Psychology of indiv differences

2. OVERVIEW OF OBJECT RELATIONS AND
ATTACHMENT THEORIES

3. INTRODUCTION
• Object relations theory focuses on interpersonal
relations, specifically within early childhood with an
emphasis on the mother-child relationship.
• The theory based in both ego psychology and
developmental theory emphasizes that our inner world
is composed of representations and feelings of others,
which have a direct impact on the feelings and
attitudes we have about ourselves.
• In other words, the theory assumes that the quality of
our interpersonal relationships during development
can predict the quality of our future relationships.
• Here we are discussing The ‘Object Relations And
Attachment Theories’ by Margaret Mahler, Heinz Kohut
,Melanie Klein ,Winnicot ,John Bowlby in detail.

4. 1) MARGARETMAHLER
-SEPARATION-INDIVIDUATIONTHEORYOF CHILDDEVELOPMENT
• Mahler is regarded as one of the main
contributors to the field of ‘ego psychology’.
• Her studies focus primarily on mother-infant
interactions within the first three years of life.
• According to Mahler, successful completion of the
developmental stages in the first few years of life
results in separation and individuation.
• Separation refers to an internal process of mental
separation from the mother, while individuation
refers to a developing self concept.

5. Stages of Development
1)Normal autistic stage: (0-1 month)
• At the very beginning of life, the infant is
primarily focused on himself/herself,
uninterested in external stimuli.
• The mother is viewed as an intrinsic part of
the infant, devoid of a separate existence.
• The primary goal at this point, is to achieve a
state of equilibrium

6. 2.Normal symbiotic stage: (1-5 months)
• At this phase, the infant vaguely
acknowledges the mother’s existence, not as a
unique entity, but as the main source of need-
satisfaction.
• The fulfilment of the infant’s physiological
needs becomes intertwined with psychological
desires and thus serves as the basis upon
which future relationships will be formed.

7. 3.Separation-Individuation stage: (5-24 months)
• In separation, the infant develops an understanding of
boundaries of the self, and thus the mother is
increasingly viewed as an individual.
• This consists of four sub-stages:
3a: Differentiation/Hatching: (5-9 months)
• The infant’s primary focus begins to transform from
internally focused to externally focused, although the
primary point of reference continues to be the mother.
• The infant becomes increasingly interested in
discovering his mother (e.g. how she looks or smells)
rather than trying to become symbiotically unified with
her.

8. 3b: Practicing: (9-14 months)
• Capacity for separation continues to develop
with increased autonomous functions,
particularly walking.
3c: Rapprochement: (14-24 months)
• At this point the child’s desire to achieve
independence is marred by a fear of
abandonment.
• Therefore, the child seeks to maintain proximity
to the caretaker while engaging in
exploration.This stage is essential to the
development of a stable sense of self.

9. • This includes three sub- stages:
• Beginning: The child returns to the caretaker
in order to share experiences and excitement
• Crisis: The child recognizes his/her limitations
versus the desire to be all powerful and self
sufficient
• Solution: The child reaches a healthy medium
between the two extremes due to language
and superego development

10. 3d: Object constancy: (24+ months)
• Successful completion of this phase marks the
development of an internalized mental model
of the mother, which unconsciously
accompanies and supports the child even
when they are physically separated.
• In addition, a sense of individuality begins to
develop.
• The degree of ambivalence in the internalized
model implicates the formation of a healthy
self concept and self-confidence.

11. 2)HEINZ KOHUT ANDSELF PSYCHOLOGY THEORY
• In self psychology, the self is understood to be the center of
an individual’s psychological universe.
• Self psychology theory, which rejects Freudian ideology of
the role sexual drives play in organization of the psyche,
focuses on the development of empathy toward the person
in treatment and the exploration of fundamental
components of healthy development and growth.
• If a child’s developmental environment is appropriate, a
healthy sense of self will typically develop, and generally
the individual will be able to maintain consistent
patterns/experiences and self-regulate and self-soothe
throughout life.
• When individuals are not able to develop a healthy sense of
self, they may tend to rely on others in order to get needs
met.

12. • These others are called selfobjects (because
they are outside the self). Selfobjects are a
normal part of the developmental process,
according to Kohut.
• Children need selfobjects because they are
incapable of meeting all of their own needs,
but over the course of healthy
development, selfobjects become internalized
as individuals develop the ability to meet
their own needs without relying on external
others.

13. • The role of transference is also important to
self psychology.
• In psychoanalysis, transference is understood
as the process in which a person in treatment
redirects feelings and desires from childhood
to a new object (usually the analyst).
• Kohut formulated three specific types of
transferences that reflect unmet selfobject
needs

14. • Mirroring: In this type of transference, others serve as a
mirror that reflects back a sense of self-worth and value.
Just as people use a mirror to check appearance, mirroring
transference involves use of the affirming and positive
responses of others to see positive traits within the self.
• Idealizing: Kohut believed individuals need people who will
make them feel calm and comfortable. An example of this
can be seen in children who run to a parent for comfort
after falling and being injured. The external other is
idealized as somebody who is calm and soothing when one
cannot provide that on their own.
• Twinship/Alter Ego: Kohut suggested that people need to
feel a sense of likeness with others. For example, children
want to be similar to their parents and mimic the behaviors
they observe. Over the course of healthy development, a
child becomes more able to tolerate differences.

15. 3)MELANIE KLEIN -OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY
• Melanie Klein is regarded as one of the founders of `Object Relations
Theory,’
• Her theory focuses primarily on development within the first year of life,
however emphasizes that these continue to develop throughout life.
Unconscious Phantasy
• Unconscious phantasies serve as the basis for all future mental
mechanisms.
• They are defined as primitive internalized mental images of instincts and
drives.
• Ultimately the unique mental and emotional capacities of an individual
result from the interaction of these phantasies with actual experience.
• For example, the newborn’s rooting reflex will only become a mental
image, once the newborn finds the nipple and begins nursing.
• The repetition of this activity over time forms a mental image
accompanied by the soothing emotions that ensue. Therefore, the degree
of fulfillment of the infant’s needs largely implicates self development.

16. Paranoid-schizoid position (newborn- 4-6 months)
• Klein is of the understanding that during the first few
months of life the infant is in a state of anxiety, stemming
largely from the death instinct (thanatos).
• In order to cope with this anxiety, the infant utilizes the
phantasies of splitting, projection identification, and
introjection
• As the ego is still in a primitive state, the infant is unable to
maintain a unified mental image of the self or of others.
• Therefore, relationships are maintained with parts of
objects (e.g. breast rather than mother), and split between
good and bad.
• Thus, negative feelings are projected outward unto the
mother, while positive sensations are internalized in a
process called binary splitting.
• This splitting ties the self to positive sensations and thus
forms the basis for the development of a positive self
concept, more suited to sustain negative aspects of the self
as well.

17. • In categorizing objects as either good or bad,
the infant in essence creates two individual
mental images of objects, existing as
unrelated individual entities.
• For example, ‘the bad breast’ exists when the
mother is unable to fill the infant’ needs
immediately, causing a desire to destroy this
object.
• Meanwhile, ‘the good breast’ exists when
needs are fulfilled, causing feelings of love
towards the object.

18. • The Depressive Position (6 months +)
• These cycles of projection and introjection
continue until the infant comes to the
understanding that the good mother and the bad
mother are one.
• In addition, the fragmented view of partial
objects develops into the awareness of the object
as a single entity.
• Here begins a developing capacity to view the self
and objects as including both good and bad, thus
forming the basis for an integrated ego.
• In other words, the mother who frustrated the
infant is the same mother who satisfied.

19. • Accordingly, the infant who desires to destroy the
mother is the same infant who loves her.
• The infant realizes, that the mother whom he
phantasized of destroying, is the same mother he
loves
• The infant thus engages in reparation in an effort
to restore and fix objects he phantasized
destroying.
• This ability to view the self and objects with
complexity, and engaging in appeasement efforts
is crucial for the development of healthy
relationships in adulthood

20. 4)WINNICOT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
THEORY
• Donald Winnicott (1896-1971) was a London
pediatrician who studied psychoanalysis
with Melanie Klein
• Although accepting Klein, he viewed the key
aspect of healthy development as rooted in
relationships and micro-interactions with
other people, thus taking particular interest
in Object Relations Theory

21. • The space between
• Rather than consider the outer and inner worlds, Winnicott was more
interested in the 'transition space' between these domains. As a virtual
world, it is ideal for play and creativity.
• Ego development
• He sees the ego as arising out of primitive threats to existence and
developing a 'continuity of being', as afforded by the good-enough
mother.
• "The first ego organization comes from the experience of threats of
annihilation which do not lead to annihilation and from which, repeatedly,
there is recovery." (Winnicott, 1956)
• "With the care that it receives from its mother each infant is able to have a
personal existence, and so begins to build up what might be called a
continuity of being.
• On the basis of this continuity of being the inherited potential gradually
develops into an individual infant
• If maternal care is not good enough then the infant does not really come
into existence, since there is no continuity of being; instead the
personality becomes built on the basis of reactions to environmental
impingement." (Winnicott, 1960)

22. • Aggression
• Aggression in the child is seen as a natural part of
development as they test out the limits of their
personality. They kick and scream in rage. People who
have not extended so in childhood may be repressed.
• Aggression also tests their environment and helps
them to relate to it.
• "(1) Subject relates to object. (2) Object is in process of
being found instead of being placed by the subject in
the world. (3) Subject destroys object. (4) Object
survives destruction. (5) Subject
can use object." (Winnicott, 1969)
• When the object is the mother, this is a very trying
time for her. She acts as a 'container' for the child's
aggression and, if maintaining calm, helps the child to
get over the aggression.

23. Winnicott's key ideas are as follows:
• The child will develop a healthy false self,
depending on the quality of early care from
the good-enough mother. Otherwise it will
develop an unhealthy false self.
• Initially, the carer's role is to support the illusion
of a fused, undifferentiated unity.
• The carer then gradually and carefully allows
disillusionment where the child realizes its (and
it's carer's) individuality.
• This separation happens through play and use of
a transition object.

24. 5)John Bowlby Attachment Theory
• British Child Psychiatrist & Psychoanalyst.
• First attachment theorist who described attachment as
a “lasting psychological connectedness b/w humans”.
He gave the famous theory known as “John Bowlby
Attachment Theory”, which is discussed below.
• Believed that the earliest bonds formed by children
with their caregivers have a tremendous impact that
continues throughout life.
• According to him, the attachment tends to keep the
infant close to the mother ultimately improving the
child’s chances of survival.

25. • FOUR PHASES OF ATTACHMENT DEVELOPMENT
• Babies are born with behaviors like crying, babbling and
laughing to gain adult attention & on the other side, adults
are biologically programmed to respond to their signals.
• He viewed the first 3 years as the most sensitive period for
the attachment.
• According to Bowlby, following are the 4 phases of
attachment:
• Pre attachment Phase (Birth – 6 Weeks)
• “Attachment in Making” Phase ( 6 Weeks – 6 to 8 Months)
• “Clear Cut” Attachment Phase ( 6-8 Months to 18 Months-2
Years)
• Formation Of Reciprocal Relationship (18 Months – 2 Years
and on)

26. 1. PRE ATTACHMENT PHASE (BIRTH -6 WEEKS)
• The innate signals attract the caregiver (grasping, gazing, crying, smiling
while looking into the adult’s eyes).
• When the baby responds in a positive manner ,the caregivers remain close
by.
• The infants get encouraged by the adults to remain close as it comforts
them.
• Babies recognize the mother’s fragrance, voice and face.
• They are not yet attached to the mother and don’t mind being left with
unfamiliar adults as they have no fear of strangers.
2. “ATTACHMENT IN MAKING” PHASE (6 Weeks – 6 to 8 Months)
• Infants responds differently to familiar caregivers than to strangers. The
baby would smile more to the mother and babble to her and will become
quiet more quickly, whenever picked by the mother.
• The infant learns that his/her actions affect the behavior of those around.
• They tend to develop a “Sense of Trust” where they expect the response
of caregiver, when signalled.
• They do not protest when they get separated from the caregiver.

27. 3. “CLEAR CUT” ATTACHMENT PHASE (6-8 Months to 18 Months -2 Years)
• The attachment to familiar caregiver becomes evident.
• Babies show “separation anxiety”, and get upset when an adult on whom
they rely, leaves them.
• This anxiety increases b/w 6 -15 months, and its occurrence depends on
the temperament and the context of the infant and the behavior of the
adult.
• The child would show signs of distress, in case the mother leaves, but with
the supportive and sensitive nature of the caretaker, this anxiety could be
reduced.
4. FORMATION OF RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIP (18 Months – 2 Years and on)
• With rapid growth in representation and language by 2 years, the toddler
is able to understand few factors that influence parent’s coming and going,
and can predict their return. Thus leading to a decline in separation
protests.
• The child can negotiate with the caregiver to alter his/her goals via
requests and persuasions.
• Child depends less on the caregiver along with the age.

28. conclusion
• Attachment is a psychological model attempting to
describe the dynamics of long-term and short-
term interpersonal relationships between humans.
"Attachment theory is not formulated as a general
theory of relationships; it addresses only a specific
facet":how human beings respond within relationships
when hurt, separated from loved ones, or perceiving a
threat.
• The most important tenet of attachment theory is an
infant needs to develop a relationship with at least
one primary caregiver for the child's successful social
and emotional development, and in particular for
learning how to regulate their feelings