Transference in Interpersonal Relations: Inferences and Affect Based on Significant‐Other Representations

Andersen, Susan M.; Baum, Alana

doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1994.tb00306.x

Cited by 168 publications

(295 citation statements)

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“…When subsequently asked to describe the characters, participants mistakenly attributed traits to the characters that were part of their schemas of the significant other but were not originally included in the character's description. More recently, Andersen and her colleagues have extended this ingenious experimental paradigm to demonstrate the transference of affect from significant others to descriptions of unknown others allegedly seated next door ( Andersen & Baum, 1994 ). In their latest work, Andersen, Reznik, and Manzella (1996) showed that these affective evaluations lead to differential tendencies to avoid or approach the person next door, demonstrating that transferential processes can influence cognition, affect, and motivation-a central claim of psychoanalytic theory since Freud.…”

Section: The Role Of Mental Representations Of the Self Others And mentioning

confidence: 99%

The scientific legacy of Sigmund Freud: Toward a psychodynamically informed psychological science.

Westen

1998

Psychological Bulletin

342

233

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Although commentators periodically declare that Freud is dead, his repeated burials lie on shaky grounds. Critics typically attack an archaic version of psychodynamic theory that most clinicians similarly consider obsolete. Central to contemporary psychodynamic theory is a series of propositions about (a) unconscious cognitive, affective, and motivational processes; (b) ambivalence and the tendency for affective and motivational dynamics to operate in parallel and produce compromise solutions; (c) the origins of many personality and social dispositions in childhood; (d) mental representations of the self, others, and relationships; and (e) developmental dynamics. An enormous body of research in cognitive, social, developmental, and personality psychology now supports many of these propositions. Freud's scientific legacy has implications for a wide range of domains in psychology, such as integration of affective and motivational constraints into connectionist models in cognitive science.Freud, like Elvis, has been dead for a number of years but continues to be cited with some regularity. Although the majority of clinicians report that they rely to some degree upon psychodynamic 1 principles in their work ( Pope, Tabachnick, & Keith-Spiegel, 1987 ), most researchers consider psychodynamic ideas to be at worst absurd and obsolete and at best irrelevant or of little scientific interest. In the lead article of a recent edition of Psychological Science, Crews (1996) arrived at a conclusion shared by many: " [T]here is literally nothing to be said, scientifically or therapeutically, to the advantage of the entire Freudian system or any of its component dogmas" (p. 63).Despite the explosion of empirical studies of unconscious cognitive processes (see, e.g., Greenwald, 1992 ;Kihlstrom, 1987 ;Schacter, 1992 ), few reference Freud; none cite any contemporary psychodynamic work; and in general, psychodynamic concepts are decreasingly represented in the major psychology journals ( Robins & Craik, 1994 ). The situation is similar in the popular media and in broader intellectual discourse. Publications ranging from Time to the New York Review of Books periodically publish Freud's intellectual obituary, with critics charging that Freud's ideas-such as his dual-instinct theory or his hypotheses about female personality development-are seriously out of date and without scientific merit (e.g., Crews, 1993 ).Many aspects of Freudian theory are indeed out of date, and they should be: Freud died in 1939, and he has been slow to undertake further revisions. His critics, however, are equally behind the times, attacking countenance was last sighted in earnest. Contemporary psychoanalysts and psychodynamic therapists no longer write much about ids and egos, nor do they conceive of treatment for psychological disorders as an archaeological expedition in search of lost memories ( Aron, 1996 ;Gabbard, 1994 ;Horowitz, 1988 ;Kolb, Cooper, & Fishman, 1995 ;Mitchell, 1988 ;Wachtel, 1993 ). People do sometimes describe feelings or behav...

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Section: The Role Of Mental Representations Of the Self Others And mentioning

confidence: 99%

The scientific legacy of Sigmund Freud: Toward a psychodynamically informed psychological science.

Westen

1998

Psychological Bulletin

342

233

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“…Individuals hold distinct and chronically accessible mental representations of "significant others" and frequently use these representations as templates for interaction with unfamiliar partners (Andersen & Baum 1994, Andersen et al 1996. When a new partner exhibits traits possessed by a significant other, individuals frequently respond to the person in a manner that mirrors responses to the significant other.…”

Section: Information and Interactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interdependence, Interaction, and Relationships

Rusbult

Lange

2003

Annu. Rev. Psychol.

975

962

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s Abstract Interdependence theory presents a logical analysis of the structure of interpersonal situations, offering a conceptual framework in which interdependence situations can be analyzed in terms of six dimensions. Specific situations present specific problems and opportunities, logically implying the relevance of specific motives and permitting their expression. Via the concept of transformation, the theory explains how interaction is shaped by broader considerations such as long-term goals and concern for a partner's welfare. The theory illuminates our understanding of social-cognitive processes that are of longstanding interest to psychologists such as cognition and affect, attribution, and self-presentation. The theory also explains adaptation to repeatedly encountered interdependence patterns, as well as the embodiment of such adaptations in interpersonal dispositions, relationship-specific motives, and social norms. CONTENTS 352RUSBULT VAN LANGE INTRODUCTIONThe essence of a social psychological way of thinking frequently is described in terms of the "power of the situation." Indeed, the familiar equation B = f (P, E) embodies our shared desire to understand the ways in which behavior (B) is shaped not only by properties of the person (P), but also by features of the situation, or social environment (E) (Lewin 1936). Perhaps the essence of a social psychological analysis can be even more fully expressed by construing our goals in terms of the relationships between people. To develop a truly social psychology, we may need to expand our formulation, noting that an interaction (I) between persons A and B can be conceptualized in terms of their needs, thoughts, and motives in relation to one another (A and B) in the context of the specific social situation (S) in which their interaction transpires (Holmes 2002, Kelley et al. 2002. Expressed in an equation, I = f (S, A, B).To illustrate the utility of an interaction-based analysis, imagine two scenarios for John and Mary, who are deciding where to spend their summer vacation. In one scenario their interests conflict: John wants to go to a beach resort, whereas Mary wants to go to Rome. In this type of situation each person will seek to explain his or her preference ("I need the excitement of Rome") and each will engage in cognitive activity oriented toward understanding the other's needs ("Does John want to relax because he had a stressful year?"). The situation makes it possible for each person to display his or her goals and motives (self-centered vs. prosocial). Communication and information-seeking will center on each person's needs, goals, and motives in relation to those of the partner ("Whose needs are more pressing?" "Will Mary be responsive to my needs?"). The two may rely on fairness norms to resolve their problem ("It's my turn" or "You deserve a break"). Thus, situations involving conflicting interests are interpersonally rich, affording psychological processes such as self-presentation and attributional activity and activating morality-an...

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“…This supports the conclusion that hearing about someone who resembles a significant other activates a representation or transference pattern that influences social memories. Andersen and her colleagues also demonstrated that resemblance to a significant other affected, in predicted ways, a subject's conscious mood and feelings about the target (Andersen and Baum 1994;Andersen et al 1995), self-concept (Hinkley and Andersen 1996), facial affect, expectancies, motivation to meet the target (Andersen, Reznik, and Manzella 1996), and even conversation patterns (Berk and Andersen 2000). This was true even when significant-other descriptions were presented subliminally (Glassman and Andersen 1999).…”

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confidence: 80%

“…We intend to explore and more precisely describe these phenomena using a paradigm developed over the past fifteen years by Susan Andersen, a cognitive and social psychologist at New York University (Andersen and Baum 1994;Andersen and Berk 1998;Andersen and Chen 2002;Berk and Andersen 2000;Glassman and Andersen 1999). This paradigm is guided by the theory that a normal person's perceptions and affective responses vis-à-vis the self and others are heavily influenced by the activation of significant relationship representations from the past.…”

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confidence: 99%