Class #
Date
Agenda
1
26/4/17
Overview of Theories
2
3/5/17
Psychoanalysis (Freud)
3
10/5/17
NeoFreudian (Jung)
4
17/5/17
NeoFreudian (Object Relations)
Individual (Adler)
5
24/5/17
Life-Span (Erikson)
Quiz 1
6
31/5/17
Trait
7
7/6/17
Behavioral
8
14/6/17
Humanistic
9
21/6/17
Biological
Quiz 2
10
28/6/17
Personality Disorders
11
5/7/17
Class cancelled
12
12/7/17
Group Presentations + Review
13
19/7/17
Final Exam
Paper due
Assignment
Remarks
Assignment 1 due
(Jung Typology Test)
Make-up; same
day/time
Assignment 2 due
(Adler Birth Order)
Assignment 3 due
Assignment 4 due
Make-up; 8/7/17
Object Relations
Approach
ICSP254 Theories of Personality
Agenda
Psychoanalytic
NeoFreudian
Object
Relations
Individual
Trait
Social
Humanistic
Biological
Object Relations Theory
• Building on psychoanalytic theory
• John Bowlby, Heinz Kohut, and Melanie Klein are prominent figures
• What is the “object”?
Object Relations Theory
• This theory focuses on relationships with the “objects” (a person or
an activity that can satisfy an instinct)
• Thus, we invest our psychic energy in people such as our moms
who are able to satisfy our basic needs.
• Usually, the first object for the infant is its caregiver (usually mom)
• Suggests that core of personality is formed in infancy, which is at a
younger age than Freud proposed.
• The crucial point is that the child is able to become independent
from its primary object as they grow
Heinz Kohut
• Emphasizes the formation of the “self” which is the
foundation of becoming an independent person
• “self” develops from relationship between infant and
“selfobject”
• Selfobject’s role is to gratify child’s physical and
emotional needs
• Self object is warm and attentive = feel pride, important
• Self object is rejecting = feel unimportant, may feel
shame or guilt
Melanie Klein
• She was an unwated child who felt rejected by her parents
• First 5-6 months of child’s life, personality is formed
• Infants assign different objects to each emotional
experience, even from the same caregiver
• Good object = Happy when mom comes to feed it
• Bad object = Angry/hostile when mom did not come
• Goal is to see the whole person, rather than parts of the
objects
• Subsequent relationships then are defined as whether part
objects or whole object
John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
• Attachment is crucial to healthy development
• Evolutionary needs: it ensures that adult project their helpless
young
• Newborns are biologically equipped with verbal and nonverbal behaviors (e.g., crying, smiling) that function to elicit
instinctive responses from caretaker
• Why babies are cute!
John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
Protest
Despair
Detachment
Protest – when separated initially, the child protests by crying, calling out,
and searching for the lost person
Despair – as the period of separation continues, the child show signs of
feeling hopeless that the mother will ever return
Detachment – final step, child emotionally separates self from the mother.
Child responses in an indifferent manner when mom returns.
Mary Ainsworth and Attachment
• The Strange Situation
• Looks at how infant organize their behavior around the attachment figure
when they are mildly stressed in a strange room by encountering
unfamiliar adult and then being left briefly by attachment figure
Mary Ainsworth and Attachment
Secure Attachment
• 65% of babies
• Warm and responsive.
• When exposed to stranger, seek contact with mom.
• Moderate distress when mom leaves and greet mom
enthusiastically when she returns.
• Caregivers of secure babies are sensitive and responsive
Mary Ainsworth and Attachment
Avoidant Attachment
• 20% of babies
• Do not seek closeness and contact with mom.
• Treat mom like a stranger, rarely cry when she leaves the room and
ignore her on her return
• May even prefer stranger over mother.
• Caregivers of avoidant babies are aloof and distant, or intrusiveness
and overstimulation.
Mary Ainsworth and Attachment
Ambivalent (resistant) Attachment
• 10% of babies
• Clingy and become upset when mom leaves the room. When mom
returns, baby is happy and reestablish contact.
• However, they show their ambivalence by resisting mom’s comfort
behaviors. May cry, kick, or squirm to get away.
• Little exploring. Appear angry toward both mom and stranger.
• Caregivers of ambivalent babies are inconsistent and insensitive
Life Script Explanation
• Once your solidify the relationship with your early “object”,
you develop a life script that is basically, the story of your life
• The script gets played over and over again in your life, you’re
repeating the old patterns of relating to other people