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The authors wish to establish a meaning of the selfobject that is neither too narrow and rigid nor overgeneralized. The self is organized self-experience, a structure. Affects play a central role in the organization of this structure. The caretaker, via its selfobject function, has a central importance in determining which affects are experienced by the self. Proper integration of these affects is crucial for self-esteem. Early merger with idealized and soothing selfobjects can be integrated into the self and provide later means of dealing with painful affective states, such as anxiety. Later, the oedipal child can be helped by a parent who can appreciate and even feel pleasure at his or her oedipal strivings. Integration of these parental attitudes into the self, greatly influenced by the affects they stir within the child, will have major bearing on self-esteem and on oedipal and postoedipal functioning. The authors expand Kohut's concepts of early mirroring and selfobject idealization to a more general attunement of the caretaker's affective states with those of the child at any age. The selfobject function of the affectively attuned caretaker does several things for the child: (1) helps separate out affects from their undifferentiated state; (2) integrates contradictory affect states within the self; (3) tolerates affects so that they can be used as internal signals to the self; and (4) elevates affects from the initial state of being somatically expressed to being cognitively or psychologically experienced—an issue in warding off psychosomatic responses. Toleration of affect on the analyst's part and affective attunement with the patient help the patient to reintegrate isolated or warded-off affects.