MENTAL MODEL · M9259

Giant Infant

BehaviorHigh supportPsychology

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Updated 2026-08-15

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

The giant infant is the psychological concept proposed by Wu Zhihong: a person physically adult whose psyche remains at the infant stage, marked by omnipotent narcissism, symbiotic engulfment, and paranoid-splitting. In management or in intimate relationships such a person is a massive drain, and the model's instruction is not to persuade them with reason, because their logic is a pre-rational emotional logic that rational argument cannot reach.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Read the pattern: learn to identify the infantile structure behind the adult behavior. - Skip the persuasion: do not try to reason the person out of a pre-rational position. - Hold the boundary: keep responsibility and limits explicit rather than absorbing the emotion.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

The infant stage expects the world to function as an extension of the self, and when reality disagrees, the distress is discharged as emotion rather than processed as information. Reason fails because the distress was never a claim about facts; it is a demand for unconditional accommodation, and accommodating it teaches that the demand works.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Practice this model in one real situation:

Recognize the pattern of collapse, blame-shifting, and endless demand under frustration. 2. Stop attempting to persuade with reasons that cannot land. 3. Set and state the boundary and the responsibility clearly. 4. Keep distance where the emotional suction becomes too strong. 5. Protect your own capacity to keep acting normally.

Check to track your progress (stored locally)

Learning progress0%

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Source support: Explicit

link
zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B7%A8%E5%A9%B4ZH · Explicit
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