PSY 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: Melanie Klein, Object Relations Theory, Introjection

• School: Tunxis Community College
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 111
• Professor: O'brien

Document Summary

We have seen there are 2 phases in development: 1) internalization (introjection): pulling in the structure of the external environment, to be the structure of the childs own mind. 2) projection: the good and bad objects that are now part of the child"s mind, are projected out onto the external environment. Notice how projection of object-relations is really the basis of transference. Virtually all problems at work, with lovers, with friends, marriages, etc, are due to object-relations. i. e. projecting onto the situation, the family structure of your childhood. We fail to see the other person or situation for what it really is- and the situation quickly becomes a disastrous mess. The problem is that no-one is aware that they are projecting the family structure onto the current situation. That is why it is important to know yourself: i. e. , the internal object-relations in your mind, because you can then catch yourself projecting and you can stop it.