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ON TEASING. Samuel J. Sperling, M.D.
A case is reported in which teasing played an important role in the therapy, being used to express both positive and negative transference feelings. The positive and constructive aspect of teasing is often overlooked in psychoanalytic therapy.
Teasing is a specific pattern of interpersonal relationship, which stems from an almost universal phase of childhood development in which primarily strong sado-masochistic drives are sublimated under social pressures. The pattern is characterized by the teaser eliciting emotional and behavioral responses from a resistant and reluctant teased person, who, nevertheless, is forced to participate in the teasing activity. The reluctance stems from the definite serious character and painful potentialities of the teasing. The teased one overrules this danger because other fears seem more threatening and a potential pleasurable premium may be offered.
Individuals who do not master the common teasing experience of childhood have difficulty later in recognizing the boundaries and realities of the playful and pleasurable components and the serious or potentially disturbing activities in interpersonal relationships. The mastery of the teasing experience appears to facilitate the development of playful and more free interpersonal relationships and activities, as well as more active and socially acceptable outlets of aggression in such common social experiences as coquetry, bantering, sportsmanship and salesmanship.
The use of teasing in several cultures as a means of developing specific personality patterns is illustrated. It facilitates that difficult and often simultaneous combination of competitive and coöperative activities in interpersonal relationships that is a commonplace in our culture.