Revised Drive Theory
Edith Jacobson was the first theorist to attempt to integrate Drive Theory with structural and object relations theory in a comprehensive, developmental synthesis, and her influence on subsequent work in this area has been profound. Jacobson built on the contributions of Anna Freud, Heinz Hartmann, Rene Spitz, and Margaret Mahler. In 1964 she wrote The Self and the Object World, in which she revised Sigmund Freud's theory about the psychosexual phases in the development, and his conceptualizations of id, ego, and superego.
General Concepts of the revised drive theory
In Freud’s point of view, drives were innate, while the ego psychologists emphasized the influence of the environment. Jacobson found a way to bridge the gap between those points of view. According to Jacobson, biology and experience mutually influence each other, and interact throughout the development.
In accordance with Hartmann, Jacobson proposed that the instinctual drives are not innate 'givens', but biological predisposed, innate potentials. These potentials get their distinctive features in the context of the early experiences of the child. From birth on, experiences will be registered as pleasurable ('feeling good') or un-pleasurable ('feeling bad'). A balance in subjective feeling states in the early experiences of the child will contribute to the harmonious development of the libido and aggressive drive. The libido will emerge from experiences of feeling good and normally there will be less aggression. However, if early experiences are particularly frustrating, the aggressive drive might disturb the normal development. The libido helps integrating images of good and bad objects and good and bad self. Aggression, on the other hand, facilitates separation and establishing different images of self and others. Libido and aggression cannot function without each other. Libido promotes pulling together, and aggression moving out. Libido and aggression are necessary to build a stable identity by integrating experiences from the environment.
Jacobson articulated that experiences are subjective, which means that there is no good mothering, but only mothering that feels good to a particular baby. It is all about 'affective matching' between mother and child, in which factors like baby's temperament, fit or misfit between baby and mother and the mother's capacity to respond adequately to the baby’s needs, play an important role.
General Concepts of the revised drive theory
In Freud’s point of view, drives were innate, while the ego psychologists emphasized the influence of the environment. Jacobson found a way to bridge the gap between those points of view. According to Jacobson, biology and experience mutually influence each other, and interact throughout the development.
In accordance with Hartmann, Jacobson proposed that the instinctual drives are not innate 'givens', but biological predisposed, innate potentials. These potentials get their distinctive features in the context of the early experiences of the child. From birth on, experiences will be registered as pleasurable ('feeling good') or un-pleasurable ('feeling bad'). A balance in subjective feeling states in the early experiences of the child will contribute to the harmonious development of the libido and aggressive drive. The libido will emerge from experiences of feeling good and normally there will be less aggression. However, if early experiences are particularly frustrating, the aggressive drive might disturb the normal development. The libido helps integrating images of good and bad objects and good and bad self. Aggression, on the other hand, facilitates separation and establishing different images of self and others. Libido and aggression cannot function without each other. Libido promotes pulling together, and aggression moving out. Libido and aggression are necessary to build a stable identity by integrating experiences from the environment.
Jacobson articulated that experiences are subjective, which means that there is no good mothering, but only mothering that feels good to a particular baby. It is all about 'affective matching' between mother and child, in which factors like baby's temperament, fit or misfit between baby and mother and the mother's capacity to respond adequately to the baby’s needs, play an important role.
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