Personality Theories Lecture Notes PDF

Lecture 23 - 28/12 - Schema therapy Schema therapy basics ○ An integrative, unifying theory and treatment ○ Grew out of Beck’s cognitive therapy CBT can sometimes be difficult to actually do - the patients needs to do a lot of work on th...

Lecture 23 - 28/12 - Schema therapy Schema therapy basics ○ An integrative, unifying theory and treatment ○ Grew out of Beck’s cognitive therapy CBT can sometimes be difficult to actually do - the patients needs to do a lot of work on their own ○ Designed to treat long-standing emotional difficulties in individuals and couples and focuses on problems with significant origins in childhood and adolescent development ○ Combines cognitive-behavioral, attachment, object relations, and emotion focused models What is a schema ○ A schema is: An organizing framework which helps create order in a complex set of stimuli or experiences; ○ A broad, pervasive theme or pattern; ○ Comprised of memories, emotions, cognitions, and bodily sensations; ○ Regarding oneself and one’s relationships with others; ○ Developed during childhood or adolescence; (most schemas don’t start at age 25) ○ Elaborated throughout one’s lifetime Universal core needs ○ Universal: we all, fundamentally, have some amount of all of these needs. Present from childhood. ○ Psychological health is the ability to get one’s needs met in an adaptive manner. Not to try to push them away. ○ Needs – especially those for nurturance, warmth, and security – are also central to attachment theory (which is a major influence on Schema Therapy). ○ Other needs include: ○ 1. Connection/safety/trust ○ 2. Autonomy ○ 3. Realistic limits - knowing what’s me and what’s not me, what can i do and what can’t i do, what am i allowed and what’s not allowed - a world with clear limits. ○ 4. Freedom to express needs and feelings - ables to express these ○ 5. Spontaneity and playfulness - ability to play, do what we want, connected to true self by winnicott Early maladaptive schemas ○ Dysfunctional to a significant degree  ○ Maladaptive schemas develop when needs are not met ○ Behavior is a logical consequence of the schema = a way of coping with the way they see the world or what they have learned from the world. When each of the following needs is not met: ○ ○ Disconnection - I do not belong in this world, I will be rejected and abandoned and I do not deserve other people’s love. ○ Imapired autonomy and performance - feeling they cannot do anything in the world, feeling very helpless ○ Impaired limits - narcissistic personalities characterized by schema of impaired limites - i can do anything, people owe me things, there are no limits or borders so I can ask anyone for anything, a sense of entitlement ○ Other Directedness - over concern with what others need at the price of your own needs ○ Over vigilance and inhibition - not allowed to attend to your true needs, a child is not playing, there’s always a plan, they’re very meticulous, you’re not allowed to be spontaneous so they form this type of schema. Domain 1 - disconnection and rejection ○ Need not satisfied: Connection/safety/trust ○ Unable to form secure, satisfying attachments to others. ○ Believe that their needs for stability, safety, nurturance, love, and belonging will not be met. ○ Typical families of origin of the person are unstable, abusive, cold, rejecting, or isolated from the outside world. Domain 2 - impaired autonomy and performance ○ Need not satisfied: Autonomy ○ Expectations about oneself and the environment that interfere with one’s perceived ability to separate, survive, function independently, or perform successfully. ○ Fearing success, having issues individuating. Fearing success, living in their parent’s house at age 40. Troubles individuating from their family. ○ Typical family origin is enmeshed (tangled), undermining of child’s confidence, overprotective, or failing to reinforce the child for performing competently outside the family.  ○ Not able, afraid, helpless in the world. In attachment theory, part of a secure base is the attachment figure letting the child do their thing, and feeling safe to return, here there are issues with this. Domain 3 - impaired limits ○ Need not satisfied: Realistic limits ○ Patients have not developed adequate internal limits in regard to reciprocity or self-discipline. ○ They may have difficulty respecting the rights of others, cooperating, keeping commitments, or meeting long-term goals. Present as selfish, spoiled, irresponsible, or narcissistic, entitlement. ○ Typical family origin is overly permissive and indulgent Domain 4 - Other directedness ○ Excessive emphasis on meeting the needs of others rather than their own needs. ○ They do this in order to gain approval, maintain emotional connection, or avoid retaliation. If I don’t “people please” I will be rejected. ○ Pleasing - When interacting with others, they tend to focus almost exclusively on the responses of the other person rather than on their own needs, and often lack awareness of their own anger and preferences. ○ Typical family origin: based on conditional acceptance. Children must restrain important aspects of themselves in order to obtain love or approval. Children are not free to follow their natural inclinations. Domain 5 - over vigilance and inhibition ○ Patients suppress their spontaneous feelings and impulses, strive to meet rigid, internalized rules about their own performance at the expense of happiness, self-expression, relaxation, close relationships, or good health. A person who works very hard at work, all about the rules and ensuring things are as they should be. OCD, rule-oriented, workaholic ○ Typical family origin: a childhood that was grim, repressed, and strict and in which self-control and self-denial predominated over spontaneity and pleasure. ○ Relates wo winnicott’s idea of play, spontaneous, just be Schema modes - ○ Schema modes - it's a mood - Those schemas, coping responses, or healthy reactions, that are currently active for an individual ○ The predominant state we are in ○ Our current mood state ○ Mode flipping 4 types of modes ○ Child modes - vulnerable child (parts that feel rejected, sad, need that holding) angry child (tantrum behavior, we just lose it) impulsive child (will just do what we want - eat, drive, have sex with strangers). Contented child (happy child, we strive for this)  ○ Maladaptive coping modes - compliant surrenderer (complying to whatever is being done to me because the other option is worse, just do what you need to survive this), detached protector (knight in armor that stands between us and reality, protecting us because it’s too hard to experience those emotions), overcompensator (praising ourselves, feeling high in self esteem as a compensation for something such as being humiliated) ○ Internalized parent modes - punitive parent or critical parents - give punishment for not doing what you need to do is punitive. Critical parents are salient for overachievers, you tell yourself what your critical parents tell you ○ Healthy adult mode - there to help us find what we need. ○ Modes are important for progress - therapists make a map, notice the modes and then reflect it to the patient. Idea of the therapy is to introspect ○ How to cope with each mode in therapy - therapists’ goal ○ Therapist’s goal - hold, calm them down, mirroring, being there for them. When the person is in a child mode. ○ However, when they are in a maladaptive mode, they try to find helpful and adaptive modes and make the maladaptive ones unnecessary. ○ Internalize modes - battle the modes, be confrontational towards these parts ○ Healthy adult mode - empower, strengthen this. Vulnerable child mode - ○ Triggers: real or perceived (or anticipated) abandonment ○ Emotions: Sadness, grief, despair ○ Cognitions: “Everyone whom I care about leaves me.” ○ Behaviors: Crying, sobbing, becoming depressed, withdrawn ○ Intentions: Surrender to painful feelings - just there with the pain Detached protector ○ Triggers: extreme emotion, pain. ○ Emotions: numb, feeling nothing. ○ Cognitions: “There’s nothing I can do anyway, so what good is it to feel it?” Not deliberate or explicit, but they just detach…”why go into all that pain” Short answers, the person disappeared (poof, gone) ○ Behaviors: aimed at distracting from or avoiding emotion: self-isolation, emotional eating, excessive drinking or drug use, avoidance. Anyhting not to feel emotions, and this can be very destructive. ○ Intentions: protects the patient by cutting off feelings. ○ A goal of schema therapy is to bypass the Detached Protector so that the therapist may make contact with the Vulnerable Child mode. Punitive parent mode ○ Triggers: real or perceived (or anticipated) failure or humiliation. ○ Emotions: self-loathing, guilt, shame ○ Cognitions: “You are worthless.” “You are always screwing up.” ○ Behaviors: Critical/punishing internalized parent voice. Patients believe that the voice is bettering us, trying to improve us. “If i push more, she will do more” ○ Intentions: Self-punishment  Assessing modes ○ Observe different modes in the sessions and discuss events outside sessions and explain modes to the clients, tailoring the names (relating more to who they see) and getting feedback from him or her Exploring modes - ○ Explore the origins and functions of each mode - important to understand why it's there ○ Dialogue with the mode to explore it in depth ○ Access the vulnerable child mode through imagery to bypass coping modes. Lecture 22 - 26/12 - Constructs Anxiety and threat in construct theory ○ Anxiety is the recognition that the events with which one is confronted lie outside the range of convenience of one’s construct system. When we feel that our constructs are not sufficient to deal with experiences, incompatibility with what we see in the world. ○ Threat is the awareness of imminent comprehensive change in one’s core structure. When we feel that we will learn or have just learned something so new that it will shatter how we are so used to viewing the world. Does not necessarily have to be a negative new thing that we learn. Individuals experience threat when they realize that their construct system is about to be drastically affected by what has been discovered. They have to thus ignore some knowledge and experience. Defense mechanisms - must thus sometimes be used to block knowledge that is inconsistent with our construct ○ Threat occurs as we stand on the brink of a profound change in ourselves. ○ In the face of anxiety and threat, individuals may rigidly adhere to a constricted system instead of venturing out into the risky realm of expansion of their construct systems. It is opposed to our ability of controllability and predictability of the world Person as a scientist: ○ The person-as-scientist metaphor: scientists and laypersons are engaged in the same task. They both use constructs to predict events. ○ Like scientists, people: Develop theories (“Maybe I’m the sort of person who needs to study with friends when preparing for an exam”) Test hypotheses (“This time I’ll try a different strategy of asking for a date and see what happens”) Weigh evidence (“Last time I tried to relieve my depression by eating a lot of desserts, but that didn’t work”) ○ Several implications of this idea: Much of human thinking is directed toward future events.  The individual can develop alternative theoretical formulations, can try on different constructs, and in so doing can devise new strategies for dealing with the challenges and conflicts of life. The issue of free will: “This personal construct system provides [humankind] with both freedom of decision and limitations of action— freedom, because it permits humans to deal with the meaning of events rather than forces humans to be helplessly pushed about by them, and limitation, because he can never make choices outside the world of alternatives he has erected for himself”. Freedom - not that we push a button and get an output, but you have a your own constructs but still, we can never make decisions beyond the alternatives Good/bad scientists ○ Acting as a “bad scientist”: Sometimes we are made so anxious by the unknowns and so threatened by the unfamiliar that we seek to hold on to absolute truths and become dogmatic - adhere to certain theories regardless of data. A theory can be “everyone will hurt me” and we hold onto it even if data shows otherwise ○ Acting as a “good scientist”: when we are able to adopt the invitational mood and to expose our construct systems to the diversity of events that make up life. Experience life, not push away what is incongruent with our construct system, and modify it if needed Psychopathology: ○ Psychopathology, according to Kelly: disordered functioning of a construct system. ○ Retaining the construct system, unchanged, when it repeatedly yields incorrect predictions. ○ Fundamental to Kelly’s view of psychopathology are people’s efforts to avoid anxiety (the experience that one’s construct system is not applicable to events) and to avoid threat (the awareness of imminent comprehensive change in the construct system). ○ To protect against anxiety and threat, an individual employs protective devices (defense mechanisms). Clinical application - CBT ○ Main assumptions of cognitive therapy: Cognitions play an important role in determining emotions and behavior Psychopathology stems from erroneous/distorted/maladaptive cognitions ○ Those lead to difficult emotions or maladaptive behavior, which leads to more problematic cognitions (self-fulfilling prophecy)  For example: the belief “If I express my needs, others will reject me”, or “If I failed, I must be incompetent”. This thought, this cognition, elicits a very strong emotion and behavior. So our thoughts determine our emotions and therefore our behavior Cognitive therapy encourages people to reflect on their own thinking, to detect common distortions and biases, and to offer alternatives. Schemas in cognitive theories ○ In cognitive theory and therapy, a schema is a pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them. ○ Schemas function as shortcuts, bringing us quickly towards what we think is likely to be true, and saving us the need to carefully process every detail we encounter. ○ In some cases, schemas or shortcuts are quite efficient in helping us reach a fairly accurate grasp of the situation. But in others, they paint quick-and-dirty pictures for us that are inaccurate and distorted. ○ In either case, they help us maintain a stable view of ourselves and our world - whether that stable view is accurate or inaccurate, adaptive or maladaptive. We want our world to be consistent and stable, and schemas help us do this - achieve a stable, predictable and consistent world. ○ Schemas are the root of automatic thoughts. Cognitive therapy ○ Challenging people’s beliefs about the world: Socratic questioning (ask for evidence for and against this thought; examining evidence, etc. for example, partner said she doesn’t like my shirt, evidence for that thought would be that she will leave you and she didn’t leave you - so what does that mean?) A research methods approach, or through a scientific lens in which you try to look at the evidence objectively. Identifying automatic thoughts: So quick and automatic that we don’t even notice them. A way to do this is to elicit those automatic thoughts in therapy, through exposure, imagery, facial expressions, implicit associations, have the patient play out all the possible outcomes etc Once you notice automatic thoughts, you can suggest alternative cognitions, maybe another explanation, maybe other voices - not only criticizing part “maybe you failed this exam but there will be more” any other alternative cognitions. This must come from the patient him/herself Aaron Beck - Cognitive triad ○ Beck developed a cognitive model of depression, and a treatment method guided by this model. ○ According to his model (the cognitive triad): depression is characterized by negative views about the self, the world and the future. In addition, people with depression have faulty information processing, including - magnification, overgeneralization, etc.  ○ The therapeutic task is to cause fundamental cognitive change, raise awareness to possible triggers of depression, and enhance coping with stress. ○ Cognitive distortions - ○ These are biased perspectives we take on ourselves and the world around us. They are irrational thoughts and beliefs that we unknowingly reinforce over time. ○ Examples include: All-or-nothing thinking: thinking in extremes. (“I am either a success or a failure”). Dichotomous thinking - either get above 95 and that’s a success, or get below and that’s a failure Mind Reading: Guessing (and thinking we know) what someone else is thinking, when they may not be thinking that. Fortune telling: predicting a negative outcome without realistically considering the actual odds of that outcome. Predicting a presentation will go terribly wrong. Overgeneralization: drawing a faulty conclusion about something based on just one example. To cross out someone based on one action. Someone got one bad grade and now that means they are incapable and will not succeed/pass all exams in the future Magnification and minimization: Making a mountain out of a molehill or ignoring the impact of events that contradict your beliefs. Minimizing your success on an exam and magnifying a bad grade on another. Things get scaled differently based on their constructs  Personalization: taking something personally that may not be personal. Seeing events as consequences of your actions when there are other possibilities. Not getting a response to a text and thinking something catastrophic (closer to the next cognitive distortion) happened to that person and that the person hates them. Or, teacher didn’t pick on me to answer the question even though I raised my hand - its because she hates me. Catastrophizing: Giving greater weight to the worst possible outcome, however unlikely. Lecture 21 - 20/12 - Behaviorism B.F. Skinner - ○ A quantitative analysis of the impact of individual psychologists ranked Skinner as the singularly most eminent psychologist of the 20th century ○ For Skinner, behaviorism was an all-encompassing philosophy that promised a comprehensive account of human behavior. Skinner Biography ○ Born in Pennsylvania, the son of a lawyer who was described by his son as having been desperately hungry for praise and a mother who had rigid standards of right and wrong. Described his home during his early years as a warm and stable environment. Loved school, and showed an early interest in building things. Aspiring writer - after college, Skinner spent a year trying to write but concluded that at that point in his life he had nothing to say. Spent six months living in Greenwich Village in New York City, and during this time read Pavlov’s Conditioned Reflexes and read about Watson’s behaviorism. Skinner’s theory of personality ○ Personality is shaped by environmental factors – reinforcers and punishments. ○ Skinner had a very simplistic view: “All we need to know in order to describe and explain behavior is this: actions followed by good outcomes are likely to recur, and actions followed by bad outcomes are less likely to recur.” ○ He wrote a novel in which he describes a utopia based on the control of human behavior through positive reinforcement (reward) rather than punishment. ○ Skinner: “the idea of behaviorism is to eliminate coercion, to apply controls by changing the environment in such a way as to reinforce the kind of behavior that benefits everyone”. Didn’t believe in punishments, but rather in reinforcements to direct behavior Operant conditioning: ○ Operant condition: control of behavior through manipulation of reinforcers and punishments in the environment. ○ Reinforcer: something that follows a response and increases the probability of the response occurring again in the future.  Baby crying spontaneously-> parent picks her up-> baby cries more frequently in the future. So this logic doesn’t hold for a lot of situations ○ The avoidance of unpleasant events is also reinforcing: feeling anxious about a social event -> staying at home reduces anxiety (reinforcement)-> avoidance behavior is encouraged. Sometimes a reinforcer isn’t getting something good, but the removal or avoidance of something unpleasant. ○ Punishment: an aversive stimulus follows a response, decreasing the probability of that response occurring again. Skinnerians generally are against the use of punishment, whose effects tend to be temporary and whose administration may lead people to rebel against their use. If a child hits a friend, don’t punish them, teach them something else and reward their good behavior Token economy - A clinical application of operant conditioning ○ An environment in which individuals are rewarded with tokens for desirable behaviors and after a certain amount of desirable behavior rewards, a large prize or gift or other reward is given. Child development ○ To Skinner, as children develop, they learn more and more responses as a result of naturally occurring reinforcement experiences. Child is a blank slate, and a response is followed by a certain reinforcement that either increases or decreases the response likelihood. This is done over and over again and the sum of all that is our personality ○ The process is no different than the case of a rat which learns more and more responses. ○ If one wants the child to behave in a certain way, the most effective procedure, according to Skinner, is not to lecture the child about proper forms of behavior or to punish the child (words are not an important aspect), but to reinforce good behavior immediately after it occurs. Psychopathology according to behaviorism ○ According to the behavioral point of view, behavioral pathology is not a disease. Instead, it is a response pattern learned according to the same principles of behavior as are all response patterns. ○ The patient either failed to learn an adaptive response, or learned a maladaptive one. ○ Depression: a lessening of behavior, because positive reinforcement has been withdrawn ○ Clinical application - Behavioral activation treatment for depression - if you used to love the beach but not hate (anhedonia) it because you’re depressed, still do it. It allows more opportunities for reinforcement, even for one small moment. Activate behavior in a deliberate way, nothing that comes from intrinsic motivation because intrinsic motivation isn’t there anymore. Limitations of behaviorism  ○ Most research databases – from animal studies (pigeons, rats) and ability to generalize from animal studies is in some ways high, but in others is very narrow. Lacks complexity and accessibility of feelings, higher cognitive abilities. ○ Behaviorism overlooked an important issue: the question of how people assign subjective meaning to environmental events. The cognitive revolution: how do we know if this is a reinforcer for someone or a punishment. Sometimes negative attention can be a reinforcer for a child. There is subjectivity to what is a reinforcer and what is a punisher. Cognitive approaches to personality George Kelly ○ Kelly’s theory stemmed from clinical work. His early clinical experience was in the public schools of Kansas. ○ For example, if a teacher complained that a student was lazy, Kelly tried to understand not only the child’s behaviors but also the way the teacher perceived these behaviors. Ask the teacher “why do you think he is lazy”. ○ This led Kelly to the view that there is no objective, absolute truth— phenomena are meaningful only in relation to the ways in which they are construed or interpreted by the individual. Exactly brings us back to if a stimuli is a reinforcer or a punishment for each individual While Freud emphasized animalistic forces in the unconscious, Kelly highlights the uniquely human capacity to reflect on oneself, the world, and the future. Kelly, like Rogers, focused on the whole person, but unlike Rogers, kelly explored in much greater detail the cognitive processes through which individuals construct meaning. Construct theory ○ Constructs: ideas or categories that people use to construe or interpret their world. A lens to construe the world ○ A construct (like a dimension) has two extreme points, such as “happy-sad”, or “selfish-selfless”. ○ Without constructs, life would be chaotic; we wouldn’t be able to organize our world, to describe and classify events, objects, and people. ○ According to Kelly, an individual’s personality can be understood in terms of the collection of personal constructs that he or she uses to interpret the world. For example - the construct can be “is this person exploiting me, or trustworthy?” ○ This is a cognitive theory: places the analysis of human thinking processes (cognitive processes) at the center of the analysis of personality. ○ Individuals do not seek reinforcement or the avoidance of pain (as posited by Freud); instead, they seek validation and expansion of their construct systems. So this is very different from Freud - according to pleasure principle, people look for reinforcement or for avoidance of pain but according to Kelly they are looking for more evidence for the way they construe the world or expansion of the construct.  Similarity to freud seen in next lecture** ○ If a person expects something unpleasant and that event occurs, he or she experiences validation regardless of the fact that it was a negative, unpleasant event. Indeed, a painful event may even be preferred to a neutral or pleasant event if it confirms the predictive system. Example: if I believe I will fail an exam, then failing it would be a preferred event because it confirms my construct of the world. Lecture 20 - 19/12 - Behaviorism According to behaviorism, people gradually acquire their personality styles as a result of their experiences with the environment - what is it in my environment that produces this kind of reaction? Behaviorism doesn’t look at what's going on inside. Just at output and input. A systematic, analytical view of behavior. Theories of learning specify the processes through which people are shaped by environmental experiences: ○ 1. Pavlov’s classical conditioning ○ 2. Skinner’s operant conditioning During the middle of the 20th century, behaviorism was the predominant school of thought in scientific psychology. ○ Behaviorism gave rise to important therapeutic methods. ○ When seeking to build a science of personality, the behaviorist assumes that people can be viewed as collections of machine-like mechanisms. Only studies what can be seen ○ The behaviorist explores how these mechanisms learn, that is, how they change in reaction to environmental input. Like a computer - enter a code and get a result on the other side ○ Determinism: the belief that an event is caused by, or determined by, some prior event. People’s behavior is caused in a lawful scientific manner. For radical behaviorists, this means that if we manage to know all the scientific rules that determine people’s behavior we will be able to fully and accurately predict their behavior. These laws such as operant and conditional behavior that govern behavior. Behaviorism research ○ In designing research, behaviorists emphasize that one must study things that are observable. The researcher must be able to see the environmental and behavioral variables. See it to believe it (and measure it) so emotions can’t be studied. Behaviorism vs other theories ○ What is being studied? ○ Behaviorism is about what’s in the environment (factors that causally determine people’s behavior)  ○ The other theories we learned are concerned with what's “in the head of” the person (psychodynamic structures, traits, etc. or anything else thats within us - temperament, past relationships, genes). ○ How is it studied? According to behaviorism, understanding of people should be built entirely on controlled laboratory research (on people or animals). Other theories: studying people (which included a lot of introspection, emotions, case studies. So other theories studied individuals and not so much on lab research) Even other theories that are scientific like trait theories say there is something “inside” a person and it has a (sometimes) scientific basis. Introversion or conscientious is “inside” the person, and the focus of it’s cause is an internal mechanism. So these other theories are still concerned about what’s going on in the head of the person while behaviorism looks only at environment. Behaviorism basic assumption ○ Environmental forces determine the trajectories of our lives (the rock in the air metaphor) The rock doesn’t fall because it decided to fall; but because gravity caused it to fall. Similarly, people do not act as they do because they decided to act that way but because environmental forces cause them to do so (radical behaviorist view) ○ Therefore, behavior is more determined by situations than suggested by other personality theories (e.g., trait, psychoanalytic) ○ The most radical feature of the behaviorist worldview: it does not explain a person’s actions in terms of thoughts and feelings. “We do not need to try to discover what personalities, states of mind, feelings, traits of character, plans, purposes, [or] intentions really are in order to get on with a scientific analysis of behavior. “ (Skinner, 1971) John B Watson ○ Founder of behaviorism. Studied philosophy in the University of Chicago, then switched to psychology. During the year before he received his doctorate, Watson had an emotional breakdown and had sleepless nights for many weeks. This period caused him to become interested in Freud’s work. ○ He suggested a view of psychology that emphasized the study of observable behavior and rejected the use of introspection (was huge back then, by Freud for instance) as a method of research. ○ Watson’s arguments were received enthusiastically by American psychologists. He was elected president of the American Psychological Association for 1915. He expanded the theoretical base of his work by drawing on the findings of Pavlov: Pavlov - A Russian physiologist who studied the digestive process. ○ Noticed that stimuli that previously did not elicit salivation in dogs (= neutral stimuli) could now elicit the salivation response because of their association with the food.  ○ He was awarded the Nobel Prize Classical conditioning components ○ Classical conditioning: a stimulus that initially is neutral eventually elicits a strong response. ○ The neutral stimulus elicits the response because it becomes associated with some other stimulus that does produce a response. Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): food. Wasn’t conditioned, would produce the response even with the conditioning. Unconditioned response (UCR): drool in response to food (automatic) ○ [“Unconditioned” means that the connection between stimulus and response occurs without any learning, or conditioning.] Conditioned stimulus (CS): sound of bell Conditioned response (CR): drool in response to sound of bell Classical conditioning ○ Generalization: Pavlov found that the response that had become conditioned to a previously, neutral stimulus would also become associated with similar stimuli. ○ Extinction: if the originally neutral stimulus (but now the CS) is presented repeatedly without being followed at least occasionally by the unconditioned stimulus, there is an undoing or progressive weakening of the conditioning or association. Little albert: ○ In 1920, Watson published one of the most famous, and infamous, studies in the history of psychology. Inducing fear responses to neutral stimuli (rabbit) in an 11- months old baby by playing a gong when the rabbit was presented ○ Later, Albert feared other furry objects Clinical application - systematic desensitization: the application of extinction. Used in CBT ○ Persistent reactions of anxiety as a learned response that could be unlearned. ○ Once the person learns, through new classical conditioning experiences, to experience relaxation in response to the previously feared stimulus, his or her fear should be eliminated. ○ Construction of a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking stimuli or situations (real or imagined) such as VR, viewing photos, videos, sit in her car without driving it etc. These are moderate anxiety provoking stimuli, then you would continue to build to ○ Despite the lack of any knowledge concerning the origins of fears, the unconditioning procedure was found to work successfully and to generalize to other stimuli as well. Lecture 19 - 14/12 - Humanistic psychology Self Actualization  ○ A powerful force, a forward-looking tendency toward personality growth. A human being wants to grow! ○ “The organism has one basic tendency and striving—to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism”. Our only basic tendency to thrive ○ This is the process by which people tend to grow from simple to complex, from dependence to independence, from rigidity to change and freedom of expression. Same idea as the seed, plant it in the correct conditions and it will grow. It is instinctual, automatic, and innate ○ Organismic wisdom = the internal innate knowledge that directs the actualizing tendency. There’s an innate knowledge, a baby knows if she needs food or not right now and we sometimes ruin these processes in ourselves and other people throughout our life and then we lose touch with this organismic wisdom (the source of actualizing) “The organisms valuing process in individuals enables them to make value judgments and choices based on their sensory and visceral experiences.” A baby knows when to eat, when it's full, and it will move towards the breast, when we grow up we lose this sense of organismic wisdom which is the source of actualizing. Need for positive regard ○ All people share a basic need for positive regard: to be accepted and respected by others. This is not a higher order desire that we aspire to later on in life, it's basic. ○ During infancy this need is particularly important - the infant needs the parents’ love, affection, and protection. ○ This need is so deep that people can neglect their own true feelings and values to get positive regard from others. Unconditional positive regard: ○ Parents show the child that they respect and prize the child no matter what. ○ This results in greater congruence between the experience and the self- identity since the environment affirms and supports all aspects of the self experience. This gap that we see in lack of authenticity is not present as much here. Conditional positive regard: ○ Parents respect and love the child only if the child adheres to some forms of behavior. ○ As a result, parts of the experience that are not accepted by the parents will be excluded from the self in order not to lose the parental love. ○ Self-identity will only include experiences that parents approve of. Unconditional vs conditional positive regard: ○ If the child receives unconditional positive regard, then there is no need to deny experiences. You can feel different parts of yourself and they will all be accepted by the caregiver, feel both angry and happy, frustrated and loving.  ○ However, if children experience conditions of worth, then they need to balance their own natural tendencies with their need for positive regard from the parents. The child then may cope by denying an aspect of his or her own experience - essentially denying, or distorting, a feature of his or her true self. Acting out of incongruence (maybe even ignoring organismic wisdom), you lose a part of yourself by trying to eliminate the actions that don’t correspond to the expectations by the caregiver. ○ The major developmental concern is whether the child is free to grow, to be self-actualizing, or whether conditions of worth cause the child to become defensive and operate out of a state of incongruence. Anxiety: Incongruence between the experience and self-identity creates anxiety: this is the alarm that signals that there is a conflict between the personal experience and need for positive regard. ○ Defense mechanisms suppress this anxiety and affirm the positive regard of others. Can be rationalization (I’m not really attracted to this man, I’m not gay I’m only…), repression, denial. So this can be a sort of similarity between Freud and rogers. Example - if a person thinks they are kind, loving and polite but then screams at his spouse, he can completely forget (repress) it. Or explain it “this was just because I had this deadline” its not a part of me, its because of her… ○ The self is protected but gets further away from the phenomenological self and its self-actualizing tendency. By using the defense mechanism we protect ourselves, we will still get the love from others (not show them our difficult side), we will still feel congruence (still feel like ourselves) but we actually enhance the gap between ourselves and our true feelings and experience = hinders ability to self actualize ○ Neurotic personality - a personality that is closed to experience (closed to whatever you’re feeling because you have no connection to visceral sensation) can be also by feeling sad, depressed, not having any energy. Neurotic personality is incongruent, inauthentic and lacks a sense of direction. Psychopathology ○ Pathology, according to Rogers: ○ When a person denies awareness of significant sensory and emotional experiences. ○ Experiences that are incongruent with the self-structure are denied or distorted. Some defense mechanisms try to suppress authentic experiences. ○ By distorting his/her experiences, the person loses an accurate sense of the true self. Psychological health ○ Psychological health, according to Rogers:  Individuals who can assimilate experiences into their self-structure. Update your self view to include what you are feeling at a certain moment. Sometimes I'm strong, sometimes weak, but I assimilate all of them. ○ They are open to experiencing rather than interpreting events in a defensive manner. ○ They therefore experience a congruence between their self-identity and experience. Accept yourself when you are happy, sad, aggressive, smart, stupid - almost like having unconditional positive regard for yourself. Therapy and change ○ Rogers outlined therapeutic conditions necessary for change: ○ 1. Congruence (or “genuineness”): the therapist is interpersonally open and transparent. Very different from Freud - blank slate, sitting behind the patient, not showing emotion, receiving associations and trying to reach interpretations ○ 2. Unconditional positive regard: the therapist communicates a deep and genuine caring for the client as a person. This enables clients to explore their inner self with confidence. If the patient did not receive unconditional positive regard outside of therapy, maybe in therapy they now can and now they can explore themselves. ○ 3. Empathic understanding: the therapist’s ability to perceive the client’s experiences as they are experienced by the client. Trying to be in the other person’s shoes - similar to kohut’s idea of empathy as a way to know another. Client-centered therapy ○ Goal of therapy: revive the individual’s trust in their experience, organismic wisdom, and empower the actualization tendency. Eg. a person searching for meaning of life, connection with others and relationship. ○ Process: unconditional positive regard on the part of the therapist toward the client. Not only make them feel good and sugar coat everything for the client, but rather be able via a proxy, to include more and more parts of myself. Empathic stance that allows the patient to inquire about her personal experiences that were denied/unconscious and integrate them into the real self. Evaluating therapeutic change ○ Rogers was a key figure in the process of opening the field of psychotherapy for systematic investigation. ○ Rogers’s main goal was to evaluate therapy through methods that were objective. ○ He allowed himself and his colleagues to be filmed, while engaging in therapy. He used objective measures of self-concept, so that therapy outcomes could be evaluated objectively. ○ Such steps were not often taken by psychoanalysts in those times. ○ Results: higher self-congruency post treatment. Lecture 18 - 12/12 - Attachment continued and Rogers Anxious attachment style Working model: induces attachment system hyperactivation. Behavior in the Strange Situation: ○ Extremely distressed during separation ○ Exhibit conflicted or ambivalent responses (can hug but also hit the mother) toward their mother during reunions. They also need her but also may feel lots of anger towards her for leaving them. ○ In home observations: mothers behavior lacks consistent responsiveness (just like in the hyperactivation of the attachment system). Disorganized attachment style: Fright without solution ○ Breakdown of organized attachment strategies - no clear pattern ○ They either oscillate between strategies (hyperactivating or deactivating) or display bizarre behaviors ○ Attachment figures show disorganized and unpredictable behaviors When their child approaches them for comfort and reassurance, they sometimes look frightened, look away, or “space out” in a dissociative way In this attachment style, mothers are often a source of distress and trauma but the child also relies on and needs them. They can neither employ secure or ambivalent attachment styles (“approaching” styles) because the mother is disorganized and unpredictable and they also can’t flee (avoidant). Romantic attachment - two dimensions ○ 1) Anxiety: a strong desire for closeness and protection, intense worries about partner availability and one’s own value to the partner, and use of hyperactivating strategies to deal with insecurity and distress. ○ 2) Avoidance: discomfort with closeness and discomfort with depending on relationship partners, preference for emotional distance and self-reliance, and using deactivating strategies to deal with insecurity and distress.  ○ ○ Low anxiety + low avoidance has a secure base - not very anxious. don't worry too much about a partner not being there for them and remainin in the relationship and also show low avoidance, not fearful of being close to their partner. ○ High avoidance and low anxiety - dismissive avoidant - Lone wolf, doesn’t really need other people. Highly avoidant, without being really scared of losing the other person. Partner can call, not call, doesn't matter “don’t need them anyways” ○ ? Do not wish to get too close, avoid others but also not worried about someone leaving them. Not very engaged, keep the relationship casual, sexual to not expose herself to the relationship vulnerability. Not meet too frequently, date a few people at the same time - keep a certain distance from her partner ○ Fearful avoidant - highly anxious with high avoidance - the need to have someone close is salient, anxious that the other person will leave, but they are also avoidant, when they get intimate they pull away, because it is too scary to be dependent on the other (this is scary, they want to avoid that). A very ambivalent pattern. So it's an ambivalent pattern, hot and cold, break up and get back together a lot. ○ Highly anxious with low avoidance - preoccupied - Not avoidant so they don’t fear showing closeness or displaying need for another person and are very worried about the other person leaving so they are preoccupied with the other leaving, so they become needy and clingy in an attempt to make the other person stay. Attachment through the life cycle: ○ The attachment system is active throughout the life cycle  ○ Bowlby therefore argued against the idea that dependence on others is immature or pathological Similar to how winnicott saw independence (only “towards independence”), Kohut also said the selfobject is always needed throughout the life. ○ Mature autonomy is attained partly by internalizing positive interactions with attachment figures. ○ If we are autonomous as adults, it doesn't mean we don’t need our attachment figures, it means that they are internalized - use symbolic presence of figures to receive attachment Bowlby vs Predecessors ○ Attachment theory viewed the need for relating and closeness as primary Whereas Freud viewed this as secondary to feeding by the caregiver. Freud saw need for closeness as a byproduct of our primary needs for sex, food. Attachment theory stressed the importance of the real early experiences between the infant and the primary caregivers. Whereas Freud, Klein focused on internal representations of reality (fantasies) Freud didn’t say a lot about the mother, and klein spoke about the internalized mother (the object) Humanistic psychology What is humanistic psychology: The humanistic movement in psychology emphasizes people’s inherent potential for growth. ○ Views human nature as inherently positive. ○ People have an innate potential for growth and healthy self-fulfillment, creativity. ○ Opposes both the psychoanalytic view of human nature (as deterministic, pessimistic) and behaviorism (i.e., robotic). Rogers: Born in Chicago, raised in a strict and uncompromising religious and ethical atmosphere. ○ Age 12 - family left Chicago, to settle in a farm. Rogers helped raise cattle, worked hard on the farm and at school. ○ BA in agriculture, then decided to enter the ministry. Having doubts about the religious doctrine, left to study clinical psychology at Columbia University. Rogers spent much time working with children: ○ Worked in the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children ○ Director of a guidance center that oversaw social agencies that served children in the local community ○ Trained in psychoanalysis, but noticed limited improvement in his clients and thus developed person-centered therapy. In his book “On becoming a person”: tries to understand the other person and the theme of a person struggling and trying to be himself but afraid to be himself at the same time can be about not knowing who we really are and thus being afraid of that. Main focus: the nature of the self  ○ The tension between being yourself versus wanting to be liked by other people. ○ Emphasis on experience ○ Basic assumption: Human nature is good and aimed at growth. ○ Rogers response to horrible human crimes and behavior: Doesn’t have a naive view, and says that out of defensiveness and inner fear we behave in cruel ways. Working with antisocial personalities and finding that they want to thrive and live and grow convinced him even more about human growth. Phenomenological approach: ○ A phenomenological approach is interested in how a person experiences the world. Trying to be in the person’s shoes in order to grasp the person and how they view reality and understand it. ○ The phenomenological field: all the subjective experiences at any given moment. Both perceptual, what you are repressing, what you are thinking, feeling, all of it. If I was able to go inside your mind, and grasp everything you’re seeing, feeling, smelling, that would be the whole phenomenological field, this is of course never known in full. ○ “It can never be known to another except through empathic inference and then can never be perfectly known”. The way to know others' experience is through empathy but it can never be fully known. ○ Thus, the individual operates according to their subjective experiences and not according to external stimuli (objective reality) - opposite behaviorism’s approach. ○ Inner psychological needs shape the subjective experiences that we interpret as objectively real. For roger’s there is no “objective reality” for everyone. The self: Sometimes people experience a discrepancy between their self-identity and their experience. Kind of like cognitive dissonance ○ Examples? Man seeing himself macho but then feeling feminine, softy or weak ○ Such incongruence will cause anxiety, and discomfort, and the person will attempt to defend the self using defense mechanisms. ○ How can we deal? Rationalize, or add a “moderator” update how you view yourself and the view will be expanded to include many variations and situations. ○ Defense mechanisms in Freud’s vs. Rogers’ view: In Freud’s view: defense processes are used against recognition of id impulses. In Roger’s view: defense mechanisms defend against a loss of a consistent, integrated sense of self (defend against incongruence). Against parts that cause inconsistency instead of understanding that they are a part of me (integrating). E.g. Macho man - feminine qualities are not coherent with how this person views himself so he will try to defend from this discrepancy. Lack of authenticity  ○ It is a feeling of alienation or detachment— the feeling that one’s experiences and daily activities do not stem from one’s true, authentic self. Going through the motion without feeling any real connection or realness in what you’re doing ○ Since we need the approval of others, we tell ourselves that their desires and values are our own. ○ When this happens, the individual thinks there is but does not feel an attachment to his or her own values. ○ “Primary sensory and visceral reactions are ignored” and “the individual begins on a pathway that he later describes as ‘I really don’t know myself’” This is the root of losing a sense of an authentic self, feeling yourself as a person, having a continuity of the self. If you crave food, you will ignore this craving. ○ Instinctive visceral reactions are a potential source of wisdom. Individuals who openly experience the full range of their emotions, who are “accepting and assimilating [of] all the sensory evidence experienced by the organism” are psychologically well adjusted. Lecture 17 - 07/12 - Attachment theory Bowlby and Ainsworth created attachment theory ○ Bowlby: ○ Born 1907 in England ○ Volunteered in a school for maladjusted children ○ Studied medicine ○ Undertook psychoanalytic training with Melanie Klein, analyzed by Joan Riviere (close associate of Klein) ○ Despite their influence, did not accept their exclusive emphasis on internal fantasies (as opposed to reality) and sexual drives (as opposed to other relational needs) Professional development ○ Focused on the effects of maternal deprivation ○ Author of a report to the World Health Organization on homeless children after World War II ○ Was involved in producing films depicting stories of children forcefully separated from their parents, because of the child’s medical hospitalization or the mother’s hospitalization ○ Helped to change visitation policies in British hospitals as well as hospitals in other parts of the world Bowlby’s theory ○ Aimed to explain the child’s tie to his/her mother ○ Influenced by Lorenz’s concept of “imprinting”  ○ Influenced by Harlow’s findings – newborns preferred the soft mother, not the feeding mother (made of wire) ○ Bowlby viewed the human infant’s emotional bond with the mother to be the result of an instinctual behavioral system that, unlike Freud’s sexual libido concept, was viewed as relational without being sexual. Freud viewed relationships as a result of our drives and libido, bowlby viewed it as a primal need in itself. Mary ainsworth ○ 1913 - Born in Ohio ○ Examined the connection between the mother’s behavior and sensitivity with the child’s attachment type ○ Observed mothers and infants in US, UK and Uganda ○ Invented the “Strange Situation” paradigm: a laboratory procedure that examines infants’ responses to separation and reunion with mother, and to the presence of a stranger. Behavioral systems: ○ Bowlby rejected classical psychoanalytic theory’s concepts of drives and psychic energy ○ Borrowed from ethology and evolutionary science the concept of behavioral systems: a biologically evolved neural program that organizes behavior in ways that increase the chances of an individual’s survival and reproduction ○ Different behavioral systems: attachment, caregiving, exploration, affiliation, sex. Behavioral systems: ○ Each behavioral system has several components: a specific biological function (increasing the likelihood of survival or reproduction success) a set of activating triggers a set of behaviors that are the strategy for attaining a particular goal a specific set-goal: that terminates the system’s activation the cognitive processes involved in activating and guiding the system’s functions specific neural links with other behavioral systems. Attachment system function: ○ Its function: to protect a person from danger by maintaining proximity to caring and supportive others. ○ Developed in light of the prolonged helplessness of human infants, and their dependence on caregivers ○ Infants who maintained proximity to caregivers were more likely to survive and eventually reproduce, causing genes that fostered proximity seeking and other attachment behaviors to survive. ○ These genes are associated with expression of oxytocin, cortisol etc. What triggers the attachment system. The “what” ○ Activated by environmental threats that endanger a person’s survival:  Loud noises Predators or strangers Absence of caregiver ○ When no threat is present, it is often advantageous to devote time to other activities, such as exploration, play, or mating that you couldn’t do when activating attachment system. Attachment system - strategy. The “how” ○ Primary strategy: proximity seeking ○ Other strategies (meant to evoke proximity from their caregivers): Signaling caregivers (crying, reaching out to be picked up) Overt displays of negative emotion (e.g., anger, anxiety, sadness); Explicit requests for emotional or instrumental support ○ In adulthood: Actual proximity can sometimes be substituted with mental representations (pictures, things that remind us of our attachment figure) of partners who regularly provide care and protection. Self-soothing and soothing by actual others become alternative means of regulating distress Goals of attachment system. The “why” ○ The goal of the system is to establish a sense of protection or security, which normally terminates the system’s activation. ○ The attempts to attain proximity persist until protection and security are attained. Until we feel secure. ○ “Felt security” – a subjective, psychological state of feeling safe, which can allow the deactivation of the attachment system. When this is achieved the individual can calmly and coherently return to nonattachment activities. ○ “Secure base” script: when one is suffering or worried, it is useful to seek comfort from others; when suffering is alleviated, it is possible to engage in other activities and entertain other priorities. ○ A script in our mind about how we see the world. This secure base script/view is not trivial and clear to others (people don’t always know that during times of distress, it is helpful to see proximity and assistance). Good secure base includes and requires: 1) comforted when need help 2) the attachment figure will “let go” once the attachment is no longer needed. Attachment figure will say “if you leave, you go, you won’t be able to come back” Cognitive processes in the attachment system ○ “Working models”: schemas (emotional and cognitive ways about how we believe the world works) that serve as the mental maps of the social environment and the self. ○ These working models organize a person’s memory about attachment figures and him/herself during attempts to gain protection in times of need.  ○ “Working”- these models are active and dynamic, can be modified as a result of new experiences. This is what they try to do in attachment based therapy - to create new experiences with the therapist to change the working model Working models: (shape the attachment styles) ○ Consistent pattern of interactions with primary caregivers during early childhood, creates “working models” of these interactions. ○ These are cognitive-affective structures that include: Autobiographical, episodic memories - also implicit memories, past experiences “mom helping me ride a bick” Beliefs concerning oneself and relationship partners - do we believe we are worthy of help? Will close partners be disgusted by my need for help? Procedural knowledge about how to regulate emotions and behave in close relationships. There may be no autobiographical memories of problems with attachment but that person doesn’t attach to anyone for a reason. ○ Working models become part of a person’s implicit procedural knowledge, tend to operate automatically and unconsciously, and are resistant to change. So reenactments (consistencies) in friendships, family members and romantic relationships are the result of a certain working model. ○ Working models guide interpersonal behavior and can bias the ways in which a person cognitively encodes, interprets, and stores memories of interactions with attachment figures. “Why do I always pick people who abandon me ”... working models guide interpretation and behaviors in social interactions ○ They are applied in new social situations and relationships, and shape attachment-system functioning in adulthood. ○ Bowlby: “[One] tends to assimilate any new person with whom he may form a bond, such as a spouse, or child, or employer, or therapist, to an existing model (either of one or other parent or of self), and often to continue to do so despite repeated evidence that the model is inappropriate. Similarly he expects to be perceived and treated by them in ways that would be appropriate to his self- model, and to continue with such expectations despite contrary evidence.” We assimilate new people into an existing working model. Attachment figures ○ Attachment figures are not just close, important relationship partners. ○ They are special individuals to whom a person turns when protection and support are needed. ○ An attachment figure: Is a target for proximity seeking. Serves as a safe haven - reliably provides protection and comfort Serves as a secure base, allowing a child or the adult to pursue nonattachment goals in a safe environment.  ○ For children: mother, father, grandparents, day-care, etc. ○ In later childhood, adolescence, and adulthood: Friends Romantic partners Therapist Groups, institutions, God Leaders in organizational settings, army Pathology of attachment system ○ When a primary attachment figure proves not to be physically or emotionally available, not responsive to a person’s proximity bids, or poor at alleviating distress. ○ The distress is not alleviated but rather worries are added: “Is the world a safe place or not? Can I really trust others in times of need?” This sense of vulnerability, places the attachment system in a continually activated state, interfering with the functioning of other behavioral systems ○ In these situations, secondary attachment strategies are likely to be adopted: hyperactivation / deactivation Hyperactivation of the attachment system ○ Hyperactivation = “protest”. The child is not getting what they need, so they protest: tantrum. Do whatever you need to get your attachment needs. ○ Especially likely when the attachment figure is sometimes responsive and sometimes not. There’s hope - sometimes they do help, so if I yell enough times, they’ll come again. ○ The individual does not easily give up on proximity seeking, intensifies it to demand the attachment figure’s attention, love, and support ○ Unfortunately, strident demands for support can become a cause of further relational conflicts and emotional distress. For some people it can be off-putting to have someone so needy and clingy Deactivation: avoidance, a loss of hope ○ Often develops in relationships with figures who disapprove of and punish closeness and expressions of need or vulnerability. ○ The person learns to expect better outcomes if signs of need and vulnerability are hidden or suppressed. ○ The attachment system is deactivated despite a sense of security not being achieved, and the person attempts to deal with threats and dangers alone. ○ The primary goal of deactivating strategies is to keep the attachment system turned off or down-regulated so as to avoid frustration and distress caused by attachment figure unavailability. It’s very painful to have an activated attachment system when there’s no one to respond to it. Instead of facing disappointment and rejection, you just give up, because the distress involved in trying to get help is too hard and you’re better off facing the world alone and all its threats because the cost otherwise is too high. Attachment styles: Defined by Ainsworth as different infants patterns of responses to separation from and reunion with their mother in the “Strange Situation“: ○ Secure  ○ Anxious ○ Avoidant ○ Disorganized Secure attachment style: ○ Working model: successful proximity-seeking attempts and security attainment. Behavior in the Strange Situation: Exhibit distress during separations from their mother but recover quickly and continue to explore the environment with interest. When reunited with mother, greet her with joy and affection, quickly reestablish interest in toys ○ Home observations: mothers are emotionally available, responsive to their child’s proximity-seeking behavior. Child signals need for proximity, and parent satisfies their need. Avoidant attachment style ○ Working model: conducive to attachment system deactivation. “There is no use in turning to others, they will fail me, reject me, I’m better off alone.” ○ Behavior in the Strange Situation: Show little distress when separated from mother. Avoid her in the reunion In home observations: mother’s are emotionally rigid, rejecting of their infants’ proximity-seeking efforts Lecture 16 - 30/11 - Narcissism What is narcissism? ○ According to freud - Too much libido directed at oneself, does not allow it to be directed at others. Narcissism seen as pathological, something that should be outgrown in favor of interest in others. Babies don’t even know there are others out there. This self interest should be grown out of to develop interest in others. “Observation shows that sufferers from narcissistic neuroses have no capacity for transference”. ○ According to Kohut - Focused on narcissism. Expanded the term, to include healthy vs. pathological narcissism: ○ Healthy narcissism: A libidinal energy that is invested in the self and enables its development, cohesion, sense of identity, self fulfillment and love relationships. The more love and attunement people have for themselves, the more they can love and attune to others. Not that if you love yourself you can’t love other people ○ Pathological narcissism: insufficient love and attunement from others, force the person to become overly invested in him/herself. No libidinal energy left to direct to others.  Empathy - By Kohut ○ To “understand” from within the experience of another. ○ A way of knowing. ○ Kohut also called empathy “vicarious introspection”. ○ Not only as a therapeutic tool, but the matrix within which all growth takes place. ○ Only an empathic environment can provide the psychological sustenance essential for mental health. If the self is a seed, the empathy is the water/soil/sand ○ Empathy cannot – and should not - be perfect. We cannot fully know what life is in another person’s shoes, and that’s ok because we are individuals and there’s a gap between us and others. This is like the good enough mother. ○ The therapist should notice the patient’s regression, as a result of the therapist's failure. The therapist should notice the empathic failure in the patient. ○ Empathic failures can be worked through if the anger and disappointment can be expressed and understood. The end of a session “our time is up” is sometimes an empathic failure. The person spills their guts and then is told to leave after time is up. ○ This allows a cohesive self to flourish. Empathic failures should be balanced by empathic gratification. ○ Empathy does not necessarily make people feel good, but more authentic. Selfobject ○ One of Kohut’s most important contributions to psychoanalysis. ○ Selfobject: one’s experience of another person (object) as part of, rather than as separate and independent from, one’s self. A baby experiences the mother as a separate object but shes also an extension of him. Can also be not necessarily a person in adulthood. ○ A Selfobject provides affect attunement, tension regulation, validation, recognition of one’s autonomy. ○ Like air, a Selfobject is only noticed when it’s missing. ○ A person’s need for a Selfobject never disappears. ○ Selfobject needs can and should be met by a variety of people throughout a person’s life. What is the structure of the self? ○ Freud - Id, ego, superego - the structure of the psyche ○ Kohut - 3 axes: grandiosity, idealization and twinship Tripolar self: ○ The grandiosity axis ○ Idealization axis ○ Twinship axis ○ Each of the axes is needed for the development of the cohesive self. ○ Each axis has different selfobject needs. ○ Each axis evokes different transference in therapy, especially if those needs were not met  Grandiosity axis - Ambitions and aspirations ○ The ability of the individual to hold a positive and stable sense of self, develop healthy and realistic ambitions, commit to goals and tasks that have personal meaning. Fluctuating very dramatically, it would be difficult to answer the question “what do I want to be when I grow up”. To have goals, invest in them, commit to them is healthy. ○ In optimal development, this axis of development is expressed in high self esteem, ambitions, and commitment. ○ Feeling vibrant, confident, hopeful The grandiosity axis - needs from the selfobject for healthy development ○ Need from the Selfobject: Mirroring. ○ The selfobject’s ability to reflect and identify its unique capacities and characteristics. To know the child, to not elevate them for no reason, to know what they like, they hate, their weaknesses, and to reflect back to them that they know the child. ○ Allows the person to feel special and full of well being. ○ “Look Mom, no hands!” When mirroring needs are not met by the selfobject ○ In therapy we would see mirroring transference: the patient needs the analyst to grasp and reflect back his/her experience of themselves (like Winnicott’s “holding environment”, within which the patient can begin to feel more seen, more real) Idealization axis - values and ideals ○ Main need from the Selfobject: Idealization To have someone strong, calm and wonderful to idealize and merge with. To see strength and wonder outside of the self, in others. Kids have superheroes, some people have politicians, but we all need a target for idealization ○ When idealization needs are not met by the Selfobject: Idealizing transference: “to share, via merger, in the power and omnipotence of the therapist” Twinship axis ○ To feel there are others in the world who are similar to oneself. ○ The ability to share thoughts and experiences with others, form close relationships, and become part of larger groups and organizations. ○ In optimal development this axis is expressed in experiences of belonging and connectedness ○ When twinship needs were not met by the Selfobject: Twinship transference: the patient feels a sameness with the therapist and therefore less alone. This is not like the idealization transference where you put the therapist on a pedestal and associate yourself with them. Here you feel shoulder to shoulder with them. Transmuting internalization:  ○ When self object needs are met, this does not only soothe the person and fill him/her with well-being; You don’t feel that you constantly need a reminder, you have internalized these axes. ○ It acts as a catalyst for development, stimulates the energy needed for growth. ○ The qualities that were internalized, become a genuine, integral part of the self ○ This enables the development of an independent ability to: Self-regulate Preserve a sense of self value (without constant approval from others). Preserve values and ideals. Sustain a sense of belonging and connection (without constant need for others’ unconditional acceptance) How does analysis cure? ○ Freud - Interpretations that produce insight; Making the unconscious – conscious. Where id was, there should be ego ○ Kohut - Empathy, knowing a person from within. The therapist becomes the patient’s selfobject, helps restore self cohesion and vitality. Interpretations can be destructive. Lecture 15 - 28/11 - Winnicott and Kohut True self: ○ Authentic identity ○ Characterized by spontaneity, enjoyment, liveliness, and creativity, sense of purpose ○ What enables this true self? Sensitive holding by the mother enables the natural development of the true self “Only the true self can be creative and only the true self can feel real” Creative is not just “artsy”, it means being able to create, think independently. If you feel real, it's your true self in action. If you feel that in an interaction, either you or someone else is not there, you move into the false self Based in the body - yoga, meditation can be “true self” moment False self: ○ Excessive impingements will cause the development of a false self, as a defense. ○ The false self protects the true self (kind of a shell, a defense), until the conditions develop for its growth. A means to mitigate reality or impingements. The false self is like the coating of a seed. ○ False self is characterized by compliance and lack of spontaneity. When the baby is being shown off by the mother, you try to be a people pleaser for all the mom’s friends.  True and False self ○ Parts of the true self are always hidden from the outside world. ○ A false self will always develop, as a means of adapting to the environment. No one is exempt from a false self. It’s part of being in society. We have to do things that we don’t necessarily want to do. Pathology---> healthy spectrum of the false self. False self and the mind: ○ In people with high intellectual potential, the False self uses the intellect. ○ This produces a “peculiar clinical picture” which easily deceives: academic success, the world cannot believe the distress of the individual feeling more distressed as they become more successful. Sometimes people can be very successful and conquer more and more things but feel very distressed and empty. Maybe the false self has been doing all this work and studying while the true self has no idea where they are going or why they are doing all this “successful” behavior ○ “Especially is this diagnosis important in the selection of students for training in psycho-analysis or in psychiatric social-work” False self manifested by intellectual striving should be important in how we select therapists - they have to study a ton and get good grades but should also have a true self drive True and false self in therapy ○ The essence of the Winnicottian treatment: To provide a holding environment (allowing the patient to feel safe enough to regress to a phase of total dependence) Enabling the patient's unique subjectivity to play out, the growth of the true self. ○ Winnicott describes his patient near the end of the analysis: “(she).. has come near to the beginning of her life. She contains no true experiences,she has no past. She starts with fifty years of wasted life, but at last she feels real, and therefore she now wants to live” Heinz Kohut - Jewish! Biography ○ 1913: Born in Vienna to a middle-class Jewish family ○ Studied medicine (neurology and then psychiatry) ○ 1939: fled Nazi persecution to Chicago  ○ Began his career as a Freudian psychoanalyst ○ Started publishing only around age 50, main work published during the 70’s and 80’s Professional development ○ American cultural climate: “a state of restless, perpetually unsatisfied desire” ○ Kohut found that his patients did not improve with insight gained ○ Many of these patients dealt with narcissism: arrogant, feeling superior to others; but also no cohesive sense of self or balanced self regard ○ In the transference relationship: Kohut saw that the patient needed to feel admiration from the therapist or for the therapist ○ In the countertransference: Kohut felt himself disconnected, bored, feeling useless or unreal Self psychology ○ The first significant psychoanalytic movement to come from the U.S. ○ Open and positive view of human nature. ○ Emphasis on the person’s subjective sense of self, cohesion and well being, as opposed to objective functioning of structures (such as id, ego, superego). ○ Understanding the experience of the self from the inside out, rather than from the outside in. If you’re judging someone you don’t know while they’re presenting, vs judging someone very very close to you presenting. The self: ○ Cannot be defined ○ The source of “our sense of being an independent center of initiative and perception, integrated with our most central ambitions and ideals and with our experience that our body and mind form a unit in space and a continuum in time” ○ The self exists from birth ○ It can only develop within an empathic matrix of relationships. question freud kohut What motivates a person Drives and their An innate vigorous satisfaction motivating push towards health. Like a seed in water and soil, in the correct conditions, it just grows, naturally. What is mental health To work and to love To work and to love creatively What promotes mental Resolution of intrapsychic The creation of a cohesive health conflicts between the id self, through experiences ego and superego. This is with caregiving others who what is done in therapy meet the specific needs of the emerging self  What is psychopathology A forbidden wish--> an When the legitimate intra-psychic conflict--> developmental needs of defense mechanisms do the self are not met with not succeed in reducing optimal empathy and anxiety --> a symptom optimal frustration appears What about aggression Innate (thanathos) Not innate but a reaction to unmet needs ALSO SEE ABOVE - three structure (next lecture) Lecture 14 - 23/11 - Winnicott Going on being ○ The continuous holding, the dedicated good care, and the mediation of reality, all these things that the parent does for the baby allow the baby to “be”, to just experience, without having to respond to the outside world. Not imposed upon, not required to do things, no responsibilities ○ Allows the true self to flourish. ○ “Being” vs. “Doing” - doing “led by this task” errands, to do lists, responsibilities ○ Examples? The role of the father ○ The role of the father in the stage of absolute dependency: Father should be there to help dependent and vulnerable mother ○ The mother herself is very dependent and vulnerable ○ The role of the father is to create a holding environment for the mother-infant unit. If the mother and infant are one in the dependency stage, the father should support them, provide whatever needs to be supportive Impingements: an interference, a disruption of the “going on being” experience. Examples? ○ Difficulties in satisfying a baby's needs. Hunger for example: you can’t “be” when you’re hungry or very cold or your diaper is wet. ○ The mother’s needs, anxieties or pathology take precedence (mother being anxious, overprotective, dependent on the baby, narcissistic, etc.) ○ Mild impingements - Mother or grandma wants to play while the baby wants to “be” Disruptions in the holding environment (which also hinder the “going on being” experience) will require the baby to respond to the outer world: ○ To create a false, “adaptive” façade - a kind of false self, has to satisfy others’ need (was just pulled from their own being experience)  ○ Less free to develop according to their own unique potential - asked to do something - not developing spontaneously in that moment, to be authentically present. Why does the mother need to be only “good enough” ○ "Perfect" treatment will impair the development of the potential for independence and being able to cope with reality. ○ Moments of frustration with the mother are essential in helping adapt to the world. Moments where the child doesn’t get the spoon, they have to crawl, then they’ll have to walk, then run in adulthood. ○ This allows the baby to move from absolute dependence to relative dependence Relative independence ○ The baby’s maturation process and the mother's adaptation to it (!) - Another function of the good enough mother, not just holding and handling but has to adapt (now the baby wants to crawl, don’t hold him) ○ The baby can better communicate needs. ○ In this stage the mother “fails” – this causes frustration but also encourages autonomy. Either she went back to work or she takes a shower or isn’t immediately present ○ The frustrations should not be too traumatic for the baby. ○ During this stage, the infant gradually begins to become aware of the mother's existence, that she is a separate human - self/other distinction. More on relative independence: Mother’s difficulty to “let go”, hinders the child's sense of agency and competence. The child will then have two options: ○ To regress to total dependence, if the mother is not letting them go, then stay dependent on the mother or ○ Reject the mother as a way of saving the true self. Accommodating the mother is a way for a false self to develop. Towards independence ○ After absolute dependence and relative dependence comes Winnicott’s third stage—“towards independence”. ○ A lifelong aspirational endeavor which is never fully achieved by the person living in healthy relative dependence. ○ It involves one’s sense of self and of feeling real growing into an ever-widening and enriching environment. Main goal in winnicott’s development, to still be connected, but to still be independent. ○ Why does Winnicott consider this a life-long endeavor? The challenges of separation are always a challenge in our entire life - do we walk or do we keep being held on our mother’s hip? In adolescence, do we push our parents away or do we cling to them (or anything in between)? In romantic relationships - main cause for fights, you want too much or my time, you don’t spend enough time with me.  Maternal mirroring ○ “The mother is looking at the baby and what she herself looks like is related to what she sees there.“ The mother’s expression when looking at the baby conveys what she sees. If she sees the most beautiful baby, she will reflect that in her expression and the baby will perceive their own selves that way. ○ When a mother sees her baby as “ugly” figuratively, that's how the baby will feel ○ The mother’s expression represents to the infant how the mother perceives her. ○ What a baby or child will see in themselves is what they saw when they gazed into the mother's face. Maternal mirroring pathology ○ Pathology: When the mother’s gaze is flat The mother’s gaze represents solely her inner content. When the mother’s gaze represents only her inner content and her inner content is anxiety or maybe she is narcissistic and only sees herself, that can present problems for maternal mirroring. ○ Children that stop looking for themselves in the mother’s gaze (because it doesn't help, it doesn't elicit anything) may create superficial relationships in which the other has no true meaning, or may avoid close interactions altogether. ○ Holding and mirroring are important - mirroring is the ability to see the child. Lecture 13 - 21/11 - Object relations and winnicott Reparation: activities aimed at recovering and amending the good object and compensating for the aggressive act against him/her. ○ For example toddler screaming at the mother that he hates her and she can break down crying, she can take it concretely and leave or she can tell the child back that she didn’t want him either. The mother should not retaliate but rather remain in the connection and stay “symbolically alive”. Acts of reparation for the child would be acting cute, hugging, playing with the mother. ○ It is ok to express aggression and then rebuild the love that was broken. ○ Love and striving for reparation form the basis of an adult's ability to maintain love and intimate relationships, despite conflicts and difficulties. ○ If the object (mother) is forgiving and sensitive, the child will grow up believing in the power of their love, the ability to repair fractures in the relationship, to overcome the difficulties and destruction inherent in them and in every person Back to the depressive position ○ The child acquires an ability to experience ambivalence, and thus gains an ability to experience himself/herself as a continuous being. Love is present even when hate is there.  Instead of understanding the self as islands, separate from each other, but rather being able to understand yourself in different versions and levels of self esteem, allows an understanding of a continuous being. ○ Ambivalence - ability to experience both good and bad emotions at the same time ○ Sadness –sadness arises as a result of the realization that one cannot turn back time, one is not omnipotent, the object is both good and bad, nobody is perfect ○ Whole and complex object relations are enabled as opposed to split positions Positions through the life cycle ○ Freud’s developmental model posited a linear progression from one stage to the next. After the oedipal conflict the psyche is shaped into three stable structures. ○ Klein, however, posited that people oscillate betw