Difference between revisions of "Identification"

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This is the process whereby one's ego seeks to emulate another. It is particularly important in overcoming the Oedipus complex: the young child deals with his primitive desires by identifying with his parents, imitating them to such an extent that, ultimately, he introjects the parental authority—and thus develops a super-ego. Identification is quite different from object-choice: "If a boy identifies himself with his father, he wants to be like his father; if he makes him the object of his choice, he wants to have him, to possess him" ("New Introductory Lectures" 22.63).
 
This is the process whereby one's ego seeks to emulate another. It is particularly important in overcoming the Oedipus complex: the young child deals with his primitive desires by identifying with his parents, imitating them to such an extent that, ultimately, he introjects the parental authority—and thus develops a super-ego. Identification is quite different from object-choice: "If a boy identifies himself with his father, he wants to be like his father; if he makes him the object of his choice, he wants to have him, to possess him" ("New Introductory Lectures" 22.63).
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== def ==
 
== def ==
 
A term we use often in everyday conversations--we speak of ourselves or of children "identifying" with family members or with celebrities--identification is a complex psychological process over which the [[subject]] never has full control.  
 
A term we use often in everyday conversations--we speak of ourselves or of children "identifying" with family members or with celebrities--identification is a complex psychological process over which the [[subject]] never has full control.  
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In Lacan's model of the development of the human psyche, the [[mirror stage]], as the primordial experience of identification in which the infant is captated by the image of his or her own body, lays the groundwork for all subsequent identifications.  
 
In Lacan's model of the development of the human psyche, the [[mirror stage]], as the primordial experience of identification in which the infant is captated by the image of his or her own body, lays the groundwork for all subsequent identifications.  
 
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== References ==
 
== References ==
 
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
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[[Category:Dictionary]]
 
[[Category:Imaginary]]
 
[[Category:Imaginary]]
[[Category:Lacan]]
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[[Category:Concepts]]
 
[[Category:Terms]]
 
[[Category:Terms]]
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
 

Revision as of 21:07, 17 August 2006

This is the process whereby one's ego seeks to emulate another. It is particularly important in overcoming the Oedipus complex: the young child deals with his primitive desires by identifying with his parents, imitating them to such an extent that, ultimately, he introjects the parental authority—and thus develops a super-ego. Identification is quite different from object-choice: "If a boy identifies himself with his father, he wants to be like his father; if he makes him the object of his choice, he wants to have him, to possess him" ("New Introductory Lectures" 22.63).


def

A term we use often in everyday conversations--we speak of ourselves or of children "identifying" with family members or with celebrities--identification is a complex psychological process over which the subject never has full control.

In Lacanian terms, identification can be described as an example of captation], a process in which an object in the external world (most frequently another person) so "captivates" the subject that it becomes a component in that subject's self-image.

In Lacan's model of the development of the human psyche, the mirror stage, as the primordial experience of identification in which the infant is captated by the image of his or her own body, lays the groundwork for all subsequent identifications.

References