmental stage

an “objectless” stage, a time when an infant naturally searches for the mother’s
breast

Answer 29

normal autism

Question 30

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”

Answer 30

normal symbiosis

Question 31

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

Answer 31

separation-individuation,

Question 32

3 stages of separation anxiety (in order)

Answer 32

protest stage, despair stage, and detachment stage

Question 33

4 types of attachment styles by Ainsworth

Answer 33

Secure, Avoidant, Ambivalent, Disorganized/Disoriented

Question 34

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

Answer 34

secure attachment style

Question 35

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

Answer 35

anxious-resistant attachment style

Question 36

With this style, infants stay
calm when their mother leaves; they accept the stranger, and when their mother returns, they ignore and avoid her

Answer 36

anxious-avoidant style