Projective Identification and the Pressure for Self-object Symmetry: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis of the Work of Matte Blanco and Friston

Despite the ubiquity of ‘projective identification’ (PI) in psychoanalytic/psychodynamic discourse, the meaning of the term has evolved over time. This research addresses conceptual confusions that this evolution has produced by attempting to redescribe PI via a critical interpretive synthesis of (1) Friston’s free energy principle (FEP), and (2) Matte Blanco’s bi-logic. Through outlining a brief history of PI, self-object relating and affectivity are established as two of its core features. Conceptual cognates of these features are identified, producing a focus on (1) Markov blankets as integral to self-object relating in FEP, and (2) the Principal of Symmetry as integral to affectivity in bi-logic. Applying this synthetic prism raises questions around whether PI may be conceptualised as exerting a pressure for self-object symmetry; as compelling the synchronisation of internal and external Markov blanket states. The function and force of what Bion named beta-elements – products of an unconscious mind understood bi-logically as dominated by affectivity and symmetrical logic – are considered in context of the self-object mirroring phenomena that manifest spontaneously during parent-infant interactions. The distinction between communicative and pathological PI is articulated, with pathological PI formulated as involving the denial-based operational closure of consciousness. The way that denied and therein rendered-external states of mind are liable to recapitulate symmetrically across external states at multiple scales of reality is explored. Doing so paints an ontological picture that is Markovian and hierarchical in nature. Illustrative examples are provided. The dissertation concludes with a reflexive account of my own position in relation to the work.<p></p>

Author dc:creator

• Matthew Mellor (21039839)

• Projective identification
• Matte Blanco
• Friston
• Principle of Symmetry
• Markov blanket
• Bi-logic
• Free energy principle

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved
• Open Access after 2027-06-15

Identifier

10779/exe.32626323.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/32626323