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narcissistic object-choice
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In psychoanalysis, a type of object-choice in which one chooses a love-object according to characteristics that the person shares with oneself. Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) introduced this concept in 1911 in an article ‘Psycho-analytic Notes on an Autobiographical Account of a Case of Paranoia (Dementia Paranoides)’ (Standard Edition, XII, pp. 9–82, at pp. 60–1) and developed it fully in 1914 in an article ‘On Narcissism: An Introduction’ (Standard Edition, XIV, pp. 73–102, at pp. 88–91), citing the fact that homosexuals take themselves as models in object-choices as ‘the strongest of the reasons that have led us to adopt the hypothesis of narcissism’ (p. 88). See also narcissism. Compare anaclitic object-choice.
