Theory index
Lenses
Every essay in the library is anchored to one or more psychological frameworks. This index lists each theorist and theory alphabetically, with links to the essays that put them to work. A reader who arrives through Allport or Kohlberg or Goffman can follow the thread from here.
50 theories · 40 essays
A
Adler
2 essaysHiggins, the Feminine JuniorA man named after his mother spends the whole show being talked over. His arc is not becoming louder. It is discovering that he was never the afterthought he believed himself to be.The List of Perfect ThingsThe last Diamond Dogs meeting is called by the one man who spent three seasons refusing to enter the room. Six people, one question, and an object carried over from the essay before this one.
B
C
D
E
F
Fromm
2 essaysThe Boy Outside the GateHe does not destroy through contempt. He destroys through offering. The approval Rupert Mannion dispenses is the most dangerous thing in this story, and it comes from a wound the impeccable surface was built to hide.The Return of Nate ShelleyHe traded his freedom for a powerful man’s approval and paid for it in full. Coming back is not about forgiveness. It is about reclaiming the self he sold.
G
Gestalt psychology
2 essaysH
I
J
K
Kohut
2 essaysThe Teen Who Keeps Asking for an UssieA teen wants an ussie on a plane in the pilot and wants another at an airport in the finale. He never grows, and his stillness measures everyone else’s distance traveled.The Boy Outside the GateHe does not destroy through contempt. He destroys through offering. The approval Rupert Mannion dispenses is the most dangerous thing in this story, and it comes from a wound the impeccable surface was built to hide.
L
M
N
P
R
Rogers
2 essaysThe Snow GlobeA snow globe holds a small world in two states, the settled and the shaken. So does a gift. The show gives us a whole taxonomy of giving, and every kind turns out to be a globe held one way or the other.The List of Perfect ThingsThe last Diamond Dogs meeting is called by the one man who spent three seasons refusing to enter the room. Six people, one question, and an object carried over from the essay before this one.
S
T
W
Winnicott
2 essaysThe Man Who StayedHe has been beside Ted Lasso for the entire run of the show, and no one, not the viewers, not the team, perhaps not Ted, knows who he actually is. Three seasons of opacity have a cost, and a name.Jamie TarttThe brat is a boy standing in front of a father he cannot please. The arrogance is the only armor a child could build.