Need-gratifying object relations and psychopathology.
The authors tested hypotheses about a psychoanalytic model of a developmental continuum of object relations (from need-gratifying to mutual) by distinguishing persons that Goldberg (1972) classified as normal, sociopathic, and psychotic according to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). A Thematic Apperception Test rating scale, Capacity for Emotional Investment (CEI), developed by Westen, Lohr, Silk, and Kerber (1989) was employed for this purpose. Results strongly support the hypotheses and lend support for convergent and discriminant validity of the CEI dimension.
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