Gillibert describes a particular character type for which he introduces the term "simulacre" or "likeness." The person with this character type may be quite well adapted and reality oriented and may even show some productivity or creativity in life, but the attentive observer can discern a certain emptiness. Attitudes and reactions seem devoid of instinctual resources, and the personality is like an artifact. It is an artifact, however, not in the sense of a false imitation, but as a likeness or appearance, just as a statue may represent the human body. Gillibert feels that the metapsychological explanation for this phenomenon has not as yet been worked out. He suggests that there may be an attempt to represent or identify with that which is absent. Certain themes in the psychoanalytic literature, such as a projective identification and Winnicott's discussion of transitional phenomena and his concept of the false self, may serve to clarify this personality type.