Major Figures and Concepts in Psychoanalytic & Personality Theory

Vocabulary flashcards summarizing key theorists, concepts, and technical terms from pages 103–143 of the lecture notes.

Karl Abraham

First psychoanalyst in Germany; linked oral, anal, and phallic sub-phases to adult depressive and other syndromes.

Oral Biting Phase

Early oral sub-stage in which aggression is expressed through biting; Abraham related it to later depressive features.

Anal Sadistic Phase

Destructive–expulsive sub-stage of the anal period marked by aggressive elimination and control.

Anal Erotic (Retentive) Phase

Mastering–retentive anal sub-stage focused on withholding and orderliness.

Alfred Adler

Founder of Individual Psychology; stressed social interest, goal-directedness, and the drive to overcome inferiority.

Individual Psychology

Adler’s school emphasizing future-oriented striving for significance within a social context.

Masculine Protest

Adler’s term for striving for power and superiority to overcome perceived weakness.

Inferiority Complex

Universal, inborn sense of inadequacy that motivates compensatory striving for superiority.

Organ Inferiority

Low self-esteem arising from a physical defect that heightens feelings of inadequacy.

Birth-Order Effect

Adler’s idea that ordinal position in the family shapes personality style.

Franz Alexander

Psychoanalyst who proposed the Specificity Hypothesis linking personality patterns to particular psychosomatic illnesses.

Specificity Hypothesis

Claim that certain character traits predispose to distinct psychosomatic disorders.

Corrective Emotional Experience

Alexander’s therapeutic technique of providing a new relational experience that counters damaging childhood patterns.

Gordon Allport

Humanistic personality theorist who highlighted individuality, growth, and the ‘proprium.’

Proprium

Allport’s term for the self-system that unifies identity, self-esteem, and personal continuity.

Personal Dispositions

Unique trait configurations that define an individual’s characteristic style.

Allportian Maturity

Capacity for warm, intimate relating plus humor, insight, security, and zest.

Michael Balint

Middle-group object-relations analyst who stressed the need for a ‘primary love object.’

Primary Love Object

Balint’s concept of the original, longed-for maternal relationship underlying later desires.

Basic Fault

Deep feeling that ‘something is missing,’ thought to stem from early maternal failure.

Eric Berne

Developer of Transactional Analysis, focusing on social ‘transactions’ and ego states.

Transaction

Exchange of stimuli and responses between people that maintains or changes social interaction patterns.

Stroke (TA)

Unit of social recognition—approval, attention, or love—that motivates behavior.

Child Ego State

TA state embodying feelings and behaviors replayed from childhood.

Adult Ego State

TA state of rational, here-and-now information processing.

Parent Ego State

TA state containing introjected attitudes and rules from caregivers.

Wilfred Bion

Object-relations thinker who introduced ‘container–contained’ theory and applied psychoanalysis to groups.

Projective Identification (Bion)

Process whereby parts of the self are projected into another who must ‘contain’ and transform them.

Dependency Group Mentality

Bion’s term for a regressed group state seeking a leader to take care of it.

Fight–Flight Mentality

Bion’s group state organized around attacking or escaping a perceived threat.

Pairing Mentality

Bion’s group illusion that two members will create a savior solution for all.

John Bowlby

Founder of attachment theory emphasizing proximity-seeking and caregiver bonds for security.

Attachment Theory

Bowlby’s model of biologically based infant–caregiver bonding that shapes later relationships.

Secure Base

Caregiver relationship that allows a child to explore while trusting in safety and support.

Raymond Cattell

Introduced multivariate and factor analysis to map source traits of personality.

Factor Analysis (Cattell)

Statistical method for uncovering latent personality traits from large data sets.

Biological Traits (Cattell)

Trait cluster believed to be largely genetic, e.g., sex differences, aggression, protectiveness.

Environmentally Learned Traits

Traits shaped by culture—work values, religion, intimacy practices, identity.

Law of Coercion to the Biosocial Mean

Society pressures genetically diverse individuals to conform to social norms.

Ronald Fairbairn

British object-relations theorist who saw infants as driven to seek objects, not discharge drives.

Object-Seeking Instinct

Fairbairn’s notion that the primary motive is to relate to objects (people).

Internal Object

Mental representation of another person plus the relationship’s affective tone.

Sandor Ferenczi

Innovative analyst who emphasized the healing power of genuine love and mutual analysis.

Active Therapy (Ferenczi)

Directive technique encouraging reality testing through therapist confrontation.

Mutual Analysis

Ferenczi’s practice of alternating roles so patient analyzes the therapist in session.

Victor Frankl

Holocaust survivor who founded Logotherapy, centering on humanity’s will to meaning.

Logotherapy

Frankl’s therapy helping clients find meaning through creativity, experience, and attitude.

Self-Transcendence

Frankl’s idea that humans can rise above themselves toward values and purposes.

Anna Freud

Ego psychologist who cataloged defense mechanisms and advanced child psychoanalysis.

Defense Mechanisms

Anna Freud’s detailed list of ego operations like repression, projection, reaction formation, etc.

Ego Psychology

Approach studying the adaptive functions and defenses of the ego itself.

Erich Fromm

Social psychoanalyst who outlined five character orientations and stressed productive love.

Productive Personality

Fromm’s mature type capable of genuine love and meaningful work.

Productive Love

Love defined by care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge of the other.

Kurt Goldstein

Neuropsychologist who proposed holism and self-actualization in organisms.

Holocoenosis

Goldstein’s principle that change in one part of the organism affects the entire system.

Catastrophic Reaction

Anxiety-ridden refusal to act after brain injury due to fear of failure.

Self-Actualization (Goldstein)

Innate drive to realize one’s unique potential; illness disrupts this process.

Karen Horney

Neo-Freudian who emphasized culture, social factors, and holistic view of personality.

Holistic Psychology (Horney)

View that a person is an integrated whole interacting with environment.

Edith Jacobson

Ego psychologist integrating drive theory with object relations and self-images.

Self- and Object Images

Jacobson’s idea that gratifying vs. frustrating experiences create internal images shaping development.

Fixation (Jacobson)

Stuck mode of object relatedness rather than a pleasure-seeking stage arrest.

Carl Jung

Founder of Analytic Psychology; introduced collective unconscious and archetypes.

Collective Unconscious

Jung’s storehouse of inherited human memories and symbols shared across cultures.

Archetype

Universal primordial image or pattern residing in the collective unconscious.

Individuation

Lifelong process of integrating conscious and unconscious to form a unique identity.

Otto Kernberg

Object-relations theorist known for work on borderline personality organization.

Splitting (Kernberg)

Primitive defense separating good and bad self/object representations to avoid ambivalence.

Borderline Personality Organization

Kernberg’s syndrome of identity diffusion, weak ego, primitive defenses, and intense affect.

Melanie Klein

Early object-relations analyst who highlighted internal fantasies, splitting, and the death instinct.

Death Instinct (Klein)

Innate drive toward aggression, hatred, and annihilation, expressed in sadism and envy.

Heinz Kohut

Originator of Self-Psychology, focusing on self-cohesion and narcissistic development.

Self-Psychology

Kohut’s framework viewing self-esteem regulation and empathic mirroring as central motives.

Twin Lines of Development

Kohut’s idea of parallel growth toward object relatedness and toward strengthened self.

Jacques Lacan

French analyst who fused Freud with linguistics; ‘the unconscious is structured like a language.’

Mirror Stage

Lacan’s developmental phase where the infant forms an ego by identifying with its reflection.

Unconscious as Language

Lacan’s concept that unconscious processes follow linguistic rules and signification.

Kurt Lewin

Gestalt-influenced psychologist who formulated Field Theory and pioneered group dynamics.

Field Theory

Lewin’s model viewing behavior as a function of person and environment within a life space.

Life Space

Total psychological environment of needs, goals, and valences in constant flux.

Group Dynamics

Lewin’s study of interactive forces among group members that produce change.

Abraham Maslow

Humanistic psychologist who proposed a hierarchy culminating in self-actualization.

Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s pyramid from physiological needs to safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

Self-Actualization (Maslow)

Highest need to realize one’s full human potential and creativity.

Karl Menninger

Pioneer of psychoanalytic hospital care; argued for treatment over punishment of criminals.

The Crime of Punishment

Menninger’s book asserting many offenders need psychiatric treatment rather than retribution.

Adolf Meyer

Psychiatrist who advanced a psychobiological, commonsense approach emphasizing life stories.

Ergasia

Meyer’s term for the total organism in action; integrated biological and psychological functioning.

Autobiographical Life Chart

Meyer’s therapeutic tool where patients graph significant life events to aid insight.