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Behavioral Economics | Definition, Examples & Analysis

Behavioral economics (BE) is the study of economics from a psychological perspective. It aims to understand how individuals actually behave in different economic contexts by challenging the long-standing assumption that people behave rationally. Indeed, most of neoclassical economic theory assumes that individuals are rational, meaning they will act in their best self-interest to maximize profits or welfare. 

The father of behavioral economics, Richard Thaler, refers to these rational individuals as “Econs” (short for Homo economicus in Latin). These are people with the infinite ability to behave according to logical, theoretical principles and remain unmoved by emotions when making decisions. However, in his book Misbehaving (2015), Thaler explains that the world is not made up of these so-called Econs, but of humans who “misbehave” and act irrationally under many scenarios. As explained in Summary of Misbehaving, 

Summary of Misbehaving

The traditional economic theory of the 1970s presumed that people made economic decisions rationally. In this economic vision, rational individuals—or Econs, as Thaler calls them—know what they want, and they know how much they value the things they want. 

Behavioral economics, on the other hand, argues that the world is populated not by Econs, but by Humans. Humans are not always rational. They don’t always know what they want, or how much they value the things they want. In terms of traditional economic theory, Humans misbehave. (2016)

This observation, Thaler believed, was of special relevance in a policy-making context. Thaler argued that, when drafting new policies, it is extremely important to take the irrational (and realistic) reactions of populations into account in order to avoid unintended consequences (such as the financial crisis of 2008).

Although contemporary economist Richard Thaler is known as the “father of behavioral economics,” the origins of this discipline can be found earlier. Indeed, Adam Smith, English philosopher and economist of the 18th century, already questioned the concept of rationality in some of his less famous works such as The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759, [2010]). 

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

The administration of the great system of the universe ... the care of the universal happiness of all rational and sensible beings, is the business of God and not of man. To man is allotted a much humbler department, but one much more suitable to the weakness of his powers, and to the narrowness of his comprehension: the care of his own happiness, of that of his family, his friends, his country.... But though we are ... endowed with a very strong desire of those ends, it has been entrusted to the slow and uncertain determinations of our reason to find out the proper means of bringing them about.

Other early critics of the concept of rationality such as Herbert A. Simon, George Katona, and James March emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. Most notably, Simon coined a term and theory to describe human irrationality during decision-making processes: “bounded rationality.” As he explains in his book Administrative Behavior (1947, [2013]), 

Administrative Behavior

Major attention will be given [...] to the ways in which people actually make decisions, and how their decision-making processes are molded by limits on their knowledge and computational capabilities (bounded rationality). 

However, up till then, behavioral economics was not making enough noise to be considered a discipline of its own. Psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman significantly amplified the volume with their contribution to the field; their well-known “prospect theory.” A summary of Daniel Kahneman’s award winning book Thinking Fast and Slow (2011) explains the bottom line of this theory, which revolutionized economics by challenging traditional utility theory: 

Summary and Analysis of Thinking, Fast and Slow

For Kahneman, the most important takeaways from prospect theory are that reference points exist, and losses always loom larger than corresponding gains in our perception. Therefore, because existing terms provide reference points for negotiations, people tend to fight harder to prevent losses than they do to achieve gains, and they have a sense of unfairness or entitlement which pushes them to feel that their losses are unjust. (2017)

By the late 1900s, behavioral economics was beginning to acquire enough research and literature to be considered a distinct branch of economics. Such was the case that, in the 2000s, the prestigious Quarterly Journal of Economics started publishing an issue which was entirely dedicated to new research and discoveries in the field of behavioral economics — a huge achievement for BE as a discipline. Richard Thaler led the way during these ambitious years with a positive future outlook. Along with other renowned economists, he published numerous papers which allowed the field to continue growing and maturing. Thaler is famously known for developing nudge theory together with Cass R. Sunstein which, as explained in the book Why Nudge? (Sunstein, 2014), refers to the importance of altering and designing environments to influence the likelihood of people choosing one option over another. Sunstein argues that

Why Nudge?

In light of the pervasive risk of government error and the inescapable fact of human diversity, it is usually best to use the mildest and most choice-preserving forms of intervention. These forms include “nudges,” understood as initiatives that maintain freedom of choice while also steering people’s decisions in the right direction (as judged by people themselves). (2014)

For example, according to nudge theory, if you want to influence students to eat healthily in school canteens, this can be achieved by “nudging” students to select healthier dishes by placing these first in the buffet. To date, nudge theory is one of the concepts within behavioral economics which receives the most attention and awe from the general public. 

Figure 1 - Some of the most influential behavioral economists 

Today, behavioral economics is still considered a relatively young field in economics. For this reason, it is a very attractive domain for prospective economists, psychologists, and researchers — or anyone who feels the itch to refine economic models by accounting for human psychology and irrationality. 

Some principles and examples of behavioral economics

Because behavioral economics defies the idea that humans behave rationally when making decisions, it proposes a selection of generalizable situations or principles to illustrate this in practice. These principles are often referred to as cognitive biases and can be thought of as the themes or subtopics studied within behavioral economics. They are backed by experiments and research that demonstrate how human psychology intervenes when people actually make decisions in economic situations. 

The anchoring and framing effects were conceptualized by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. In his book Thinking Fast and Slow (2011), Kahneman explains that anchoring is “the tendency to rely too much on an initial piece of random information—the anchor—which is then used to make subsequent decisions.” For example, say you are looking to buy a shirt. The first one you see costs £20, and the second one £10. The anchoring effect will make you think that the second shirt was “cheap” because you took the price of the first one as a reference, base rate or anchor — influencing your purchasing decision. 

Framing instead happens when “we make choices based on whether they are presented as gains or losses” (Kahneman, 2011). That is, communicating information in one way or another will affect our decision-making. A typical example is when we are presented with two yogurt options in a supermarket, with one labeled as containing “20% fat” and the other one as being “80% fat free.” The second option is generally perceived to have less fat content. This, in turn, will affect the choice the customer makes despite both products being the same. 

The idea that most people have a strong preference for avoiding losses as opposed to acquiring gains is known as loss aversion. This concept was, again, jointly developed by Kahneman and Tversky as a crucial part of their prospect theory. Kahneman and Tversky explain that 

Choices, Values, and Frames

One of the basic phenomena of choice under both risk and uncertainty is that losses loom larger than gains (Kahneman and Tversky, 1984; Tversky and Kahneman, 1991). The observed asymmetry between gains and losses is far too extreme to be explained by income effects or by decreasing risk aversion. (“Advances in Prospect Theory: Cumulative Representation of Uncertainty,” 1992, in Choices, Values, and Frames, 2000) 

This bias often appears when we make decisions that involve risk. For example, people generally prefer investing in safe stocks with lower returns on investment than risky ones with higher returns. 

Introduced by Richard Thaler, mental accounting explains why we often make irrational purchases that we were not anticipating and which we often can’t afford. It refers to the human tendency to compartmentalize our purchases into different mental categories (e.g., entertainment, food, clothes etc.) and assign mental budgets for each of these. For example, say you definitely spent too much on restaurants in the past month, but have come across a beautiful pair of shoes which you cannot resist. Because restaurants and shoes belong to different mental accounting departments (e.g., food vs. clothes), you allow yourself to get those shoes even if your budget doesn’t allow it. In Dollars and Sense (2017), Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler cover this bias in depth, providing the below example: 

Dollars and Sense

George is worried about his finances—as evidenced by his decision to save money on coffee in the morning—yet nonchalantly spends $200 at the casino. This contradiction occurs, in part, because he puts that casino spending into a different “mental account” than the coffee. By taking his money and converting it into pieces of plastic, he opens an “entertainment” fund, while his other spending still comes out of something like “daily expenses.” This trick helps him to feel differently about the two types of spending, but they’re all really part of one account: “George’s money.”

Have you ever spent a lot of time, effort or money on something you didn’t like, but had invested too much in to quit? This is the sunk-cost fallacy. A sunk cost is one which, once invested, cannot be recovered. Richard Thaler notably developed this term, and argued that humans encounter sunk costs that psychologically force them to continue with an undertaking even if it is not their best option. For example, a firm that has invested money, time and effort in opening retail stores may be more likely to keep them open, even if they continue to be unprofitable. In this example, the sunk cost fallacy is hindering the firm from making the decision that is welfare maximizing. 

In Noise (2021), Kahneman, Sunstein and Sibony define heuristics as being a set of “simplifying operations” or shortcuts used by people to answer difficult questions. They help us make decisions quickly without having to spend a lot of time researching or analyzing information. As Kahneman, Sunstein and Sibony explain,

Noise

People who are asked a difficult question use simplifying operations, called heuristics. In general, heuristics, which are produced by fast, intuitive thinking, also known as System 1 thinking, are quite useful and yield adequate answers. But sometimes they lead to biases, which we have described as systematic, predictable errors of judgment. (2021)

Heuristics form one of the major cornerstones of behavioral economics. For example, the anchoring effect explained above is often considered and studied as a heuristic. Stereotypes are another good example of heuristics which we commonly encounter in daily life. These often allow us to fill our information gaps and solve queries by making assumptions based on what we have commonly seen in the past. 

Behavioral economics is a field that is fascinating to not only economists, but academics from an array of disciplines — especially psychologists. Indeed, behavioral economics looks at economic decision-making from a psychological standpoint to bring further realism and accuracy to the study of economics. Over time, pioneers such as Kahneman, Tversky, and Thaler have collaborated and supported one another in order to reach profound conclusions about human economic behavior. The list of cognitive biases and principles studied within BE is wide-ranging, with heuristics, mental accounting and loss aversion just some of the most popular examples. Behavioral economics allows us to understand why we often think with our hearts rather than our heads, and make irrational decisions as a result.

To find out more about behavioral economics, its themes, and examples, read Behavioural Economics Saved My Dog by Dan Ariely

To find out more about the general theory behind behavioral economics, read A Course in Behavioral Economics by Erik Angner

For more on Thaler’s contributions to behavioral economics in a game theory context, read The Winner’s Curse.

For more about behavioral economics in the context of finance, read Behavioural Economics and Finance by Michelle Baddeley

For more information on behavioral economics, read Ignorance by Milan Kundera and Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

Ariely, D. and Kreisler, J. (2017) Dollars and Sense. HarperCollins. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/599177/dollars-and-sense-pdf 

Kahneman, D. (2012) Thinking Fast and Slow. Penguin.

Kahneman, D., Sibony, O. and Sunstein, C. (2021) Noise. HarperCollins Publishers. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2035336/noise-pdf

Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. (eds.) (2000) Choices, Values, and Frames. Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1704968/choices-values-and-frames-pdf 

Simon, H. (2013) Administrative Behavior, 4th Edition. Free Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/779475/administrative-behavior-4th-edition-pdf 

Smith, A. (2010) The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Harriman House. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1415632/the-theory-of-moral-sentiments-the-classic-philosophical-work-on-ethics-and-rights-pdf

Summary and Analysis of Thinking, Fast and Slow (2017). Worth Books. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2417368/summary-and-analysis-of-thinking-fast-and-slow-based-on-the-book-by-daniel-kahneman-pdf 

Summary of Misbehaving (2016). Instaread, Inc. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2174479/summary-of-misbehaving-by-richard-h-thaler-includes-analysis-pdf 

Sunstein, C. (2014) Why Nudge? Yale University Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1088943/why-nudge-the-politics-of-libertarian-paternalism-pdf 

Thaler, R. (2015) Misbehaving. Penguin. 

What is Behavioral Economics?

What is Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory?

What is Psychoanalytic Feminism?

What is Structuralism?

What is Social Learning Theory?

What is Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory?

What is Poststructuralism?

What is Affect Theory?

What is 'The Abject' & Abjection Theory?

Lacan’s Mirror Stage | Summary, Examples & Analysis

Have you ever watched a baby see its reflection in a mirror? The child might smile or laugh, reacting playfully or with a sense of wonder. This moment inspires Lacan’s mirror stage.

The “mirror stage” (also called the “mirror phase”) is a developmental stage theorized by psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. Occurring between six and eighteen months, Lacan’s mirror stage is the process during which we understand ourselves as individuals, whole and distinct from the people around us, and begin taking active part in sign systems (language, culture, normative behavior, etc.). The mirror stage marks our entry into the realms of the Imaginary and the Symbolic and the development of the ego and the Subject — the “I.” 

Lacan’s mirror stage is inspired by Henri Wallon’s developmental psychology. Wallon described how, compared to other animals, humans are born prematurely, requiring up to eighteen months of development before we can stand, walk, handle objects usefully, or understand our body as a whole in its environment. Wallon observed that when faced with their reflections, young primates like chimpanzees quickly lost interest with or tried to attack the images, while human children remained fascinated. Lacan theorized that, by seeing an image of the self, perceiving itself as others do, the child develops a sense of its body and its identity. 

The mirror stage was Lacan’s first original piece of psychoanalytic theory, and he returned to the idea throughout his career. The mirror stage developed layers of meaning as Lacan reconsidered it in light of his other theories. His concepts of the self and other, the ego and the Subject, and the realms of existence (the Real, the Imaginary, and the Symbolic) all relate in some way to the mirror stage. 

While the mirror stage may seem to refer to a specific moment, it is more metaphorical than literal. By the end of his career, Lacan viewed the mirror stage as a paradigm or structure of subjectivity rather than a quantifiable moment in human development. 

Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (1901–1981) was a French philosopher, psychoanalyst, and theorist. He began pursuing medicine in 1920 and specialized in psychiatry in 1926. As a young man, Lacan was a figure in Paris’s intellectual and artistic circles, frequenting the legendary Shakespeare and Co. bookstore, befriending surrealist and avant-garde artists like André Breton and Salvador Dali, and becoming Picasso’s personal physician.

Lacan’s psychoanalytic theories explore ideas like paranoia, narcissism, neurosis, the ego, and alienation. Known for combining Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and key elements of structuralism including Saussure’s theories of linguistics, Lacan became a leading figure in the structuralist movement of the 1950s and 1960s and in broader twentieth-century critical thought (see Lacan and Jacques Lacan for more of his theories). He not only revolutionized psychoanalysis (earning him the nickname “the French Freud”) but also influenced other areas of study such as literature and film.

Lacan first introduced “the mirror stage” at the 1936 International Congress of Psychoanalysis, later reworking the article and presenting on the mirror stage again in 1949. Lacan writes,

Écrits: A Selection

We have only to understand the mirror stage as an identification, in the full sense that analysis gives to the term: namely, the transformation that takes place in the subject when he assumes an image – whose predestination to this phase-effect is sufficiently indicated by the use, in analytic theory, of the ancient term imago. (1966, [2020])

Lacan emphasizes that the mirror stage is about identification. It is, as Lionel Bailly writes, “the first time the child thinks of itself as ‘I’ in relationship with an image that it starts to understand as representing itself” (Lacan, 2012). When this identification occurs, the child often becomes enraptured by its image. The mirror stage, involving fascination with one’s own image, is thus related to Freud’s idea of primary narcissism. The process of identifying with one’s image is the “founding act, leading to the formation of the ego and the perception of the Subject” (Bailly, 2012). 

Dylan Evans describes the steps of the mirror stage that lead to ego formation: 

An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis

The baby sees its own image as whole [...], and the synthesis of this image produces a sense of contrast with the uncoordination of the body, which is experienced as a FRAGMENTED BODY; this contrast is first felt by the infant as a rivalry with its own image, because the wholeness of the image threatens the subject with fragmentation, and the mirror stage thereby gives rise to an aggressive tension between the subject and the image [...]. In order to resolve this aggressive tension, the subject identifies with the image; this primary identification with the counterpart is what forms the ego. (2006)

Evans emphasizes a core element of the mirror stage: the understanding of the body as a whole that exists in the world rather than as fragmented parts. 

While the mirror stage is about identification, it is also about alienation. It is, in a sense, an out-of-body experience. The formation of the ego and the Subject rest on a misunderstanding (méconnaissance): the image is me and simultaneously not me. Through the specular image (the reflection), something illusory, we experience wholeness. The formations of the ego and Subject thus require that we see ourselves from the outside, as others see us. Bailly writes,

Lacan

From the beginning, the child’s identity (or Subject) is both ‘what I am’ and ‘what others and I see of me’ – the image is oneself and simultaneously not oneself, and no sooner has there been this splitting, than there is a merging and confusion of subject and object – an ‘adoption’ by the Subject of its objectified image. (2012)

This description of the mirror stage speaks to recurrent themes in Lacanian theory: the complicated relationship between the self and the other, and the Subject as a constructed identity or image rather than something “real” or “innate,” a product of the Symbolic Order (explored below).

By the end of his career, Lacan understood the mirror stage as a structural paradigm rather than a literal moment in human development. This understanding of the mirror stage helps explain subject formation in cases where no reflection can be seen — such as with blind children, for example. The child’s experience of seeing its reflection is exemplary of the process of subject formation but not the sole cause. Construction of the ego and the Subject will still occur even if the child does not see its reflection; the child comes to understand itself as perceived by others and part of larger systems through other sources, such as verbal cues from parental figures.

To better understand Lacan’s mirror stage, and the difference between the ego and the Subject, we should examine how these ideas fit into other Lacanian theories: namely, the Real, the Imaginary, and the Symbolic.

Lacan and other structuralists developed theories based on Saussure’s semiology, or his theory of signs. In brief, a sign is the combination of a signifier and a signified. In language, the signifier is the sound-image (the word) and the signified is what it refers to, e.g., T-R-E-E signifies a large plant with roots, a trunk, branches, etc. But signs need not be linguistic; images, gestures, sounds, clothing, and more can all contain meaning and be part of sign systems.

Building on semiology, Lacan proposes a theory of three registers of existence: the Real, the Imaginary, and the Symbolic. Broadly understood, the Real is reality unmediated by signs. There is no presence or absence; it is undifferentiated, unsymbolized, all-encompassing. The Real is impossible to fully understand or describe. Bailly writes,

The Real is the featureless clay from which reality is fashioned by the Symbolic; it is the chaos from which the world came into being, by means of the Word. (2012)

Lacan reformulated the Real at several moments throughout his career, and he intentionally does not describe the Real as clearly as the Imaginary or the Symbolic. The Real at times seems connected to the reality of the external world, to sense perceptions and biological facts, while at other times it is connected to internal phenomena, located in anxiety, trauma, dreams, and hallucinations. The most essential quality of the Real is its resistance to images and symbolization. 

For Lacan, we exist closest to the Real when we are first born, unaffected by language and culture, until we enter the mirror stage somewhere between six and eighteen months. The mirror stage brings us into the Imaginary, the realm of images, consciousness, and self-awareness — and the realm of the ego. Sean Homer describes the Imaginary as a “pre-linguistic realm of sense perception, identification and an illusory sense of unity” (Jacques Lacan, 2004). 

The relationship that the child forms with its own body — or, more precisely, the image of its body (the specular image) — is the foundational relationship in the realm of the Imaginary. The identification with one’s image produces the ego and is

Jacques Lacan

repeated and reinforced by the subject in his/her relationship with the external world. The imaginary, therefore, is not a developmental phase – it is not something that one goes through and grows out of – but remains at the core of our experience. As the sense of original unity and coherence in the mirror phase is an illusion, there is a fundamental disharmony regarding the ego. The ego is essentially a terrain of conflict and discord; a site of continual struggle. (Homer, 2004)

For Lacan, the mirror stage is both about identification and individualization, a process that “decisively projects the formation of the individual into history”:

The mirror stage is a drama whose internal thrust is precipitated from insufficiency to anticipation – and which manufactures for the subject, caught up in the lure of spatial identification, the succession of phantasies that extends from a fragmented body-image to a form of its totality that I shall call orthopaedic – and, lastly, to the assumption of the armour of an alienating identity, which will mark with its rigid structure the subject’s entire mental development. (Écrits: A Selection, 1966, [2020])

Through the mirror stage, we create both the Imaginary I (the ego, produced through our relationship with the image of “I”) and the Symbolic I (the Subject, the “I” positioned within and shaped by the Symbolic Order). The mirror stage separates us from the undifferentiated Real and plunges us into the Symbolic realm, the register of language, culture, norms, social relations, and signifiers. We thus exit the mirror stage with the foundations of the ego (our self-consciousness, our identity as an image seen by others) and the Subject (our knowledge of our role within larger Symbolic structures — for example, our place within the family or our status as a woman in a patriarchal culture).  

Although we become active participants in the Symbolic realm once we acquire subjectivity and language, we are not excluded from the influence of the Symbolic before the mirror stage. As Darian Leader and Judy Groves write, the social, cultural, and linguistic principles of the Symbolic 

Introducing Lacan

precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals and histories of the parents. Even before a child is born, the parents have talked about him or her, chosen a name, mapped out his or her future. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child’s existence. (2014)

For example, the child seeing its reflection may look back at a parent for guidance, and the parent may indicate how the child should interpret the image in the mirror.

Because Lacan understands people as governed by the Symbolic Order (the social world of linguistic and ideological conventions), he translates Freud’s psychoanalytic theory (like the Oedipus complex and castration anxiety) from the physical to the symbolic. The Lacanian phallus is not a literal penis but a symbolic one, the sign of the distinction between sexes and the power of “wholeness.” The father, in Freud the subject of his son’s murderous intent, becomes for Lacan the Name-of-the-Father, the conceptual patriarch in the Symbolic Order, and the Law of the Father, the patriarchal nature of the Symbolic Order. By taking a linguistic rather than biological approach, Lacan opens new pathways for psychoanalysis and illustrates a broader point about the nature of signs: signs replace “things” themselves. We live and think in the Imaginary and the Symbolic, glimpsing the Real through hallucinations and dreams. The “reality” we ordinarily speak of, therefore, 

would best be defined as an amalgam of symbolic and imaginary: imaginary to the extent that we are situated in the specular register and the ego offers us rationalizations of our actions; and symbolic to the extent that most things around us have meaning. (Leader and Groves, 2014)

While the Imaginary and the Symbolic work upon us before the mirror stage — we see images, we hear language, we experience culture — the mirror stage is our true entry into these realms as it leads us to construct our core senses of self (the ego and the Subject) which exist within those registers. 

Applying Lacan’s mirror stage: feminism and film studies

The influence of Lacan’s mirror stage extends far beyond psychoanalytic practice. Elizabeth Grosz writes, 

Jacques Lacan: A Feminist Introduction

Lacan has succeeded, where many before him failed, in signalling the importance of Freud’s work to disciplines outside of psychology (narrowly conceived), making it relevant to all the social sciences and humanities which take subjectivity as their object of investigation (including linguistics, literary theory, philosophy, politics, semiotics, social theory, and anthropology, as well as feminism). (2002)

Here, we provide an overview of two major areas influenced by Lacan: feminism and film studies.

For feminist scholars, Lacan is a divisive figure. Some argue that he continues a tradition of sexism in psychoanalysis while others interpret his theories as a challenge to those traditions. In her feminist examination of Lacan, Grosz acknowledges that Lacan’s reinterpretation of Freud

helps to vindicate psychoanalysis in feminist terms, enabling it to be used as an explanatory model for social and political relations. Lacan can be utilized to explain such notorious concepts as women’s ‘castration’ or ‘penis envy’ in socio-historical and linguistic terms, that is, in terms more politically palatable than Freud’s biologism. (2002)

At the same time, she critiques Lacan’s sexist shortcomings. Discussing the mirror stage specifically, she argues that Lacan’s “vision-centredness [...] privileges the male body as a phallic, virile body and regards the female body as castrated” because

the female can be construed as castrated, lacking a sexual organ, only on the information provided by vision. The other sensori-perceptual organs would have confirmed the presence of a female organ instead of the absence of a male organ. (2002)

By critiquing Lacan and reinterpreting his ideas from a feminist perspective, feminist scholars have created a rich tradition of feminist psychoanalytic theory. For more, see our guide to psychoanalytic feminism, Sexuality in the Field of Vision (2020), and Toward a Feminist Lacanian Left (2022).

Perhaps the most significant application of Lacan’s mirror stage beyond psychology is in film studies. The mirror becomes the movie screen as scholars interrogate experiences of identification at the cinema.

Jean-Louis Baudry first applied the mirror stage to movies in “Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus” (1970, [1974]). Reading the screen as a mirror for the self, Baudry argues that the cinema is “a sort of psychic apparatus of substitution” (1974). Baudry writes,

The spectator identifies less with what is represented, the spectacle itself, than with what stages the spectacle, makes it seen, obliging him to see what it sees [i.e., the camera]. (1974)

Taking on the camera’s gaze, we piece the fragmented images on screen into a version of ourselves, echoing the mirror stage. For Baudry, ideology is conveyed through films via this process of identification. 

Christian Metz also applies Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis to the cinema. In The Imaginary Signifier (1986), Metz critiques Baudry’s application of the mirror stage, pointing out that while we as children see ourselves in the mirror (or at least reflected images of ourselves), we as film spectators do not see ourselves reflected literally on screen. For Metz, this is an essential difference:

Conversations with Christian Metz

the cinema spectator is an adult, so he has already gone through the real Mirror Stage, and the Symbolic already functions in him; while in the child, it has yet to be constructed. (Metz, quoted in Buckland and Fairfax, Conversations with Christian Metz, 2017)

Cinema thus occurs less in the Imaginary and more in the Symbolic order. For Metz, the spectator must recognize their absence from the screen. Because the spectator does not see their reflection, the spectator identifies less with the characters/actors and more with “a pure, all-seeing invisible subject” who witnesses the events of the film (1986). Because the cinema is about looking at others, it is inherently voyeuristic.

Laura Mulvey also applies Lacan’s mirror stage to cinema when articulating her theory of the male gaze. In “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (originally published in 1975 and reprinted in Feminism and Film Theory [2013]), Mulvey sees the mirror stage as the “birth of the long love affair/despair between image and self-image which has found such intensity of expression in film and such joyous recognition in the cinema audience.” She argues that 

Feminism and Film Theory

the cinema has structures of fascination strong enough to allow temporary loss of ego while simultaneously reinforcing the ego. The sense of forgetting the world as the ego has subsequently come to perceive it (I forgot who I am and where I was) is nostalgically reminiscent of that pre-subjective moment of image recognition. At the same time the cinema has distinguished itself in the production of ego ideals as expressed in particular in the star system, the stars [...] act out a complex process of likeness and difference (the glamorous impersonates the ordinary). (Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," in Feminism and Film Theory, 2013)

Mulvey argues that we see movie stars as more complete, more perfect versions of ourselves, just as we, as children, see more whole versions of ourselves in the mirror. Mulvey posits that the cinematic gaze is a male one, with the woman always as the object. The gaze comes in three forms: the gaze of the camera (a voyeuristic one) and the gaze of male characters on screen toward female characters, which combine to create the gaze of the spectator (inherently male). 

Many film scholars use Lacan’s visually-oriented theories to analyze the experiences of subjects watching films. Slavoj Žižek, a giant of twentieth and twenty-first century critical and cultural theory, offers a guide to psychoanalysis and cinema in Enjoy Your Symptom! (1992). In Pixar with Lacan (2015), Lilian Munk Rösing applies Lacanian theories to Pixar’s iconic animated films, illustrating Lacan’s ideas through recognizable media and analyzing the films’ ideological implications. In Jacques Lacan and Cinema (2018), Pietro Bianchi breaks with previous approaches that focus on the subjective experience of film; instead, he applies Lacan’s theories to the mathematization and geographies of visual space.

Beyond film, Lacan’s ideas can be used to analyze other artistic forms. In Lacan Reframed (2011), Stephen Levine introduces Lacan’s ideas through their applications to the visual arts, and David Bard-Schwarz applies Lacan to installations and computer programs in An Introduction to Electronic Art Through the Teaching of Jacques Lacan (2014). These texts not only illustrate Lacan’s applications but also help explain his ideas through concrete examples.

While Lacan’s ideas can seem dense or complicated, his theories have gone on to influence a variety of disciplines and approaches. Beyond feminism and film, Lacan’s theories have been used to analyze addiction, race, love, and more. Understanding the mirror stage, one of his most significant theories, will help you navigate scholarship utilizing Lacan in a variety of fields.

A Clinical Introduction to Lacanian Psychoanalysis (1999) by Bruce Fink

Lacan for Beginners (2009) by Philip Hill

Reading Lacan's Écrits: From 'Signification of the Phallus' to 'Metaphor of the Subject' (2018) edited by Stijn Vanheule, Derek Hook, and Calum Neill

Introductory Lectures on Lacan (2018) by Astrid Gessert

Key Concepts of Lacanian Psychoanalysis (2018) by Dany Nobus

Dolls, Photography and the Late Lacan: Doubles Beyond the Uncanny (2020) by Rosalinda Quintieri

Bailly, L. (2012) Lacan. Oneworld Publications. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/950010/lacan-a-beginners-guide-pdf 

Baudry, J.-L. (1974) “Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus,” Film Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 39–47.

Bianchi, P. (2018) Jacques Lacan and Cinema: Imaginary, Gaze, Formalisation. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1511116/jacques-lacan-and-cinema-imaginary-gaze-formalisation-pdf 

Buckland, W. and Fairfax, D. (eds.) (2017) Conversations with Christian Metz: Selected Interview on Film Theory (1970-1991). Amsterdam University Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1458784/conversations-with-christian-metz-selected-interviews-on-film-theory-19701991-pdf 

Evans, D. (2006) An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1620555/an-introductory-dictionary-of-lacanian-psychoanalysis-pdf 

Grosz, E. (2002) Jacques Lacan: A Feminist Introduction. Taylor and Francis. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1620222/jacques-lacan-a-feminist-introduction-pdf 

Homer, S. (2004) Jacques Lacan. Taylor and Francis. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1618607/jacques-lacan-pdf 

Lacan, J. (2020) Écrits: A Selection. Translated by A. Sheridan. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1974298/ecrits-a-selection-pdf 

Leader, D. and Groves, J. (2014) Introducing Lacan: A Graphic Guide. Icon Books. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/569732/introducing-lacan-a-graphic-guide-pdf 

Levine, S. (2011) Lacan Reframed: Key Thinkers for the Arts. Bloomsbury Publishing. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/883354/lacan-reframed-interpreting-key-thinkers-for-the-arts-pdf.

Metz, C. (1986) The Imaginary Signifier: Psychoanalysis and the Cinema. Indiana University Press.

Mulvey, L. (2013) “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” in Penly, C. (ed.) Feminism and Film Theory. Taylor and Francis. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1617150/feminism-and-film-theory-pdf 

Rose, J. (2020) Sexuality in the Field of Vision. Verso. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1841606/sexuality-in-the-field-of-vision-pdf. 

Rösing, L. M. (2015) Pixar with Lacan: The Hysteric’s Guide to Animation. Bloomsbury. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/801202/pixar-with-lacan-the-hysterics-guide-to-animation-pdf

Valdés, A. (2022) Toward a Feminist Lacanian Left: Psychoanalytic Theory and Intersectional Politics. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/3237285/toward-a-feminist-lacanian-left-psychoanalytic-theory-and-intersectional-politics-pdf 

Zizek, S. (2012) Enjoy Your Symptom! Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1609105/enjoy-your-symptom-jacques-lacan-in-hollywood-and-out-pdf 

What is Lacan’s Mirror Stage?

What is Situationist Theory?

What is Avant-Garde?

What is Guy Debord's Theory of the Spectacle?

What is Marxism?

Key Elements of Gothic Literature & Film

What is Socialism?

What is Critical Theory?

What is Dadaism? Understanding the Dada Art Movement

What is Gentrification?

What is Psychogeography? (Debord) | Definitions & Examples

For some, the city is a bustling, stimulating space, brimming with opportunities for connection and exploration. Others, however, may experience that same metropolis as a claustrophobic and frustrating concrete jungle. How a person feels about a specific place, or type of place, is due to a wide array of factors; these preferences may be due to the architecture, layout, or our personal associations with that place. Our personal experience of a space may also be impacted by factors such as neurodiversity; the cacophony of sounds in the city may cause sensory overload for those with sensory processing issues. A way to understand the variance in our reactions to a space is through psychogeography. 

In his much-cited essay “Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography” (1955), Guy Debord defines “psychogeography” as 

The Situationists and the City

the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals. (Debord, in The Situationists and the City, 2020)

Debord was fascinated by the reactions that different individuals had to the same spaces and how a single space could provoke a multitude of different responses. He writes, 

[...] the variety of possible combinations of environments, analogous to the dissolution of pure chemical bodies in an infinite number of mixtures, entails feelings as differentiated and as complex as those provoked by any other form of theater. And the slightest clear-headed search makes evident that no distinction, whether qualitative or quantitative, between the influences of diverse settings built in a city can be inferred from an architectural era or style, much less from housing conditions. (Debord, 1955, [2020])

In other words, we cannot attribute our feelings towards a space solely due to its aesthetic features. Instead, we must look at the multitude of “combinations” within an environment, such as: 

The type of activity that occurs in that place

Sensory factors (i.e., particular smells or sounds)

In order to fully study how the environment impacts the behavior and emotions of individuals, psychogeographers must walk through the city, taking notes of the emotions, behaviors, and thoughts that arise. These notations would be used for a variety of purposes both scholarly and creative. The observations made by psychogeographers have contributed to academic discourse on urban spaces and planning, and have resulted in creative works such as Debord’s reimagined Parisian maps and, more recently, the writings of Iain Sinclair and Will Self, among others. 

Guy Debord & psychogeography’s beginnings 

Psychogeography was one of the key contributions of the Paris-based avante-garde group, The Letterist International (1952-57). This collective would eventually transform into the radical group The Situationist International (1957–72). The Letterist International, founded by Debord and artist Gil J. Wolman, promoted art as a way of disrupting or subverting capitalist ideologies (such as using slogans to make anti-capitalist art). 

The term “psychogeography” itself is credited to the “illiterate” group member, Kabyle (Debord, 1955, [2020]). The first discussion of the term appeared in the Potlatch (a Letterist journal) in 1954. Here, the reader is encouraged to partake in their “Psychogeographical Game of the Week”: 

Depending on what you are after, choose a region, a more or less densely populated city, a more or less lively street. Build a house. Furnish it. Make the most of its decoration and its surroundings. Choose the season and the time. Gather together the most fitting people, with suitable records and drinks. Lighting and conversation must, of course, be appropriate, along with the weather or your memories. If there has been no error in your calculations, you should find the outcome satisfying. (Cited in Debord, 1955, [2020])

The concept of psychogeography was further developed by Ivan Chtcheglov (pseudonym Gilles Ivain) in his essay “Formulary for a New Urbanism” (1958), available in The Situationists and the City (2020). Chtcheglov writes, 

All cities are geological and three steps cannot be taken without encountering ghosts, bearing all the prestige of their legends. We maneuver within a closed landscape whose landmarks constantly draw us toward the past. Certain shifting angles, certain receding perspectives allow us to glimpse original conceptions of space, but this vision remains fragmentary. It must be sought in the magical locales of folkloric tales and surrealist writings: castles, endless walls, little forgotten bars, Mammoth Cave, mirrors of Casinos.

Chtcheglov makes explicit the connection between the objective reality and history of a space and our experience of it; this experience informed literature, legendary tales and our ever-changing knowledge of the landscape and the culture. 

Though Chtcheglov’s article was highly influential, it is not until Debord’s writing that psychogeography gains real traction. In 1957, the members of The Letterist International, along with new members, created The Situationist International (SI). The SI was predominantly concerned with how capitalism had resulted in the gentrification of urban spaces. As Alex J. Bridger writes, 

Psychogeography and Psychology

Their aims, tactics and strategies were to work towards the downfall of capitalist society. They believed that radical theory and practice could not exist in universities and other such academic contexts as any radical potential of knowledge would eventually be recuperated by those in power and the bourgeois institutions in which such academics worked. The intellectual terrain for the situationists was that of the streets and bars of Paris and London. (2022)

The art of observation: flânerie and dérive 

One of the most central aspects of Debord’s psychogeography is the concept of dérive (translated as “to drift”), a method of observation for psychogeographers. Before we explore dérive further, it is important to acknowledge a similar practice that originated in the nineteenth century in France: flânerie. 

Flânerie was a type of urban wandering practiced by men of leisure, known as flâneurs. The French term “flâneur” translates roughly as “stroller” or “loafer”, and describes a man who would wander the streets, without clear direction or purpose in order to explore new spaces and observe passers-by. The figure of the flâneur is most often associated with the French poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-67), whose essay “The Painter of Modern Life” (1863), 

Critical Alliances

[...] cemented the ﬂâneur’s recognition among international audiences, including English authors and readers. His essay helped popularize the ﬁgure’s deﬁnition as an urban man who aimlessly wanders the city streets in search of visual stimulation. (S. Brooke Cameron, 2020)

Marit Grøtta points out the complexities and contradictions within this urban persona that cause it to resist definition or clear categorization. She writes, 

Baudelaire's Media Aesthetics

The flâneur represents the urban experience with all its aspects: he is an urban stroller, a street-artist, an accidental gaze, an amateur detective. With his heightened sensibility, the flâneur became an index of the dramatic changes that occurred as the city of Paris was transformed into a modern metropolis. (2015)

It is clear to see why psychogeography is bound up with the romantic concept of flânerie. However, unlike the passiveness of flânerie, psychogeographers walk with purpose, with some seeing the act of walking as politically charged (which I go on to explore later in this guide). 

Rather than reviving flânerie, Debord proposed the psychogeographer must conduct a dérive. He famously wrote of this practice in his essay “Theory of the dérive” (1958). Here, he explains the process:  

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