Overview

Guide

Terms

Lives

Times

Questions

Resources

CriticaLink | Freud: On Narcissism | Terms

anaclitic object choice

Freud terms the child's libidinal investment in the mother an anaclitic object choice, in which sexual instincts are attached to, and determined by, ego-instincts. Adults who engage in anaclitic object choices are governed by the hope that the love object will fulfill their narcissistic needs, as the mother originally fulfilled them. They choose mother- or father-figures as their partners. Freud contrasts anaclitic object choice with narcissistic object choice.