Class 4
Relational Matrix /
Ego Psychology
Mind Arise From Culture
Brain selected by culture
1. Adaptive value of sharing, empathy, cooperation
2. Language produces meaning, rather than is the "ink"
through which meaning is conveyed.
3. Brain requires cultural context to function.
Freud: Focused too much on individual, neglected "social field"
Relational By Design
Humans genetically wired to be relational
Bowlby--attachment a biological imperative.
a. Need for mom eclipses all other needs
b. Mom only needs to be there.
c. Attachment doesn't come from other needs, it is
itself a primary need.
Attachment evidenced behaviorally: sucking, smiling,
clinging, crying, following.
Evidence that Attachment is Hard-Wired
1. Infants seek out social relations from Day 1
Prefer human face over other forms AT BIRTH
2. Infants show selective preferences for:
* Human voice
* Human form
* Focus first at 8" away, not 1" away. Indicates?
Focuses on face (social) not breast (sustenance)
* Can distinguish scent of mom's milk from other moms'
* Mom's face becomes familiar "gestalt" w/n week.
* Within weeks shows repertoire of social behaviors
Matrix POV Suggests All Mental
Content Comes from Social Field
Freud: People born with certain "meanings" that shape
identity, personality
Neo-Freudians: Social field, culture, provides meanings.
Moana and Tikiti
Up and down arrows
Bomb whistle
Entering and Leaving arrows
Ant emotional signals: http://home.olemiss.edu/~hickling/
Relational by Intent
(Fairbairn)
Humans crave relatedness
Seek social contact at any price.
Abused children, abused spouses loyal to abusers
Please principal (Freud, Skinner) can't explain
Social contact therefore an "Unconditioned Stim"
At core of repressed is not trauma, but a relationship
Prospect of "getting better" (rejecting bad rels) terrifying. Why?
The Therapist as a "good bike"
Relational By Implication
(Winnicott, Kohut)
The self as developmental goal
Sense of self a complex achievement, requires others
Psych problem: Self, world always changes, BUT need
steady orientation point. A "core" self = compass
Core self occurs thru primary relationships with parents
* Reflect self back to infant
* Be idealiaziable
Mother (parent) needs to be "good enough mom"
D.W. Winnicott
1896-1971
Career first as pediatrician. Keen observer.
Paradoxes of development:
Separation necessary for union
Communicate w/o depletion
Be touched w/o being exploited
Be total self w/o being isolated
Development of the Person
Freud assumes personhood. Winnicott does not.
Development of "person", aka of "self" is central developmental goal.
Notes that some people are not persons. What does this mean?
* Too compliant to others; live with "as if" self--adapted to others'
wishes, needs.
* Not connected to others: Unable to extend self to others, isolated.
"Good Enough" Mother
Mother brings the world to infant. What does this mean?
Important tasks of mother:
a. Experience of omnipotence
b. Reflect baby's experience back to baby--serves as a mirror
c. Allows the baby to be alone. Does not intrude.
d. Holding --> "containing" --> integrity. Why?
Failure in these tasks lead to "impingement" by mother --> fragmentation
a. Split btwn true self (based on real needs), and false self (based
on external compliance).
Infant becomes mother's image of him/her, not who he/she truly is.
Transitional Objects
Serve to move infant from "hallucinatory omnipotence" to objective reality.
Parent must be complicit in "magical realism" of objects.
* Doesn't question origin of object.
* Does not question baby's special rights to object.
* Does not push "reality" of object.
Question: Are there "adult" versions of transitional objects?
Mother as Object
Mom's resilience to child's anger, usage:
* "non-retaliatory durability"
* Should provide opportunity for reparation
Why is this important to child?
*
*
*
*
Others "not destroyed" by him
Others have own reality, outside of him
Can learn how and when to experiment, to test
Self lovable (understandable) across different moods, actions.
Object Relations, Emotional Illness,
and Treatment
Health: Spontaneous and integrated self
Psychopathology: Corruption of, constriction of, self.
Psychopathology = "Environmental Deficiency Disease"
Regression = point where environment failed child
Unmet needs dominate current motives, personality
Psychotherapy is NOT based on insights, but instead by addressing unmet
needs. Therapist must become "good enough mother."
Winnicott's radical notion: Neurosis sign of healthy personality!!! Why?
Relevance to Social Psychology
1. Role of "healthy self" and conformity.
2. How do infancy/early childhood relations affect how we behave to others?
How and what we see in others?
3. Relation between Winnicott's "unmet needs" and Zeigarnik effect?
4. How does "relational matrix" relate to loyalty to: clan, nation, fraternity,
football team, etc?