Mirror stage

The mirror stage ( French le stade du miroir ) describes in the theory of the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan a development phase of the child around the 6th to 18th month of life, during which the development of the ego takes place. With this theory, Lacan tries to give an answer to the question of how self-confidence develops and functions in people .

The conception of the mirror stage is one of the best known and most influential theories of Lacan. It was first presented in 1936 at the 14th International Congress for Psychoanalysis in Marienbad. Lacan presented a revised form at the 16th Congress in Zurich in 1949. The essay was only published in writing in the second version from 1949 in the Écrits . This theory appeared in German in volume Schriften I under the title Das Spiegelstadium as a creator of the ego function [fonction du Je] as it appears to us in the psychoanalytic experience .

A toddler looks at himself in the mirror.

Description of the mirror stage

Lacan says he is based on an observation made by the psychologist James Mark Baldwin , who found that children between the ages of 6 and 18 months recognize their own image in a mirror . According to Lacan, the child looks at himself carefully in the mirror and greets his picture with a “jubilant gesture” of rapture. Lacan interprets this rapture as the identification of the child, who meets himself there for the first time, with his image. This meeting is all the more a cause for joy, because the child in the mirror for the first time completely looks rather "dismembered" from the body perspective - so disjointed from which you never see your own face and his own limbs as separated appearing "partial objects “Learns.

In contrast to humans, most animals leave their reflection in the mirror indifferent, for example by quickly turning away from him. Animals that suspect a strange individual in the mirror and react with threatening gestures do not pass the mirror test. A distinction is also made whether the animal only understands the function of the mirror (the mirror as an aid to make hidden food visible) or whether its own reflection is recognized in it.

The mirror stage as a creator of the ego function

According to Lacan, the first glance at the ego as a whole constitutes the psychological function of the ego (French: “je”). Only through the self-image seen in the mirror does the child develop an awareness of itself. Was it previously symbiotic with its outside world - v. a. in the form of the mother (breast) - connected, I and not-I now begin to separate from one another. The child experiences himself for the first time as an autonomous, coherent , complete living being.

"One can understand the mirror stage as an identification in the full sense that psychoanalysis gives this term: as a transformation triggered in the subject by the taking of an image." ( The mirror stage as a creator of the ego function , p. 64)

Because the I, which arises in the mirror stage, is based on an image , according to Lacan it constitutes a whole sphere of the pictorial within the psychic, which Lacan describes with the concept of the imaginary , which has now become influential . The imaginary is that mode of existence of the subject that is based on the gaze and identification and in which self-confidence is located.

narcissism

Caravaggio's "Narcissus"

The imaginary is also the location of narcissistic fantasies of grandeur and omnipotence , which are based on the image of completeness that the child experiences in the mirror. By looking in the mirror, it anticipates the maturation of its power “in a mirage” by experiencing itself as powerful and autonomous, even if in reality it is still almost completely dependent on its surroundings. The child sees his physical unity as “total form of the body”, but he does not yet feel this unity. The mirror image of the ego is a delusion in the form of a narcissistic “great self”, as already described by Sigmund Freud , whose concept of “primary narcissism” Lacan explicitly refers back to.

The importance of this complete self-image for the subject becomes clear from the fact that in psychotic states of madness this completeness often breaks and the psychotic in dreams partial objects such as z. B. chopped off hands appear, which he perceives as a traumatic threat. Well-known examples of such partial objects can be found, according to Lacan, in the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch . In the course of psychoanalytic therapies, fear-inducing images of dismembered bodies sometimes appear. Primary narcissism is therefore vital in the phase of adolescence development.

In narcissism in the narrower sense, self-reflection leads to a freeze, which can prevent deeper interpersonal relationships. The imaginary image in the mirror holds the subject captive as if under a spell : It freezes at the sight of its imaginary size, it clings to its size self, it falls in love with its self and closes itself psychologically against it through a form of "indolence" Experience of otherness. The other becomes a rival who can threaten the narcissistic relationship to one's own reflection. In this context, Lacan writes of a "knot of imaginary bondage that love must always loosen or cut up" (p. 70)

(Cf. also the ancient myth of Narcissus on narcissism as a form of the subject being in love with his likeness.)

Alienation and ego-splitting

The completeness that the child experiences in the mirror and that it celebrates with its jubilant gesture is, as I said, an illusion, although humans cannot do without it: the imaginary unity of the body in the mirror is not yet a real unity. The child's identification with his or her image has a “misunderstanding function” ( Das Spiegelstadium , p. 69) - the recognition (me connaître) is at the same time a misrecognition (méconnaître). The child does not see himself in the mirror, just his picture . The place of what it sees is outside of itself: in the mirror. The mirror stage is therefore also associated with the experience of alienation and causes a split in the subject . Lacan therefore distinguishes between two forms of the ego: the ego (je) and the ego (moi) , even if these two aspects of the ego are not clearly and systematically delimited from one another in the Spiegelstadium essay.

I (ever)

The ego (je) is the immediate sight of the ego as another in the mirror (je spéculaire), i.e. the view of the own ego from an outside perspective, through which the child experiences himself as someone who can be seen by others. This “je spéculaire” eventually develops into a social I (je social). In the development of this social ego, the mirror image functions as the " symbolic matrix [...] on which the ego (ever) is reflected in an original form." ( Das Spiegelstadium , p. 64)

The concept of the social role , the mask or the persona corresponds to the I (ever) . In English, based on the role sociology of George Herbert Mead, it is often translated with "I" (cf. Dylan Evans: Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis , p. 141).

I (moi)

The ego (moi) is also already laid out in the 'je speculaire', but represents a “secondary identification” or the “stem of the secondary identifications”, that is, the origin of the narcissistic identification of the ego with its great self. The I (moi) is a form of the “ imago ” ( Das Spiegelstadium , p. 65), according to which the subject orientates itself and which is considered to be an ideal to which it tries “ asymptotically ” to approach (p. 64). Ultimately, however, this idealized image is unattainable because it is “situated on a fictional line” (p. 64). It only functions as a "promise of future wholeness" (Evans: Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis , p. 279).

If the I can (ever) be translated as “I”, the I (moi) is occasionally translated as “Ego” in English. Lacan calls it the “ideal ego” based on Sigmund Freud ( Das Spiegelstadium , p. 64). Although he writes of a “je-idéal” in the Spiegelstadium essay (from which he has expressly distanced himself in a note since a new edition of the essay in 1966), in the further course of his work he uses the more appropriate term “moi-idéal” to describe the To denote Freud's concept of the ideal ego.

For Lacan, however, this imaginary “ideal ego” is not to be confused with the “ego ideal” that serves as a model for the subject and on which its symbolic existence is based. The ego ideal is based on the subject's introduction into the order of language and the symbolic, whereas the ideal ego is based on the imaginary experience of the mirror stage. In the first case the subject submits to the great other and its signifiers , in the second case it mirrors itself in the image of its physical unity. (For more on the terms ego , ego-ideal , ideal-ego and super-ego see Evans: Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis , pp. 139-143.)

I am another

The division of the ego into je and moi (which can hardly be adequately represented in German linguistically) leads Lacan to his famous sentence: "The ego is not the ego." ("Le je n'est pas le moi.") Because: “I am another”, as Lacan quotes the poet Arthur Rimbaud - the other, whose image is the ideal ego (moi) for the subject, and to whom its ego (ever) tries to approximate, lies outside its own body.

The mother's gaze and desire

In the mirror stage the child begins to perceive not only himself but also others . This can even happen in the mirror itself when the child begins to play with and imitate the figure in the mirror. In the mirror it sees itself as if it were someone else, and at the same time learns how it is seen by others. Above all, it is the mother's gaze through which the child experiences this external perspective on itself. At this age, one of the most fundamental questions for the child begins: 'How do the others see me?'

In this way, through the gaze of the mother (or another person), a first dual relationship emerges between I and non-I, which forms the basis of all further interpersonal object relationships . These relationships are always characterized by a lack, because the object, the “little other” ( object small a ), is in principle unattainable - unattainable both in the form of the mirror image and in the form of the other person with whom a return to the state of the symbiosis in early childhood , in which I and not-I were still undivided, is impossible.

This deficiency, which belongs to the essence of the imaginary , forms the basis of the subject's desire and thus the cause of his entire psychodynamics , his inner drive. In this sense, too, the mirror stage is the basis of the ego constitution: only through the other does the ego become a being that is actively related to its external world by desiring.

Significance of the mirror stage in Lacan's work

After the concept of the mirror stage was formulated quite early, Lacan worked with this concept throughout his life, even if he later referred to it more generally under the term imaginary . In the course of his further work he also corrected some one-sidedness of his original conception, for example by emphasizing the mirror stage less and less as a biographical event, but rather as a fundamental structure of the subject:

“The mirror stage is far from being just an event that occurs in the child's development. It illustrates the conflictual nature of the dual relationship. ”( Seminar IV. The Object Relationship [1956–57])

Overall, Lacan summarized the meaning of the mirror stage as follows:

“[The mirror stage] is a phenomenon that I attribute two values to. First, it contains historical value as it marks a crucial turning point in the child's intellectual development. Second, it is typical of the essentially libidonic relationship with the body image. ”( Some reflections on the ego [1951], in: Int. J. Psycho-Anal., Vol. 34/1953, p. 14, quoted after : Evans: Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis , p. 278)

Reception and criticism

The theory of the mirror stage, first presented to the public in 1936, represented Lacan's first significant innovation within psychoanalytic teaching and made him well known both within and beyond psychoanalysis. The sphere of influence of the theory extended into the field of cultural theory and psychoanalytic film theory . The French anti-colonialist Frantz Fanon used Lacan's conception to explain the self-perception of colonial minorities. It is based on an alienated self-image that is distorted by the internalized gaze of the foreign colonial rulers .

Nevertheless, like Lacan's theory in general, the concept of the mirror stage was not undisputed within psychoanalysis. Even the question of the extent to which Lacan's interpretation of the child's behavior in front of the mirror is really true from a “rapture” about the first-time completeness of the self-image and thus as the first step towards the development of the self cannot be answered clearly. Whether Lacan correctly traces the processes inside the child with his theory must ultimately remain open and is difficult or impossible to test experimentally . The conception of the mirror stage, which is based on empirical observations, but ultimately on observations that can be interpreted in various ways, is based on metapsychological assumptions which, due to their speculative character, tend to elude empirical verifiability. The question of how self-consciousness came into being and how it works is one of the still unsolved questions in both psychology and philosophy .

The theory of the mirror stage was specifically criticized, among other things, by Lacan's biological tendency. Lacan repeatedly uses facts from the animal world to explain the mirror stage in humans, citing both pigeons and migratory locusts as general evidence for the existence of mirror relationships and forms of mimicry without questioning their transferability and significance for psychological relationships . (Cf. Hanna Gekle: Tod im Spiegel. On Lacan's theory of the imaginary , p. 53)

The inappropriateness of the Lacanian concept as a whole has also often been criticized. Literally understood, the mirror stage would mean that a child who does not come into contact with mirrors would have to show disturbances in the development of the ego. Also, the focus on the 'technical' reflection of the complexity of the process of ego creation does not seem appropriate. However, it is questionable whether Lacan himself intended this focus. Peter Widmer provides a broader interpretation of the mirror stage as a relationship between child and mother in his book Subversion des Desire. An introduction to Jacques Lacan's work (pp. 26–36). Dylan Evans also writes: “Even if there is no mirror, the infant sees his behavior reflected in the imitating behavior of adults or in that of other children. Through this imitation the other person functions as a mirror image. ”( Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis , p. 276)

An alternative psychoanalytic conception of the creation of the ego is offered by the object relationship theory , which is shaped by the work of Melanie Klein and which is advocated by psychoanalysts such as William RD Fairbairn or Donald Winnicott , whereby Winnicott expressly refers positively to Lacan's theses on the mirror stage. Winnicott describes the mother's gaze as the “forerunner of the mirror”: the mother's eyes mirror the child's gaze, like a human mirror, and thus convey a feeling of security, affection and acceptance. “The mother looks at the child, and how she looks depends on what she sees herself. “(Winnicott: From Play to Creativity , p. 129). The concept of mirroring as well as “mirror transmission” also plays a decisive role in Heinz Kohut's theory of narcissism , whereby Kohut understands mirror transmission to be exclusively an interpersonal transference relationship . Julia Kristeva , Jessica Benjamin and Jean Laplanche also offer other ways of reading the relationship between the child and his or her picture .

The mirror stage in literature and language theory

In educational and development novels such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's apprenticeship years and other texts, the protagonist develops through reflection. With Lacan's theory, this can be broken down into a conversation with oneself, i.e. between je and moi . Longing to reduce the difference, the protagonist and his psyche have the opportunity to accept the difference - that is, to recognize the dismemberment and incompleteness - or to complete it through action. (See: Pagel, Gerda: Lacan introduction: Under the spell of the mirror - “I am someone else” ) In the battle between the two poles “I” (moi) and “you” (je), in Lacan's first mirror stage of the self, only the self stands Longing for recognition through the you. The other acts here only as a mirror, which is supposed to confirm the completeness of the ego and is thus robbed of its own value. For the I, the you is first and foremost just an instrument to strengthen the ego. But the goal of the reflective conversation is to recognize the you as an independent self and thus ascribe to it its own right to exist. In terms of language theory according to Ferdinand de Saussure , the integration into the system of relations of language ( langage ) is at the fore here, otherwise the type of conversation resembles a monologue. (See: Lang, Hermann: The language and the unconscious. Jacques Lacans Foundation of Psychoanalysis, Frankfurt am Main 1998 ) With Jaques Lacan the mirror stages are stages of personality development and are thus connected with the principle of reflection. The content of these stages can be identified in texts:

Example of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Wilhelm Meister years of apprenticeship : The title hero Wilhelm Meister meets women again and again on his development journey. The reasons why he finds her attractive or why the sympathy is mutual reflect the progress of the stages of reflection: As long as he is narcissistically unreflective, the protagonist can only get along with women who do not criticize him. He uses these women to validate himself because he can't do it himself. Only when he can see himself better in his self-perception, because he allows his imperfections, does he find a partner at eye level. He enters into a conversation with her and can reflect on himself completely informally. In doing so, he discovers his social and medical abilities and can break out of his narcissistic traits through this strengthening of his existence. As a result, the difference between the Je and the Moi (the mirror image) is no longer immeasurably great or he can endure the difference, accept it and thus accept himself without being in love with himself.

literature

Jacques Lacan : The Family (1938). In: Ders .: Writings III. Walter-Verlag, Olten 1978, p. 39-101 (first version of the conception of the mirror stage, especially p. 57-60)
Jacques Lacan: The mirror stage as the builder of the ego function as it appears to us in the psychoanalytic experience (1948). In: ibid .: writings I . Quadriga, Weinheim, Berlin 1986, pp. 61-70
Dylan Evans: Mirror Stage . In: Ders .: Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis . Turia + Kant, Vienna 2002, pp. 277–279
Hanna Gekle: death in the mirror. On Lacan's theory of the imaginary . Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1996
Émile Jalley: Freud, Wallon, Lacan. L'enfant au miroir. EPEL, Paris 1998
Heinz Kohut : Narcissism. A theory of the psychoanalytic treatment of narcissistic personality disorders (1971). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1976
Dany Nobus: Life and death in the glass: A new look at the mirror stage. In the S. (Ed.): Key concepts of Lacanian psychoanalysis. Other Press, New York 1998, pp. 101-138
Gerda Pagel: Under the spell of the mirror - “I am someone else”. In: Dies .: Lacan as an introduction. 4th edition. Junius Verlag, Hamburg 2002, pp. 23–38
Élisabeth Roudinesco : The mirror stage: an obliterated archive. In: Jean-Michel Rabaté (ed.): The Cambridge companion to Lacan. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003, pp. 25-34
Peter Widmer: The discovery of desire: the mirror stage . In: Ders .: Subversion of Desire. An introduction to Jacques Lacan's work . Turia + Kant, Vienna 1997 (4th edition), pp. 26–36
Donald W. Winnicott : From Play to Creativity (1971). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1987, pp. 128-135

Web links

Peter Widmer: The gaze of the third (excerpt from: Subversion des Desire , Vienna: Turia + Kant 1997)

Individual evidence

↑ ( Das Spiegelstadium , p. 68)

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on December 14, 2006 .

[1] ( Das Spiegelstadium , p. 68)