The 56 building blocks in context
A coherent picture of the human being
What you read in the following sections is not a judgement about you and not a diagnosis. It is a model, a map, that wishes to show how a human being can function from the inside out: how, out of early bodily experience, a self gradually emerges, how this self enters into relationship, binds itself to valuation, tips under threat into an inner loop, and how this loop can transform again through awareness. The chain comprises fifty-six building blocks across three levels, yet they are not to be read strictly one after another. Much happens at once, some of it repeats, individual movements reinforce one another. Understand the stages, therefore, as a process logic with feedback loops and not as a fixed staircase that every person climbs in the same order. And hold on to one thing as you read: if you recognise yourself in some of it, that does not mean something is wrong with you. It means, rather, that you are human.
Stages 1 to 6
The beginning: disposition, body and relationship
Even before experience begins, a person brings along a disposition of their own, a temperament with openness to stimuli and a first colouring of activation and approach, which can tint everything that follows without fixing it. This constitutional endowment is a quiet co-player in the whole process, one the model names expressly, even as it itself describes the experience- and relationship-related axis. Before a human being thinks, before they can name themselves, they experience themselves through their body. Bodily experience is the starting point: tension, hunger, breathing, warmth, closeness and touch are the first language in which life makes itself heard, long before there are words for it. Out of this experience grows inner perception, the sensing of inner states, even before they carry a name. Whoever listens inwardly and notices that something is tight or wide, calm or restless, touches precisely this early layer. Gradually, and this is a process and not a single moment, a first boundary forms between self and not-self, a delicate distinction between what belongs to me and what is outside. On this distinction an inner reference and a body-self can build, for out of repeated sensing an inner orientation arises, a first bodily sense of I. And yet none of this comes about alone. The child needs response, closeness, rhythm, voice, gaze and protection, because regulation first arises within relationship. This co-regulation is the ground on which a person can later learn to soothe themselves.
In theoretical terms, these first stages connect to the infant research of Daniel Stern and to research on interoception, that is, the perception of one’s own bodily interior, and co-regulation can be linked to Bowlby, Ainsworth and Tronick. The A-A-T needs no terms of its own here, for the model moves on well-established ground.
What this section shows in the overall picture: A human being does not begin in the head, but in the body and in relationship. Before any self-image or thought exists, there is a sensing creature that must be held in order to learn to hold itself.
Stages 7 to 11
Trust, fear and the first protective movement
On the ground of early relationship, something fundamental is decided. If inner experience is held often enough, basic trust can grow; if the holding too often fails to come, a basic insecurity can imprint itself instead. This is not a moral question and not a merit of the child, but an early base of security that is assembled from countless small experiences. Out of this base arises a basic tension that can accompany a person for a long time, for fear can appear as alarm, while soothing and relational security arise through contact, acceptance and reliable closeness. In the very early time, security and the caregiver are often barely separated from one’s own self, so that in this phase of early attachment with little separated self-experience, protection and I still almost coincide. Only gradually do development, distance and also frustration bring forth the experience of not being one with the other. This separation and self-will are the beginning of autonomy, a necessary, sometimes painful step. And where experience grows too great, a first protection and possible splitting-off can show itself, because overwhelm, fear or shame can be separated from the conscious sense of self, so that the child can keep functioning.
These stages can be linked to Erikson, to attachment research and to autonomy development, and the early protective movement touches classical concepts of defence as well as the schema theory of Jeffrey Young. Here too the model works cautiously and explicitly marks the very early separateness as carefully formulated, because preverbal experience can only be spoken of with restraint.
What this section shows in the overall picture: Trust and fear are not character flaws, but early answers to the question of whether the world is reliable. Already here the first movement arises that can later run through an entire life, namely the protection against what was too much.
Stages 12 to 16
How valuation becomes a self-image
With the growing separation, the outside world enters more clearly into play. The child experiences external feedback, that is, approval, rejection, closeness, distance, criticism or also disregard, and each of these reactions helps shape self-reference. From this follows an appraisal and valuation of one’s own experience, which is classified as safe or unsafe, welcome or not. Valuation is not, from the outset, something bad; it is the transition from mere experience to meaning. At this point the model formulates its perhaps most important assumption, substituted valuation-love, for affection can be confused with recognition, good behaviour or approval, so that a person begins to learn that love is something one earns. This is an A-A-T term of its own and explicitly marked as a model assumption, not as a proven fact. Out of all this grows a differentiation of needs and values, in which needs, values and inner patterns of orientation take shape, and finally a self-image, an image of oneself grown out of repeated feedback.
In theoretical terms, these stages connect to the looking-glass self of Cooley and to Mead, to appraisal research on the evaluation of experience, to Carl Rogers, to the self-concept research of Susan Harter and to the internal working model of attachment theory, while the differentiation of needs and values draws on need psychology and on values development. Substituted valuation-love, by contrast, is a term of its own with which the A-A-T names a particular confusion it considers central.
What this section shows in the overall picture: A human being does not build their image of themselves alone, but out of what was reflected back. Where love seemed tied to conditions, the idea can arise early that one’s own worth depends on good behaviour.
Stages 17 to 21
The adapted self and the core beneath it
Out of the experience that affection can hang on conditions, a particular structure forms. The conditioned self is an adaptive structure that tries to secure recognition and avoid rejection, and it is clever, protective and often very effective, yet it lives out of the worry of not being enough. Opposite it stands the unconditioned self-core, a core of needs, aliveness and self-will that can remain experienceable beneath all the adaptation. These two form no battle of good against evil, but two sides of the same person. Where the adapted self predominates, self-worth can bind itself to external signs, for instance to praise, closeness, achievement, status or control, and this self-worth contingency favours a more externally bound organisation of self-worth, in which the feeling of being valuable becomes dependent on confirmation. Alongside this, however, the capacity to act also grows. In self-efficacy a person experiences that their action has effect, and out of repeated efficacy self-confidence can form, the more general expectation of being able to cope with situations.
These stages connect well: the conditioned self and the self-core to Winnicott and Rogers, self-worth contingency to the research of Crocker and Wolfe on the contingencies of self-worth, self-efficacy to Albert Bandura and self-confidence to self-concept research. The unconditioned self-core at the same time carries a clinical-regulative accent of its own from the A-A-T, because the model understands it as a tangible counterpole to adaptation.
What this section shows in the overall picture: In a single person, an adapted and an original part can coexist. Whether self-worth is carried more from within or bound to external confirmation decides much about how free a life feels.
Stages 22 to 26
From settled self-worth into the everyday of the loop
What has formed so far condenses into an enduring structure. In self-worth organisation, self-worth arranges itself as the centre of self-reference, carried more from within or bound more to those external signs to which it has coupled. How stable this system is can be read from well-being or inner tension, for in it can become visible how securely self-worth, protection and inner contact are experienced. With these two stages the first level closes, the emergence of the structure, and the way leads on into everyday life, into the situational loop that can repeat itself day after day. There a core need first makes itself heard, for attachment, orientation, self-worth, pleasure-gain or autonomy can be activated. If such a need is threatened, a core fear can arise, a fear of loss, chaos, worthlessness, engulfment or fixation. And even before the experience becomes conscious, the body can answer, so that the body alarm shows itself as tension, tightness, restlessness, freezing or withdrawal, often already before a feeling has found its name.
In theoretical terms, these stages connect to Rosenberg and again to Crocker and Wolfe, to research on well-being and emotion regulation, to the basic-need models of Klaus Grawe, with an addition for autonomy in the sense of Deci and Ryan, as well as to Fritz Riemann’s basic forms of fear and to stress research with its autonomic activation. Self-worth organisation at the same time carries a synthesis of its own from the A-A-T, and the particular linking of the basic fears with the needs is likewise a bringing-together of the model’s own.
What this section shows in the overall picture: Here the picture tips from emergence into repetition. A stable or bound self-worth goes with us into every day, and as soon as a need is threatened, the old alarm can spring up in the body before we understand what is happening.
Stages 27 to 31
How the present is coloured by old meaning
Once the body has sounded the alarm, a quiet, sometimes barely conscious question often surfaces. The recognition question asks, in essence, whether one is safe, right, important, wanted or enough, and it connects the body alarm with relationship, self-worth and recognition; it is an A-A-T term of its own. Out of old experiences, inner statements can then condense, core beliefs such as I am not enough, closeness is dangerous or I must perform, though not all of them are conscious. Such statements often work in the background, because memory and old meaning speak along, for present-day stimuli can activate associative networks, so that the present can feel like an old threat. At the same time the pattern stabilises through identity and role attachment, because familiar roles can feel like one’s own I, even when they have become narrow. So finally arises the interpretation and appraisal of the situation, for the present is interpreted through the filter of core belief, memory and role, and is rarely entirely neutral.
This layer connects well to Young’s early maladaptive schemas, to research on implicit memory, to Erikson’s concept of identity and to the top-down processing of perceptual psychology, in which earlier meanings co-determine what we perceive at all. The recognition question, by contrast, is a term of its own with which the A-A-T names the moment in which bodily alarm becomes a question about one’s own worth.
What this section shows in the overall picture: We rarely react only to what is happening right now. Past meaning lays itself over the present, and a situation can touch an old wound without our having to be aware of it.
Stages 32 to 36
From feeling through motivation to the tipping point
Out of activation and meaning arises the feeling, for instance fear, shame, anger, sadness, emptiness or longing. A feeling is here a signal and not a fault, a sign that something matters. The feeling is followed by a movement forward, for in hope and expectation the system seeks soothing, confirmation, security, closeness, recognition or freedom, often in the outside. Out of this, motivation can come, because from the interplay of need and value with expectation and self-efficacy, carried by hope, a movement toward action can arise. Important is what the model adds here, for if hope binds itself too firmly to recognition or external valuation, motivation can turn more into pressure, adaptation or protection. If the expected response then fails to come, disappointment follows, and with it the old fear can be touched; this is the actual tipping point of the loop. At this place a protection activation sets in, because the system tries to regulate pain, helplessness or threat internally, while protection here is still movement and carries no visible form yet.
In theoretical terms, these stages connect to emotion research with its appraisal and affect-regulation models, to the expectancy-value theory of motivation and to the self-determination theory of Deci and Ryan, which distinguishes between more self-determined and more controlled motivation, as well as to research on expectation violation. The model needs hardly any terms of its own here, for its own accent lies in placing motivation explicitly between inner bearing-strength and external binding.
What this section shows in the overall picture: Feeling, hope and motivation are the forward-directed force in a human being. Yet where hope attaches itself too much to external confirmation, the very same step already holds the point at which disappointment can wake the old protection.
Stages 37 to 41
The direction of protection and its visible form
Once protection has awakened, it takes a direction. In the direction of the protective movement, it can turn outward, so that the cause is sought more in the other, which the model calls the fear-recognition loop, or it turns inward, so that the cause is sought more in oneself, often linked with shame, which is termed the fear-shame-guilt loop. Important is that these are not fixed types, but directions that can shift, and both carry the abbreviations AAK and ASK as A-A-T terms of its own. In both cases a question of blame begins, in which the system searches for a cause, in oneself, in the other or in the situation. From this an imputation can arise, in that one’s own interpretation is attributed to the other person. If the tension rises further, it can discharge through a judgement that ranges from devaluation to condemnation and protects against one’s own inner powerlessness. In the end protection can finally show itself as visible form, as a coping style that expresses itself as submission, avoidance or overcompensation.
These stages connect to Weiner’s attribution research, to the work of Dodge on hostile attribution, to Freud’s concept of projection, to classical concepts of defence and to Young’s three coping styles. The two loops AAK and ASK themselves are terms of the model’s own, with which it describes two possible directions of the same protective movement, without locking people into boxes.
What this section shows in the overall picture: Protection is understandable and at the same time consequential. Whether it turns outward or inward helps shape whether we accuse rather than shame ourselves, and both can in the end show themselves as a familiar style that we ourselves barely notice any more.
Stages 42 to 46
Will, decision, behaviour and the feedback
Before all of this becomes an action, the will stirs. The will between need, self-contact and protective pattern can grow from clarity or be steered by fear-protection, need-distress and a longing for recognition, and it is seldom wholly the one or the other. From it follows the decision, in which the person chooses closeness, withdrawal, attack, adaptation, control, boundary or honesty, though this freedom can be limited under stress. The decision becomes behaviour, so that the inner movement becomes visible, for instance as clinging, silence, performance, flight, dominance or self-abandonment, yet the behaviour is not an end point. For it has an effect on others and can trigger reactions such as closeness, distance, defence, guilt, compassion or contact, so that the relationship itself becomes part of the feedback. And here the circle closes or it opens, for in pattern reinforcement or correction the reaction can confirm the old pattern or enable a corrective experience.
In theoretical terms, these stages connect to self-determination theory, to the psychology of action regulation, to systemic models of feedback and to the idea of the learning loop and of repetition, which historically also ties back to Freud. Terms of its own are hardly needed here, for the model’s contribution lies in describing the will finely between clarity and distress, rather than simply asserting it as free choice.
What this section shows in the overall picture: Behaviour is not the end, but a link in a circle. How others react to us can firm up the old pattern or open a crack through which something new becomes possible.
Stages 47 to 48
Awareness: the beginning of inner freedom
The last level describes how the loop can change through becoming aware, restructuring and integration, and it begins with awareness. In becoming aware, a person can notice that a situation is not only the situation, but also touches an old pattern, so that ‘I am like this’ turns into ‘a part of me reacts like this’. In this fine distinction lies the beginning of inner freedom, for experience no longer fully merges with one’s own identity. Out of this an inner reference and self-leadership can grow, an inner function of observation, compassion and adult appraisal that can accompany what happens instead of being overrun by it. It is the return to inner steering rather than to an automatic shame or fear reflex, the self-leading part that may again lay its hand on the wheel.
In theoretical terms, this step connects to Fonagy’s concept of mentalisation and to the idea of defusion, that is, the ability to step back a little from one’s own thought and feeling without pushing them away, as well as, for the self-leading part, to Richard Schwartz and his Internal Family Systems, to the compassionate self-steering in the sense of Paul Gilbert’s Compassion Focused Therapy and to Carl Rogers. Self-leadership as an integration concept here carries an accent of the A-A-T’s own.
What this section shows in the overall picture: Change does not begin with being different, but with watching oneself react. In the moment a person recognises that an old part within them is reacting, a small space opens up in which something new becomes possible.
Stages 49 to 52
Restructuring: changing the pattern safely
Once a person is more aware of their pattern, it can be gently rebuilt, and for that it first needs a safe activation as a working window. A pattern becomes more changeable when it is touched and activated in the moment while the person at the same time remains oriented, able to consent and bodily stable, so that activation is neither anxiously avoided nor driven into overwhelm. In this window a pattern interruption becomes possible, in which the automatic reaction pathway is briefly halted, so that the old shame or fear spiral does not simply run on and room for a new pathway arises. Then follows the actual meaning and response restructuring, in which the old inner image and the old reaction are restructured and replaced by a new, realistic reaction, while only the old pattern form is disempowered and not the part itself. So that the system gets to know this new track, it finally needs practice and stabilisation, a repeated, conscious running-through of the new reaction that firms up the new pathway without programming it mechanically.
This layer gathers together the logic of self-leadership integration, a newly developed and not yet independently validated integration protocol whose working principles connect to established concepts, without efficacy thereby already being proven. In theoretical terms it touches the general principle of memory reconsolidation and the idea of safe emotional activation, inhibitory learning, Imagery Rescripting and the corrective emotional experience, as well as experience-dependent neuroplasticity, which describes how new pathways can firm up through repetition.
What this section shows in the overall picture: An old pattern is not fought away, but touched, halted and filled anew within a safe inner frame. To change here does not mean to erase, but to set beside the familiar reaction a new, more realistic one and to practise it until it itself becomes familiar.
Stages 53 to 56
Integration: anchoring, meaning, dignity and conscious attachment
So that inner work becomes lived everyday life, it needs anchoring and everyday transfer, such as sensory or symbolic anchors and a small, concrete next step that makes the new reaction retrievable in daily action. Beyond mere soothing, a meaning and value integration can arise, in which an early resource of one’s own is connected with present-day values, abilities and one’s own life direction, so that the change gains a direction and what is one’s own may find a concrete form. With time the bearing axis can then shift, from valuation toward dignity, an ethical concept that can free self-worth step by step from external valuation, because dignity does not have to be earned. And as a possible integrated end point of the whole chain stands conscious attachment, in which relationship becomes neither fusion out of fear nor control out of protection, but contact with self-reference, that is, closeness in which a person does not lose themselves.
In theoretical terms, these stages connect to Implementation Intentions, to sensory anchoring and to Grounding, to research on self-continuity, on meaning-making and on values clarification, for dignity to the recognition theory of Axel Honneth and for conscious attachment to the earned security described in attachment research after Main and Hesse. The integration idea of self-leadership and the concept of conscious attachment here carry an accent of the A-A-T’s own, which describes where the whole process can open out to.
What this section shows in the overall picture: The loop is not the last word. Where a human being recognises their pattern, gently changes it and anchors it in everyday life, valuation can transform into dignity and anxious or controlling attachment into conscious closeness, in which connection is possible without losing oneself.
The overall picture of the human being in the causal chain
If one puts the fifty-six building blocks together, no catalogue of faults emerges, but the picture of a coherent inner system. At the beginning stands a body that senses, and a relationship that holds or does not quite hold. Out of this early experience a self grows that, in the mirroring of others, forms an image of itself and can thereby learn early that love is bound to valuation. So an adapted self forms over a living core, and self-worth can carry itself from within or hang on external signs. As this self-worth goes into everyday life, a threatened need can wake an old fear, the body sounds the alarm, old meaning colours the present, a feeling arises, and out of hope comes motivation that moves forward. If the longed-for response fails to come, the loop can tip into disappointment and protection, which turns outward or inward, searches for a cause, judges and finally shows itself as a familiar coping style that leads to decision and behaviour and, through the reaction of others, can confirm the old pattern.
And yet the model does not end in the circle. Where becoming aware becomes possible, a human being can sense again from within, gently rebuild their pattern in a safe frame, anchor the new in everyday life and give it meaning, move from valuation to dignity and experience attachment as conscious contact. So bodily experience, relationship, valuation, self-worth contingency, need, hope, motivation, protective movement, decision, behaviour, feedback and conscious attachment join into an overall picture in which nothing single stands for itself, but everything works upon everything else. It is a picture that wishes to explain without shaming, and that shows that change is possible, because a system with feedback loops can also realign itself at any point. If you find yourself in this picture, then not as a case, but as a human being who may understand how they function, and who can change.
This causal chain is a theoretical framework of the Fear-Recognition Theory and Meta-Model N. It serves self-reflection, psychological education and orientation. It does not replace psychotherapy, diagnosis or medical treatment.
