TheoPer | M4: Klein

YOUNG CHILDREN.

The OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY of Klein was built on careful observations of ______________

4-6 months

Klein stressed the importance of the first _________ AFTER birth.

OBJECT

Infant's drives are directed to an _______

interpersonal relationships

Klein's ideas shifted the focus of psychoanalytic theory to the role of early fantasy in the formation of __________________

• biologically based drives

• interpersonal relationships.

Object relations places LESS emphasis on ________________ and MORE importance on consistent patterns of _________________________

MATERNAL.

Object relations theory tends to be more _______

human contact and relatedness

Object relations theorists generally see ___________________- not sexual pleasure- as the prime motive of human behavior

internal psychic

An important portion of any relationship is the __________________ representations of early significant objects, that have been introjected, or taken into the infant's psychic structure, and then projected onto one's partner

internal psychic

how do they represent objects in their mind

Klein

infants do not begin life with a blank slate, according to?

inherited predisposition

To Klein, infants do not begin life with a blank slate but with an _____________ to reduce the anxiety they experience as a result of the conflict produced by the forces of the life instinct and the power of the death instinct

Phantasies

psychic representations of unconscious id instincts.

"good" and "bad"

Infants possess unconscious images of _________

• matures

• unconscious

• psychic life

As the infant __________, ____________ phantasies connected with the breast continue to exert an impact on ___________, but newer ones emerge as well.

fantasy and reality

Klein believed that from early infancy, children relate to these external objects, both in ___________

mother‘s breast

The earliest object relations are with the ___________, but "very soon interest develops in the face and in the hands which attends to his needs and gratify them.”

POSITIONS

In an attempt to deal with the dichotomy of good and bad feelings, infants organize their experiences into _____________, or ways of dealing with both internal and external objects.

• "positions"

• "stages of development"

Klein chose the term __________ rather than ______________.

NORMAL social growth and development (lahat ng bata pinagdadaanan)

Although she used pathological labels, Klein intended these positions to represent _____________________.

PARANOID-SCHIZOID POSITION and DEPRESSIVE POSITION.

2 basic positions are

Paranoid-Schizoid Position

Infants develop this position during the first 3 or 4 months of life.

Paranoid-Schizoid 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 bad.

Depressive Position

Beginning at about the 5th or 6th month, an infant begins to view external objects as whole and to see that good and bad can exist in the same person.

Depressive Position

The feelings of anxiety over losing a loved object coupled with a sense of guilt for wanting to destroy that object constitute the ______

• loved

• hated

Children in the depressive position recognize that the ________ object and the ______ object are now one and the same.

Depressive Position

This position is resolved when children fantasize that they have made reparation for their previous transgressions and when they recognize that their mother will not go away permanently but will return with every departure

Depressive Position

When resolved, children close the split between the good and the bad mother. They are able not only to experience love from their mother, but also to display their own love for her.

• Projection

• Introjection

• Splitting

• Projective Identification

Psychic Defense Mechanisms

Projection

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

Introjection

Infants fantasize taking into their body those perceptions and experiences that they have had with the external object, originally the mother‘s breast.

Introjected objects

not accurate representations of the real objects but are colored by children‘s fantasies.

SPLITTING

Infants can only manage the good and bad aspects of themselves and of external objects by _________ them, that is, by keeping apart incompatible impulses.

Projective Identification

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.

Internalizations

the person takes in (introjects) aspects of the external world and then organizes those introjections into a psychologically meaningful framework

the EGO, the SUPEREGO, and the OEDIPUS COMPLEX

In Kleinian theory, the three important internalizations are ____

Ego

Klein believed that the ___, the sense of self, reaches maturity at a much earlier stage than Freud had assumed.

• anxiety

• use defense mechanisms

• form early object relations

Klein believed that although the ego is mostly unorganized at birth, it is strong enough to feel ______, to _________, and to __________________ in both phantasy and reality

Superego

it emerges much earlier in life, it is NOT an outgrowth of the Oedipus complex, it is much more harsh and cruel.

TERROR

Klein, through her analysis of children, led her to believe that the early superego produces not guilt but ______.

Oedipus complex

Klein insisted that the superego grows along with the ___________.

Oedipus Complex

She held that it begins during the earliest months of life, overlaps with the oral and anal stages, and reaches the climax during the GENITAL stage at around 3 or 4.

children’s fear of retaliation from their parent

Klein believed that a significant part of the Oedipus complex is _______________________________ for their fantasy of emptying the parent's body.

positive feelings

Klein stressed the importance of children retaining ____________ toward both parents during the Oedipal years.

Early Attachment to the Mother

Like Freud, Klein believed that boys first develop a strong attachment to their mother because she is the primary source of comfort, care, and feeding. However, Klein thought that this attachment also includes a fantasy that the mother’s body contains the father, creating a very early awareness of the relationship between the parents

Rivalry with the Father

The boy eventually becomes aware of the father’s relationship with the mother and sees him as a rival for the mother’s attention and love. The boy may have unconscious fantasies about "getting rid of" the father to have the mother all to himself, but he also feels guilt and fear about these aggressive fantasies.

Fear of Retaliation (Castration Anxiety)

Like Freud, Klein believed that the boy fears punishment for his rivalry with the father (a form of castration anxiety). However, Klein placed more emphasis on the boy’s fear of internal retaliation from the father and even the mother due to his aggressive fantasies.

Resolution

The boy eventually resolves his feelings of rivalry by identifying with the father, realizing that he cannot "possess" the mother. This identification with the father helps him move past the Oedipal phase and develop healthier relationships with both parents.

Early Attachment to the Mother

Like boys, girls also form an early, strong attachment to the mother, but this attachment is complicated by feelings of envy. Klein believed that the girl might envy the mother’s creative and nurturing powers, especially the mother’s ability to bear children.

Jealousy and Rivalry with the Mother

As the girl becomes aware of the father’s role in the mother’s life, she experiences jealousy and rivalry with the mother. However, instead of the boy’s castration anxiety, the girl feels envy of the mother’s body—specifically the ability to have babies and be "complete." The girl may fantasize about wanting to take the father's place in her relationship with the mother.

Shift in Desire toward the Father

Over time, the girl shifts her attachment and desire toward the father, wishing to have his love and attention. Unlike Freud’s concept of "penis envy," where the girl wants to have a penis like the father, Klein believed that the girl’s desire is more focused on possessing the father’s love and attention and also on the desire for a baby, like the mother has

Guilt and Fear

Like the boy, the girl feels guilt for her hostile feelings toward her mother and her fantasies about possessing the father. Klein believed this early guilt plays a crucial role in shaping the girl’s later relationships.