Our implicit psychoanalytical model includes assumptions about

• An unconsciously functioning mind
• Which attributes meanings to behaviour
• Which is 'intentional'.

Our model assumes that

• beliefs
• wishes
• desires
• feelings
• expectations

are held outside as well as inside of conscious awareness.

We refer to this as the Hidden, private or implicit theory that each person has, and which influences their behaviour.

• Imputing these (i.e. working on the assumption that they "do exist" - which you could see as a good definition of Mentalization) may make behaviour understandable, whether this entails the person's consciousness or not.
• We further assume that non-conscious mental states are in some respects more influential than conscious ones.

In many individuals, conscious critical scrutiny of these states would lead them to experience such states of mind as unacceptable. In other individuals, however, very similar feelings and beliefs may be consciously experienced and give little apparent cause for concern for that individual.

It is not part of our model to assume a non conscious mind populated by specific mental contents but rather to endorse the psychoanalytic view that lack of awareness of dispositional or emotional states about oneself or others does not preclude these from being influential determinants of behaviour.

See the video in Active Planning and material on Broadcasting Intentions for more practial applications of this theoretical model.