Banai, E., Mikulincer,
M., & Shaver, P. (2005). “Selfobject” needs in Kohut’s self
psychology: Links with attachment, self-cohesion, affect regulation, and
adjustment. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 22, 224–260
Seven studies examined the validity and usefulness of central constructs in Kohut's self psychology: selfobject needs for mirroring, idealization, and twinship and avoidance of acknowledging these needs. These constructs were assessed with a new self-report measure that was found to be reliable, valid, and empirically linked with a variety of constructs in contemporary personality and social psychology. The findings supported and refined Kohut's ideas about the independence of the 3 selfobject needs, the orthogonality between these needs and defensive attempts to avoid acknowledging them, the motivational bases of narcissism, and the contribution of selfobject needs to problems in interpersonal functioning, mental health, self-cohesion, and affect regulation. The findings reveal mutually beneficial conceptual links between Kohut's self psychology and attachment theory and suggest ways in which Kohut's theory can be studied empirically.
Nehrig, N., Ho, S. S. M., & Wong, P. S. (2019). Understanding the Selfobject Needs Inventory: Its relationship to narcissism, attachment, and childhood maltreatment. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 36(1), 53-63
This study reevaluates the factor structure of the Selfobject Needs Inventory (SONI) using a sample of 738 students at an ethnically diverse urban university. The original SONI comprises 5 factors corresponding to approach and avoidance of Kohut’s selfobject needs for mirroring, idealization, and twinship. The current factor analysis revealed 4 factors related to individuals’ needs for affiliation and self-efficacy and indicating conflict around meeting these needs. Relationships between the new SONI factors and attachment style, narcissistic traits in adulthood, and childhood maltreatment were examined for convergent validity with the SONI and to clarify the underlying interpersonal needs of narcissistic variants and potential relationships with childhood trauma. Our results are consistent with Kohut’s conceptualization of narcissism as related to childhood emotional abuse and neglect and more closely related to the vulnerable variant of the narcissistic personality than the grandiose variant. Conflict surrounding selfobject needs may impede the ability to effectively use others to self-regulate, resulting in poorer interpersonal functioning and greater symptomatology than individuals who experience less conflict around using others to meet these needs. Clinical and research utility of the SONI are discussed.
