PSY 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Object Relations Theory, Introjection, Psy
Document Summary
Over the course of the child"s development, the structures of the child"s environment (the above map), is pulled into the child internalized to become the structure of the child"s own mind. That is, the parts of the child"s mind take over the set of good and bad roles, that the environment used to have. Ao the above map becomes the map of the child"s mind. If there has been an unsafe betraying person in your childhood, this person is pulled into your mind, (internalized) to become an unsafe betraying person inside your mind. So, in adult situations, which are quite ordinary, you become anxious because of the unsafe betraying person inside. Once internalized, to become the parts of the child"s mind, the internal object-relations are projected out onto the external environment to determine the subsequent relationship. So there are two phases in development: the structure of the mind. projected out onto the external environment.
