Imago (Noun)
Meaning 2
(psychoanalysis) an idealized image of someone (usually a parent) formed in childhood.
Classification
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents.
Examples
- His relationship with his strict mentor was an attempt to resolve the issues he had with his father imago, a deeply ingrained figure in his subconscious mind.
- In psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer of emotions from her childhood mother imago to the therapist was a significant moment in the healing process.
- Her complicated love life was largely driven by the unrealistic expectations formed around her imago of a partner, created by an early fixation on a film hero.
- Freud argued that individuals frequently attract romantic partners that represent the polar opposite of the paternal or maternal imago established in childhood.
- Therapists caution against holding an imago as the model for ideal adult relationships, because these pre-oedipal conceptions do not conform to adult boundaries or rules.