Course Title: Theories of Personality Section Faculty
Course Title: Theories of Personality Section Faculty
Course Title: Theories of Personality Section Faculty
I. Introduction
The object relations theory of Melanie Klein was built in careful observations of young children. In
contrast to Freud, who emphasized the first 4 to 6 years of life, Klein stressed the importance of the
first to 4 to 6 months after birth. She insisted that the infants drive’s (hunger, sex, etc) are directed to
an object – a breast, penis, vagina and so on.
The “Object”
Any person, part of the person (e.g., mother’s breast, father’s penis), or thing through which the aim is
satisfied
Drives must have some object
Earliest object relations are with the mother’s breast
Later, interest develops in the face and hands, which “attend to one’s+ needs and gratify them”
Such objects are introjected, i.e., taken into the infant’s psychic structure
Such introjected objects are “more than internal thoughts about external objects”
They are “fantasies of internalizing the object in concrete and physical terms”
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Phantasies
Phantasies: psychic representations of unconscious id instincts
Not to be confused with conscious fantasies of older children and adults, hence the distinctive spelling
Klein’s basic assumption: the infant, even at birth, possesses an active phantasy life
They possess unconscious images of “good” and “bad”
As the infant matures, unconscious phantasies connected with the breast (the initial introjected object)
continue to exert an influence in psychic life, but newer ones emerge as well
One of these phantasies involves the Oedipus complex (which will be discussed later)
Positions
Klein viewed human infants as constantly engaging in a basic conflict between the life instinct (“good,”
“love,” “creativity”) and the death instinct (“bad,” “hate,” “destruction”)
As the ego moves toward integration and away from disintegration, infants prefer gratification over
frustration
Positions – ways of dealing with both internal and external objects; Klein’s preferred term over “stages
of development”
Indicates that positions can alternate back and forth – not time periods or development phases
These positions represent normal growth and development
1. Paranoid-Schizoid Position
1st 3 or 4 months of life - infant’s contact / encounters with the “good” breast and the “bad” breast, i.e.,
gratification and frustration
Alternating experiences of “good” and “bad” threaten the very existence of the infant’s vulnerable ego
Paranoid-schizoid position – way of organizing both paranoid feelings of being persecuted and a
splitting of internal & external objects into the good and the bad
This position is needed in order to control the “good” breast and what can “annihilate” it, i.e., the
infant’s own destructive impulses
Preverbal splitting of the world into good and bad – a prototype for the subsequent development of
ambivalent feelings toward a single person
Such feelings, while mostly displayed in therapy situations, can also be expressed in positive and
negative feelings toward loved ones
Such ambivalent feelings are primitive, unconscious
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2. Depressive Position
1. Introjection
Infants fantasize taking into their body those perceptions and experiences they have had with the
external object
Introjecting good objects are a way to protect oneself against anxiety
However, dangerous objects are introjected, they become internal persecutors
Introjected objects are not accurate representations of real objects; they are colored by children’s
fantasies
2. Projection
The fantasy that one’s own feelings and impulses actually reside in another person and not within
one’s body
Just as infants use introjection to take in both good and bad objects, projection is used to get rid of
them
3. Splitting
Keeping apart incompatible tendencies, i.e., the good and the bad aspects of oneself
Can have a positive or negative effect on the child
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Positive – helps people distinguish between good and bad behavior, and differentiating between
likable and unlikable acquaintances
Negative – excessive and inflexible splitting can lead to pathological repression
4. Projective Identification
Involves splitting off unacceptable parts of oneself, project them into another object, and finally
introject them back into oneself in a changed or distorted form
Projective identification exerts a powerful influence on real-world, adult interpersonal relationships
Internalizations
Among object relations theorists, internalizations refer to the idea that people take in (introject) aspects
of the external world and then organizes those introjections into a psychologically meaningful
framework
Klein - three important internalizations:
Ego
Superego
Oedipus complex
Ego
One’s sense of self
Reaches maturity at an earlier age than that assumed by Freud
Ego has an early ability to sense both destructive and loving forces, and to manage them through
splitting, projection, and introjection
While mostly unorganized at birth, the ego can feel anxiety, use defense mechanisms, and form early
object relations in both phantasy and reality
The infant’s first object relation, the breast, becomes the prototype not only for the ego’s future
development but for the individual’s later interpersonal relations
However, before a unified ego can emerge, it must become split (fusion, differentiation, integration)
As infants mature, they no longer see the world in terms of partial objects, and their egos become more
integrated
Superego
Different conceptualization from Freud in certain respects:
Klein’s concept of the superego emerges much earlier in life
it is not an outgrowth of the Oedipus complex
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Klein’s concept of the superego is more harsh and cruel, at least in its early stage
The early superego does not produce guilt, but terror
This harsh, cruel superego is responsible for many antisocial and criminal tendencies in adults
By the 5th or 6th year, the superego arouses little anxiety but a great measure of guilt; most of its
severity is lost, and it is gradually transformed into a realistic conscience
Klein – the superego grows along with the Oedipus complex, and emerges as realistic guilt after
the resolution of the Oedipus complex
Oedipus Complex
Again, several differences with Freud’s concept:
Begins at a much earlier age
Overlaps with the oral and anal phases
Reaches its climax during the genital stage
Significant part of the Oedipus complex: fear of retaliation from the parents for fantasy of
emptying the parent’s body
Stress on the importance of retaining positive feelings for both parents during the Oedipal years
During its early stages, the Oedipus complex serves the same need for both sexes, i.e., to
establish a positive attitude with the gratifying object and to avoid the frustrating object
Children of each gender can direct their love either alternately or simultaneously toward each
parent
While either child (female/male) has a positive, then an antagonistic dynamic with the same-sex
parent, both male and female children will eventually have a positive relationship with both
parents; aspects of Freud’s theory re: the Oedipal period (penis envy, castration anxiety) were
retained, but with different explanations
SUMMARY
Klein believed that people are born with two strong drives – the life and death instincts
Infants develop a passionate caring for the good breast and an intense hatred for the bad breast
This leaves the person to struggle a lifetime to reconcile these unconscious psychic images of good and
bad, pleasure and pain
Most crucial stage of life- first few months, a time when relationships with mother and other significant
objects form a model for later interpersonal relations
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A person’s adult ability to love or hate originates with these early object relations
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IV. Assignments
1. Explain the concept of humanity of Melanie Klein
2. What are the critiques of object relations theory?
F. Related Readings
Feist, Feist, and Roberts, Theories of Personality, 8/e, 2013
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