Content deleted Content added
m →Fairbairn's Structural Theory: grammar |
|||
Line 6:
== Theory ==
While object relations theory is based on [[psychodynamics|psychodynamic theory]], object<!-- [[object]] is a disambiguation page. We should link to something more useful. --> relations theory places less emphasis on the role of biological drives in the formation of adult personality.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society, Updated|last=Andersen|first=Margaret|last2=Taylor|first2=Howard|publisher=Thomson Wadsworth|year=2008|isbn=9780495007425|___location=Belmont, CA|pages=93}}</ref> The theory suggests that the way people relate to others and situations in their adult lives is shaped by family experiences during infancy. For example, an adult who experienced neglect or abuse in infancy would expect similar behavior from others who remind them of the neglectful or abusive parent from their past. These images of people and events turn into ''objects'' in the unconscious that the "self" carries into adulthood, and they are used by the unconscious to predict people's behavior in their social relationships and interactions.
The first "object" in someone is usually an internalized image of one's mother. Internal objects are formed by the patterns in one's experience of being taken care of as a baby, which may or may not be accurate representations of the actual, external caretakers. Objects are usually internalized images of one's [[mother]], [[father]], or primary caregiver, although they could also consist of parts of a person such as an infant relating to the [[breast]] or things in one's inner world (one's internalized image of others).<ref>{{cite book |last = St. Clair
| |||