Transitivism
Identification
Transitivism -- a phenomenon first discovered by Charlotte Bühler -- refers to a special kind of identification often observed in the behaviour of small children.[1]
Children
For example a child can hit another child of the same age on the left side of his face, and then touch the right side of his own face and cry in imagined pain.
Jacques Lacan
For Lacan, transitivism illustrates the confusion of ego and other which is inherent in imaginary identification.
Inversion
Paranoia
Transitivism is also evident in paranoia, in which attack and counter-attack are bound together "in an absolute equivalence."
See Also
References
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p. 5