The Harvard Lectures

THE
HARVARD LECTURES
ANNA FREUD
edited and annotated by

Joseph Sandler
THE INSTITUTE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS

KARNAC BOOKS
SI
T H E HARVARD L E C T U R E S
THE HARVARD LECTURES
ANNA FREUD
Edited and annotated by
Joseph Sandler
The Institute of Psycho-Analysis

London
Karnac Books
London 1992
First p u b l i s h e d i n 1 9 9 2 by
H. Karnac (Books) Ltd,
118Finchley Road,
London NW3 5HT
Copyright © 1 9 9 2 T h e Anna Freud Centre
All rights reserved. No part of this book m a y b e reproduced,

in a n y form, b y a n y p r o c e s s or technique,
w i t h o u t t h e prior written p e r m i s s i o n of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data*

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.
ISBN 978 1 85575 030 2
Printed in Great Britain by BPCC Wheatons Ltd, Exeter

CONTENTS
PREFACE by Joseph Sandler vii
Introduction by Talcott Parsons 1
LECTURE ONE
The unconscious 5
LECTURE TWO
Ego and id 21
LECTURE THREE
Sexuality and development 37
LECTURE FOUR
More on the Id 51
LECTURE FIVE
Stages of development 65
v
Vi CONTENTS
LECTURE SIX
Love, identification, and superego
LECTURE SEVEN
Towards the Oedipus complex
LECTURE EIGHT
The ego's anxiety and its effects
LECTURE NINE
Prohibitions and permissiveness
INDEX
PREFACE
Joseph Sandler
T hese lectures were given by Anna Freud at Harvard

University in 1952. They were recorded on tape and
later copied from reels to cassettes. Copies of the cas
settes were provided by Dr Martin Berezin of Boston, and the
transcriptions have been edited by me as lightly as possible.
Although Miss Freud did not read her lectures and possibly did
not even speak from notes, the transformation of her spoken
words into written text has been possible without significant
alteration of the content of her talks; as a consequence her very
special style of presentation is evident throughout. Anna Freud
had given one lecture, which was not recorded, providing a
general background to the topic of the psychoanalytic view
of development and its application to child care. However,
the nine lectures that followed—introduced by Talcott Parsons,
Chairman of the Department of Social Relations at Harvard—
represent a complete work in their own right. As she put it in
the third lecture: *my assignment here is two-sided: on the one
hand, it is to make you acquainted with the psychoanalytic
theories concerning childhood: on the other hand, it is to point
vii
Vili PREFACE
out to you where these theories are of Immediate concern to

people who deal with the upbringing of children—namely, the
parents/
As always, Anna Freud's formulations were extremely clear,
and reading them will recall many memories for those of us
who knew her. Certainly it brought back vivid memories for me
of the Introductory course she gave in her home in Maresfleld
Gardens to students training in the British Psycho-Analytical
Society. Yet in one way they are very different. In these lectures
Anna Freud has clearly decided to avoid theoretical com
plexities; indeed, at times she has presented her ideas with
breathtaking simplification. She once remarked, in reference to
something she had presented, 'I stopped before giving the de
tails, because I felt that they might harm the clarity of the
picture I wanted to give. . . . I really wanted to show certain
things very clearly. And to do that one had to exclude many of
the details/ This special style of presentation, with its avoid
ance of technicalities, certainly owed much to her early training
as a teacher, to her confident familiarity with psychoanalytic
thinking, and, above all, to her view of children and parents as
real people, struggling with real internal and external prob
lems. Anna Freud's approach, from the very beginning, has
been a developmental one, and this developmental approach
has been extremely enriching to psychoanalytic theory and
practice, as well as to the practical problems of child care,
which she approaches psychoanalytically in these lectures.
Anna Freud's writings show her great love for children and her
concern for the problems of parents and caregivers. They also
show the down-to-earth uncommon sense that is characteristic
of all her work.
Although the ideas in these lectures are very simply pre
sented, it is evident, if we read them from the perspective of her
later work, how much she anticipated further developments in
psychoanalysis. At the same time the lectures show the extent
to which advances have been made in the viewpoint of develop
mental psychoanalysis during the last few decades. While there
is no doubt that Anna Freud's lectures bear the stamp of their
time, they serve the dual function of providing a most useful
introduction to the psychoanalytic view of development and its
PREFACE iX
application to child care, as well as giving us a most valuable

historical document.
It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the generosity of
Martin Berezin, who provided the tapesfromwhich the lectures
were transcribed, the skill of Barbara Sullivan, who did the
transcription, and the generosity of the Edith Ludowyk-
Gyomroi Trust, which funded some of the transcription costs. I
want to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to the
late George Moran, Director of the Anna Freud Centre and Edi
tor of its Bulletin (in which the lectures were first published),
for his help and encouragement. His tragic death this month
robbed child psychoanalysis of an outstanding scholar, clini
cian, researcher and administrator,
London
January 1992
T H E HARVARD L E C T U R E S
Introduction
Talcott Parsons
I n 1950, Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud,

a person—as those who know her are well aware—
distinguished in her own right, first visited the United
States to receive an honorary degree at Clark University. On
that occasion Radcliffe College and the Department of Social
Relations at Harvard were fortunate in being able to sponsor a
public lecture by Miss Freud on some of the implications of
psychoanalytic theory for the care of children, which has been
her special field. This was delivered to an audience consisting
largely of Harvard and Radcliffe undergraduates, and the en
thusiasm of her reception was so great that President Jordan
and I, very soon after this occasion, began discussing the pos
sibility of bringing Miss Freud to Harvard and Radcliffe for a
more extended visit, when students would have an opportunity
to hear her lectures on psychoanalytic theory at greater length.
This did not become possible until the early fall of 1952,
when it was arranged for Miss Freud to come here for a four
week period. This was under the auspices of Radcliffe College,
the Department of Social Relations and the Laboratory of
1
2 ANNA FREUD: THE HARVARD LECTURES
Human Development in the Faculty of Education. The course

which you are about to hear was one of three major obligations
which Miss Freud undertook during her visit here. This was
specifically meant for undergraduates and was a course, on the
psychoanalytic theory of child development. It was limited to
one hundred participants so that it would not be unduly large,
but was also merged with the course on the development of the
child ordinarily given and carried on the rest of the term by
Professor Sears. Therefore she lectured three times a week to a
group normally of about two hundred students. You will judge
for yourselves about the content of this course. You might,
however, be interested that in addition to this Miss FYeud
served as a consultant to the research staff of the Laboratory of
Human Development, which has for several years been carry
ing on intensive research in what is essentially her field.
Finally, specifically for the Department of Social Relations, she
conducted a seminar for members of the faculty staff on more
advanced problems of psychoanalytic theory, this time without
special reference to child development. This seminar provided
an opportunity for the staff to engage in very fruitful discus
sions of theoretical problems which are of the greatest interest
to all aspects of social relations. Needless to say, all three of the
sponsoring agencies were greatly honoured to be able to have
Miss Freud with us for this four-week period and hope that it
may be repeated at some time in the future.
Since the first of Miss Freud's lectures was not recorded, I
am glad to be able to give you a very brief resume of the sub
ject-matter she covered at that time. In her first lecture Miss
Freud introduced the subject of the development of the child
from the psychoanalytic standpoint and described the child as
having great potentialities for growth. In making this approach
she did not minimize the influence of the mother's care on the
developing personality. On the contrary, she emphasized the
intimate relationship between those properties of the child with
which he was endowed at birth and the nurturing influences of
his family experiences. Miss Freud discussed the importance
of the child's motivational development for the future tasks of
learning in school, adjusting to the needs of other persons, and
developing a stable and effective pattern of life for himself.
INTRODUCTION 3
This introductory lecture was designed by Miss Freud to

present a generalframeworkwithin which to develop her sub
sequent theories. It was with the next lecture, with which the
present recordings begin, that Miss Freud began her technical
presentation of the principles of personality development as
viewed through the data and methods of psychoanalysis.
LECTURE ONE
The unconscious
I am looking for remarks, queries, or criticisms in the

written comments that have been given to me, but all I
have is what I picked up by chance since the last time
I spoke. I have learnt a few interesting facts. For one thing,
there are no blank minds here—everybody present has heard
about psychoanalysis before. There seem to be no people
either, from what I have heard, who need to have their preju
dices against psychoanalytic theory destroyed. Either there are
no prejudices, or the people with them have not come. So all
that is left in the audience are the knowledgeable ones, and
they are just those at whom I had not aimed what I had to say
last time. Fm afraid I did actually disappoint or bore some
people by being what you might consider to be too simple. But
there I would like you to take two points into account. We only
created a frame last time to put in our facts, but a frame can be
very simple indeed, and the picture inside can be very com
plicated. Also, you have to get used to the fact that I use very
simple language, which does not mean always that the facts are
easy and not complex.
5
I do not know whether there are people here who were not
here last time, but if there are, I would just like to summarize
what I said in two sentences. We had committed ourselves last
time to a particular entrance into the psychoanalytic views on
childhood development—namely, an entrance from the side of
the upbringing of the child—and we characterized education or
upbringing as the help or the push given to the child towards
adaptation to society. And we found that there are two ways
of inducing the child to take that step: one, by making him
conform, whatever his nature; the other, by inducing him to
change his nature. There is a third way, which is not to be
recommended, and which I hope none of you will follow, which
is to try to change the environment of the child so that itfitsthe
nature of the child. That is all wrong. It does not work out well
for the child, and for the adult community it means a loss in
cultural values. It is the child who should go forward into the
community.
Well, by taking that approach we have adopted at the same
time what one might call a non-objective attitude towards the
study of personality—that is, we have committed ourselves to
look at the various parts of the developing child's personality
from a particular point of view, from a point of view of whether
this or that particular part fits into the adult community. We
ask how far it is susceptible to influencefromthe environment,
what the influences may be, how far this particular part of the
child's personality is modifiable, what the modifications are,
and what are the forces that bring about the modification. That
is the approach that we have to take now.
The knowledgeable among you have certainly recognized
the three parts, or the three aspects of the personality which
I mentioned last time—namely the instinctive aspect, the 1
rational aspect, and the moral aspect. These are the three well
known parts of the personality, called in psychoanalytic theory
the id, ego, and superego. For those who do not feel quite com
^ h r o u g h out these Lectures, Anna Freud uses the term 'instinctive*

where we would now use 'instinctual*, retaining 'instinctive* for the type
of 'given* behaviour described by ethologists.
ONE: T H E UNCONSCIOUS 7
fortable with these three terms or concepts, I would like to

make a few warning remarks. Though the terms correspond to
what we find in a dissection of the personality—to what in the
literature has actually been called the 'anatomy' of the human
personality, they should by no means be considered in an ana
tomical sense. They have nothing to do with the brain. You
won't find the id in one part of the brain, the ego in another,
and the superego somewhere else. Attempts at making some
correlation between brain anatomy and these divisions within
the personality were made long ago—sixty years ago—and
failed then. It is quite recently that, here or there, brain neu
rologists interested in analysis or analysts who know some
thing about brain neurology have again, after a lapse of sixty
years, taken up attempts of this kind. I don't know whether you
have heard of certain brain operations which are being2
performed on very ill psychotic patients in the attempt to put

certain parts of their personality out of action. There are some
enthusiastic people in that field who actually believe that such
a correlation between anatomy and psychoanalysis can be
found. But it is certainly not what I am trying to present to you.
So please think of id, ego, and superego as quite unrelated to
space, as merely abstractions, just as we, in ordinary language,
talk about 'parts' of ourselves—one part of myself wanted to do
this, and in another part of myself I didn't want to—without
actually drawing lines in the body indicating that this part
wanted it and that part didn't. It is not meant that way
at all. But it is also not meant in another way that has often
bothered people. There are many scientifically minded people
who have objected to the personification of the parts of the
human personality. I remember somebody calling the id, ego,
and superego the three mythical personalities—a sort of
holy Trinity. It is not meant that way either. These terms are
meant to designate groups of functions (I see you are
writing that down—I always notice when I say something that
seems important!). All the functions grouped together serve
identical purposes; that is why we group them together. To
2
A n n a Freud referred here to prefrontal leu co to my or to lobotomy.
8 ANNA FREUD I THE HARVARD LECTURES
give you an example, that part of the personality which

we put together under the name of id, the instinctive part
of the personality, serves the purposes of the instincts; and
whatever serves the purposes of the instincts in that way,
and is concerned with the instincts, belongs to that part, to
3
the id.
Again, the group of functions called the ego has a common
purpose—namely, to maintain the individuals in their environ
ment, which means learning to know the environment, to form
some link between what goes on in the depths of the person (in
the id) and in the outside world, and to bring the two into some
sort of contact. We group together as the ego the part of the
personality charged with the functions serving that purpose. It
is really the self-preservation of the individual that you find
there.
And then there is the third group, which serves so-called
cultural purposes: the superego, with the function of con
science and moral assessment of actions undertaken or
thoughts that go on in the person. This group of functions—
the superego functions—serve the purpose of maintaining the
individual as a member of the community.
So try, in what follows now, to think of these three parts of
the human being as three functional groups, and let us now, in
the whole of the course that follows, trace the development of
these three parts, examine in detail how they fulfil their pur
poses, at what time they appear in the child's life, and, most
important, how they react towards each other. Their hostile
reactions towards each other you will meet under the heading
of 'conflict'—internal conflict.
Well, that is the task. And let us begin at that end of the
personality which is furthest removed from the external world
3
I n the early translations of Freud, the German term Trteb was ren
dered in English a s 'insUnct'; this is a misleading translation, and Trteb
would nowadays be translated as 'drive*. Nevertheless the use of the
term 'instinct' for Trteb h a s tended to remain, although in much of the
English-language psychoanalytic literature the term 'instinctual drive*
is used.
and even further removed from the cultural aims—namely, the

id. So this is our hour for id psychology.
There is one very important point to remember about the id.
It does not connect with the environment; worse than that, it is
not in direct connection with the other parts of the personal
ity—at least not in visible connection. Every individual may be
ignorant of the largest part of this id group of functions within
himself; and since the id is not accessible to consciousness, we
say that the content of the id is to a large degree unconscious.
Now we have arrived at something which everybody knows.
It is a very curious fact that the psychology of the unconscious,
the postulation of an unconscious mind which we now call
the id, once the most controversial point about the whole of
psychoanalytic theory, has, with time, become the most famil
iar idea to us. In the early years of psychoanalysis, for in
4
stance, a course of lectures of this kind (the audience would not

have been so large) would have been taken up wholly with
justifying the existence of an unconscious part of the mind.
Nowadays, if one talks to audiences about psychoanalysis, one
has to be very careful not to underestimate their knowledge in
this respect, because so much of it is not only taught in many
other disciplines but has actually reached large parts of the
population. It has become common knowledge; talk about it
has become common usage. Therefore I thought I would be
wise to separate in these lectures two parts of the psychology of
the unconscious, or the id—one part which I assume is known
to you and I need only remind you of it, and another part where
I have the feeling that even if it is not new you are less familiar
with it.
And now for the first half first. What do I think that you
know about the unconscious, or the id? I hope you will correct
me afterwards if I have grouped it wrong, it would be very
interesting for me. I think you are all convinced of the existence
of the unconscious mind. You do not receive that curious shock
4
A n n a F r e u d , clearly for purposes of exposition, makes a n enormous
conceptual simplification here in equating the unconscious m i n d with
the id. S h e clarifies this point in lecture two!
any more, you dont feel offended in the same manner as in the
past by the fact that you do not know everything about your
self, about your own emotions; and as scientists, as psycholo
gists, you are certainly much less inclined to assert that the
psychological, the mental, and the conscious are identical, an
assertion made for hundreds of years. I think you would all
agree now that the psychological extends far beyond the con
scious, and that we have to widen consciousness carefully and
gradually to learn something about the real limits of our mind.
The limits of consciousness are very narrow.
I think there is another point very well known to everybody.
There was a time when people began to concede the existence of
an unconscious mind, when they got used to the idea, but
somehow found it very difficult to imagine that an idea, an
inner structure or an inner movement, of which we know noth
ing, could have any force; whereas, as you know, the psycho
analytic assertion is that the unconscious is dynamic, full of
forces, that it is really the reservoir of forces in us. When
we make a certain idea conscious, far from it increasing in
strength, its strength decreases, as if part of its energy
has been let out in the action of becoming conscious. The
more unconscious an idea, a certain constellation, is in us, the
stronger it is. People used to think that the idea of strong un
conscious forces is not a nice feeling to have about oneself,
because one never knows what one will be moved by in the next
moment. But we are used to that idea now, you all are. I am
quite sure you would not make the mistake, if anyone asks you
for the motivation for your actions, of asserting that you know
all about It, that you know exactly why you have chosen the
area of study or the profession in which you find yourself,
that you know exactly why you like certain people and dislike
others, or why you choose your partners. People used to think
they knew all about such things, and now we all know that
the most important steps in our life are taken because we are
driven from inside to take them: but really we are all the more
eager to carry out a certain action the less we know the motive
for it—this is still felt to be not a very nice idea. But when you
find somebody set absolutely intently on a certain course, and
when you find that no amount of reasoning will put him off it.
you can be quite certain that he is motivated not for reasons

that he knows but by causes that he does not know. And, as I
said before, it is a fact that the most important decisions in life
are taken on the basis of unconscious motivation.
Well, if you are familiar with that idea you probably are also
familiar with an interesting addition to it—namely, that we are
seldom caught out appearing not to know about our motives.
That is to say, if we are asked why we do something we can
always give an answer. But when somebody else studies us in
that particular situation, or analyses us, then it is easy to prove
that the answer that we have given is one that has been
invented quickly for the purpose, that it is merely brought
forward by consciousness to hide the fact that the real motiva
tion is unknown to us. Such apparently reasonable motivation,
which really covers over our unconscious motivation, is called
'rationalization': it sounds rational, but it isn't. Those of you
who have read more about the subject will probably remember
where this rationalization was discovered first. I know there are
some people here interested in hypnosis—I spoke to one of
them the other day—and it was actually with people under
hypnosis that this rationalization was discovered first. Under
hypnosis they were given certain suggestions to cany out an
action and were then told to forget all about it. When they
actually carried it out, they had very good reasons for it, but
not the real reasons. This rationalization is a very interesting
and widespread business!
Well, now the more familiar facts about the unconscious.
People find it very difficult to imagine that the unconscious is
really unconscious. You know, in scientific writings, too, people
have made all sorts of attempts to show that the unconscious is
just that little bit less conscious, it's a sort of shady conscious
ness, it's something at the borders of consciousness, it's sub
conscious. All that is not the meaning in our psychoanalytic
theory. The meaning is quite plain, as I said, that the person
knows nothing about it. People have tried to invent all sorts of
tricks to, one could say, surprise the unconscious, to draw it
into consciousness. It's been suggested that if one hypnotized a
person and let him talk under hypnosis, in that way we'd reach
the unconscious; and that if we put what we heard on a tape
12 ANNAFREUD: T H E HARVARD LECTURES
recorder and played it back to the person, then he would know

it was his unconscious. But he would not. People tiy with drugs
to lower the resistances, as we would call it, to surprise the
unconscious by telling what has been found, giving it back to
the person in the experiment; but the person does not recognize
his own unconscious. You should believe in all earnest, even if
so far you have only heard it talked about or talked about it,
that it needs an enormous effort from the side of the conscious
mind to reach what is unconscious, and that effort and good
will alone do not do it. You have to use certain methods,
and the psychoanalytic technique is one of these methods. The
reason is that there is a barrier between the id and the other
parts of the personality, and that barrier prohibits the inhabi
tants (I now speak in personifications) of the one realm from
entering the other, and where some part of that realm wants to
enter, it has to overcome what we call a resistance—which is a
very strong force.
You have heard about this difficulty in reaching the uncon
scious, but equally you have heard of that quality or tendency
of the unconscious to break through suddenly and surprise us.
For instance, you know that our moods come from the uncon
scious. We don't know why we suddenly feel happy or dejected,
or why we wake up in a certain state of mind, and perhaps
change completely during the day. As I said before, we know
very little where our likes and dislikes come from. There are
people who are subject to outbreaks of temper which they can
not control: these are unconscious forces coming up. There are
severe outbreaks of passions which should remain well within
the unconscious, which lead people to crimes—crimes of
violence, for instance; and there are the illnesses such as psy
chotic outbreaks where this barrier between conscious and un
conscious, ego and id, gives way altogether. So on the one hand
we have a strict control of traffic between the two parts of the
personality, and on the other hand, we have sudden inroads
from the unconscious.
Well, I assume you have known all that, and I think that even
if you had not known it in the way I have told it, you have met all
these facts individually. Now I would like to go over further
ground and enquire into single points, and you can see whether
your knowledge has gone deep enough and wide enough. For
instance, when you talk about the unconscious or the id, are you
really aware of the fact that in psychoanalytic terminology this is
the concept which covers the sum total of a person's instinctive
life? (I use the term 'instinct' here, which I hope you will
understand in the analytic sense; it is a term we use for instinc
tive drives or instinctive urges, wishes, desires). Instinctive life,
which means those drives that come from the body and become
represented somehow in the individual's mind, are felt in the
mind as a claim. This is because every instinctive urge of this
kind, whether it is a sexual wish or an aggressive wish, or any of
the wishes that belong to one of these two groups, creates an
enormous tension in the personality; and the conscious part of
the personality feels that tension. There Is no peace until that
tension is reduced, and it is reduced when that particular in
stinctive urge reaches its aim and finds satisfaction—as, for
instance, when a particular aggressive drive finds an outlet
against the person against whom it i$ directed, or when a par
ticular sexual wish can satisfy itself on the person towards
whom it is directed. What happens is very much according to the
pattern of the great body-needs where the tension created by
hunger is only satisfied when food is taken in. What we visualize
as the id part of the human personality is the realm where all
this happens, where the pressure of the drives is felt and where
action is undertaken to satisfy the drives. We will spend a good
deal of time later learning more about the various types of
drives. At the moment I only want to mention that we recognize
two big groups, what you might call the constructive and the
destructive ones, represented in the mind by sex on the one
hand, and destruction-aggression on the other hand. The prin
ciple according to which this functions in the id is a very simple
one: the human organism strives for peace, and peace means
getting rid of tension. So wherever tension from a drive arises, a
move is made towards finding satisfaction. I am quite certain
that you have often dealt with this particular theory under the
title of *wish fulfilment*, and it is a very good idea to think of
functioning according to the principle of wish fulfilment, not as
a petty fulfilling of small daily conscious wishes but as the
overall attempt on the part of the id-organization to satisfy every
drive as it arises. That's a tall order, of course, for what the id

would like to do is to satisfy every drive as it arises and to return
to a tensionless state which is felt as pleasurable. Again, you
may recognize an old acquaintance here—namely, the idea that
functioning in the primitive personality occurs according to the
pleasure-pain principle. This means merely that whole realm of
the unconscious is only concerned with trying to avoid painful
tension and gaining pleasurable satisfaction—something that is
quite far removed from the way we all actually live.
There is another point that usually does not find enough
consideration. I mean that it is a main characteristic of the id
that it pursues this policy of wish fulfilment at any price, com
pletely regardless of what happens in the environment; regard
less of the fact that the fulfilment, let us say. of an aggressive
drive hurts somebody else, and regardless of the fact that the
fulfilment of a wish can hurt the individual himself. So we say
that this type of functioning is completely blind, blind towards
reality, orientated only towards the drives and their gratifica
tion. Now you will soon get an actual picture of the primitivity
or, as one might say, the crudity of id functioning.
There are two smaller points that are often disregarded.
When people talk of id, ego, and superego and are aware
of what has to happen in an analytic treatment, they usually
regard the unconscious as a small addition to the conscious
personality. For instance, somebody may be bothered by symp
toms of some kind, look for relief in treatment, and come to the
analyst with the idea that there is a little bit of something in his
unconscious that he would like to get rid of. You can actually
hear quite serious people ask in analysis whether there is still
much more to come, or whether the end of their unconscious
has been reached. In former times, when knowledge was less
and prejudices were stronger, many people used to be afraid of
psychoanalytic treatment, having the idea that their uncon
scious would be 'analysed out*, and nothing would be left. I
remember very well people asking me in former years whether
well-analysed people (which they hoped I was) still had feel
ings—I mean this quite seriously! They would ask whether their
emotions were not now all conscious and clear, whether any
thing was really left in the background. This shows such an
enormous misunderstanding, a misconception of the relative

size of the two agencies in the mind. I mean the basic personal
ity, which is the id, and then what is put on top of it, the ego
that is developed out of it—that we will hear about next time—
is comparatively very small in size, very powerless as far as
energy is concerned. Isn't it curious, then, that when we talk of
5
ourselves, when we say T , we mean the conscious part? I sup

pose it can be explained by the fact that the unconscious, the
id, somehow does not belong to us in the same sense, it is not
personal. It is very much the same in everybody, it is what we
bring into the world, what is inborn, what we share with every
body else; whereas our own personal individual qualities are
developed out of it very gradually in the ego and superego. But
as far as force and relative space is concerned—if we can use
the word 'space' for something that is spaceless—well, the id
has it, there's no doubt about it.
The whole thing becomes even more interesting when we
realize that what happens within the id is so completely differ
ent from what happens in the conscious parts of our personal
ity. The id has a special way of functioning. I have mentioned
that it follows a special principle, that it is completely regulated
by the pleasure-pain principle, by the need to reduce tension,
to avoid the unpleasurable. But in this we see that the id is
organized completely differently from the conscious part of the
mind. Again, as you know, in psychoanalysis one has gained
some insight into that different mode of functioning through
the study of dreams, where the id reveals itself, and through
the study of those mental illnesses where the id, even though it
does not appear completely, of course, reveals itself to a certain
extent. It took many years—forty or fifty—to put together these
inklings of the modes of functioning within the id. I will give you
SThere is increasing realization that the ego, regarded as a structure,

has powerful unconscious roots a n d functions, which develop autono
mously. A n n a Freud's formulation in this context is clearly intended to
counter the tendency to underestimate the force of the drives a n d the
degree to which they are unconscious. T h e same device i s used i n the
equation of *ego* with *self or with consciousness.
a few examples that may Interest you. For instance, we feel in

our conscious personality that we are one, and we actually are
one (we are if we leave out the division of our minds into three),
but so far as we actually consciously know, we are more or less
unified. I mean, for instance, that if we love somebody, we don't
usually hate him at the same time—the two don't go together.
But when we feel the two feelings in us they mix and reduce
each other. If we have two wishes, the two wishes come together
and are integrated in some way. If we pursue a purpose, we
reduce other purposes for the sake of purpose number one.
That is so natural to us that we never think about it. But some
times you can hear the curious remarks of people who say,
'Well, I feel all torn to pieces, I don't know whether I'm here
or there. Do I want to do this or that?' when suddenly for a
moment this feeling of integration of purpose is absent. But in
the id there is nothing of the kind. As I said to you before, the
id is full of wishes, urges, desires, but they don't touch each
other. They pursue the most opposite aims immediately, one
after another or even simultaneously. The one has nothing to
do with the other. We see that in dreams. 6
There is another possibility of seeing how the id operates,

not in pure culture but approximately. When you study chil
dren between one and two years of age, when id functioning
still plays a great part even though the ego is fully in the pro
cess of development, you can surprise some of these id modes
of functioning. For instance, a child will hit mother one moment
and love her the next, and not feel guilty for the hitting. The
child does not feel that the hitting and the loving don't go
together. What we see is just the expression of two tendencies.
Or the child will break a toy and expect it to be whole the next
moment, because one wish in the child wants to break the toy
and the other wish wants the whole toy: but the two have noth
ing to do with each other. The examples are endless. What is
D r e a m s do, of course, show a substantial degree of integration a n d

6
compromise formation. What is meant here is that the opposing im

pulses in the id or their derivatives in the dream c a n be discerned in
analysis.
meant is there is no integration within the id, it is a mass, a

heap, with no communication between the single parts of i t
something that is absolutely alien to our conscious mode of
functioning. We call that function—we will hear next time about
when it actually begins in the human being—synthesis' or *ego
integration'.
Well, you know, thinking or imagining goes on quite dif
ferently in the id and in the ego. We think in words, and even
if we have fantasies and dreams, fantasies are altogether in
words and dreams are partly so, accompanied by images. But
7
in the id there are no words; instincts have no words, they

create imaginings, pictures. For instance, the hungry baby will
imagine the food, the milk; or the lonely baby will imagine the
mother coming; but he will not be able to think, 'I want my
mother', or to express it that way. The whole imagery in our
dreams is a sign of the language of the id, of the unconscious.
It is, of course, very difficult for us to imagine a form of expres
sion in which words are absent, where everything has to be
expressed in images. It means that ever so many things cannot
be expressed at all. For instance, logical connections or
the correlation between ideas cannot be expressed without
words—but there are no logical connections in the id, and
there are no correlations of this kind. There is hardly a before
and an after. There is certainly no 'because' or 'since*. The
language of the unconscious is very much like hieroglyphics.
For students of the unconscious it is a very good exercise to
try, for instance, to read a short article and then to try to
reproduce it without words, just in pictures that are drawn. We
will find that it can't be done in any way that will satisfy our
consciousness. For instance, there is in the unconscious noth
ing like a negation. Let us say that the child would want to
express the idea, 'I am afraid of birds', in a dream. So a bird
would appear in the dream; but if we read the dream script, we
7
T h i s is clearly a n oversimplification. Daydream fantasies a n d night
time dreams differ in important respects, but both involve images a s
well a s words. Nevertheless, the distinction made here between 'id* a n d
'ego' is of supreme importance.
w o u l d n o t k n o w w h e t h e r it m e a n t *I w a n t to h a v e a b i r d ' o r i
n e v e r w a n t to h a v e a bird* or ' t h e r e w a s n o b i r d ' or 'I h a d n ' t
s e e n one': the positive a n d the negative a r e e x p r e s s e d i n quite
t h e s a m e w a y . T h a t i s t h e l a n g u a g e of t h e u n c o n s c i o u s , t h a t i s
w h y it i s s o difficult to u n d e r s t a n d , a n d t h a t i s w h y a n a l y s t s
h a v e to do s o m u c h g u e s s - w o r k . W e t r y to t r a n s l a t e t h e l a n
g u a g e of t h e u n c o n s c i o u s i n t o t h a t of c o n s c i o u s n e s s .
T h e r e are more things that are not p r e s e n t i n t h a t primitive
m o d e of f u n c t i o n i n g . S o t h e r e i s n o s e n s e of t i m e , a n d the
c o n t e n t of the u n c o n s c i o u s d o e s n o t b e c o m e o l d . F o r e x a m p l e ,
a w i s h — l e t u s s a y , to h a v e the m o t h e r for o n e ' s o w n — c a n s t a y
a l i v e i n t h e u n c o n s c i o u s from the time the c h i l d i s s i x m o n t h s
old u n t i l t h e s a m e p e r s o n i s a n a d u l t of forty or fifty or s i x t y .
T h e w i s h e s do n o t c h a n g e , do n o t get w e a k e r , o n l y change
a c c o r d i n g to o n e p r i n c i p l e — n a m e l y , t h a t t h e r e i s a n i n b o r n
s e q u e n c e of i n s t i n c t i v e w i s h e s n o t i n f l u e n c e d from t h e s i d e of
the environment. W e will talk about that another time w h e n w e
t a l k a b o u t t h e c o n t e n t s of t h e u n c o n s c i o u s .
T h e r e is another c u r i o u s thing w h i c h m a k e s the u n c o n
s c i o u s s e e m v e r y s t r a n g e to u s . T h e r e i s a v e r y e a s y d i s p l a c e
m e n t of e n e r g y . F o r i n s t a n c e , s e x u a l e n e r g y a t t a c h e d to o n e
i m a g e m a y flow over to a n o t h e r i m a g e . T h i s flowing-over is very
e a s y . I r e m e m b e r t h e s t o r y of a c h i l d w h o h a d a lot of difficulty
owing to h e r unconscious fears. Her mode of expression
s h o w e d q u i t e a b i t of u n c o n s c i o u s f u n c t i o n i n g . S h e w a s v e r y
a n g r y w i t h h e r d o c t o r b e c a u s e s h e w a s t e r r i b l y a f r a i d of d o c t o r s
(she w a s a v e r y little girl). S h e m e t h e r d o c t o r o n t h e s t r e e t a n d
s a i d to h e r , i l l k i l l y o u ' , a n d the d o c t o r s a i d , T t h o u g h t y o u
l i k e d m e ' , a n d s h e s a i d , *A11 r i g h t , I'll k i l l a n o t h e r doctor*, w h i c h
m e a n s there w a s a n easy displacement; energy a n d image are
n o t a s c l o s e l y c o n n e c t e d i n t h e i d a s a r e t h e ties t h a t a r e f o r m e d
l a t e r o n b y o u r f o r m s of l o g i c a l t h i n k i n g .
Well. I have given y o u a very quick overall p i c t u r e — o n the
one h a n d , of t h e p r i n c i p l e of f u n c t i o n i n g i n the i d , o n t h e o t h e r
of t h e m o d e of f u n c t i o n i n g , b e c a u s e I w a n t e d y o u to u n d e r s t a n d
two t h i n g s : o n t h e o n e h a n d , h o w v e r y n e c e s s a r y t h e b a r r i e r i s
w h i c h d i v i d e s t h i s life of t h e i d f r o m o u r o r d i n a r y l i f e — a c t u a l l y
t h e n o r m a l i t y of o u r b e h a v i o u r i n d a i l y life d e p e n d s o n t h e i d
n o t i n v a d i n g t h e o t h e r p a r t s of o u r p e r s o n a l i t y . A n d , o n t h e
other hand, I wanted you to understand that due to that

barrier—coming back now to our orientation, to psychoanalytic
theory, so far as it is important for the use of parents—well,
this shows you that the parents have no influence on the id of
the child. The id of the child, as I have described it to you now,
is removed from the environment, does not care for the environ
ment in that respect, and is not influenced by it, except in one
point. The parents have one power over the child. The child
is unable, in the early stages, to get instinct gratification for
himself, but since he is under the powerful need of reducing
tension and getting pleasure from instinct fulfilment, he is
dependent on the parents. The parents can give satisfaction or
withhold it. And indirectly, through creating a fate for the
instinct, a pleasurable or unpleasurable one, they influence the
child's id—or, rather, they have a connection with it; but not
otherwise.
Well, that is the result of today's attempt to present you
with the psychology of the unconscious, and the idea is that
next time we take the next step and see how out of that uncon
scious base of the personality develops what we gradually call
the human being.
LECTURE TWO
Ego and id
T
he flow of questions has begun, I hope it will continue,
because it is a great help in keeping me straight on
course and nearer to responding to your wishes. Those
who sent in questions should not be disappointed if I do not
always answer them straight away. Most of the questions are
very good, very justified, and bring up excellent material—but
they belong in later regions of our course. So I don't want to
interrupt the connections in what I have to say to answer them
but will pay special attention to them when we have reached
the places where they belong.
There is an immediate question, which concerns the
material we discussed last time. I think I worried several people
by apparently equating the id and the unconscious, and several
questions have been sent up, asking whether I really meant to
do that. Ifindit quite easy to identify myself with the bewilder
ment of the people who ask the questions, because they must
wonder whether I have never heard about the changes that
have taken place in that connection in the last twenty-six years.
One does not equate the unconscious and the id in newer
21
theory. You may well ask whether I know that one can use the
1
word 'unconscious' in various senses, and in what sense I have

used it. Probably the people who asked this were referring to
the double usage of unconscious: on the one hand, the descrip
tive sense and on the other the dynamic sense. Descriptively
speaking, whatever is not in our conscious mind and within our
awareness at a certain moment is unconscious. But that does
not mean that it cannot become conscious the next moment,
since our conscious mind only has room for a certain number of
thoughts and images at any given time. In the descriptive sense,
then, what is present in our mind at a given moment is con
scious; what is not present there is unconscious. That
is pure description, and it does not take us very far. But
there is also a dynamic sense of the word, in which we use the
term 'unconscious* for those thoughts and images that are not
capable of becoming conscious without overcoming a consider
able counterforce, as I pointed out last time. That is the uncon
scious of which I talked in the last lecture. It is unconscious,
and it cannot easily become conscious. But, in addition to this,
the term 'unconscious' was in use in earlier times in a third
sense, in the systemic sense, designating one whole region of
the mind, the system Unconscious, approximately the same as
that which we now call the id. That sense has gone out of use, 2
and that is where I confused you last time—it was not that I had
forgotten, but I wanted to avoid some of the complications of our
*Here Anna Freud rectifies a simplification she had made in the

lecture one. The reference to 'the last twenty-six years* is to Freud's
1926 book, Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety (1926d (1925], Standard
Edition, 20). in which he introduced some radical revisions in psycho
analytic theory.
T h i s is a reference to the system Unconscious of the 'topographical*
2
model of the mind, put forward by Freud in 1900 in The Interpretation of

Dreams (1900a, Standard Edition, 4 & 5) in which the mind was con
ceived of as being divided into the regions Unconscious, Preconscious,
and Perceptual-Conscious. T h i s model was replaced in 1923 in The Ego
and The Id, (1923b, Standard Edition, 19), with its concepts of id, ego
and superego. However, for many purposes the original topographical
formulations are still useful.
TWO: E G O AND ID 23
theory (you have no idea how many complications I spare you as

I go along). Well, we can't use the word 'unconscious' for a part
of the mind any more, because our mind is not divided up in an
orderly way. It is not so that whatever belongs to the id, even in
a remote way, is unconscious, whereas whatever belongs to the
ego or superego is conscious. All the derivatives and repre
sentatives of the id can reach consciousness; and a great deal of
the ego's functioning goes on without being accompanied by
consciousness. A large part of the content of the ego is not
conscious, and large parts of the superego are not conscious at
all. So instead of dividing the mind into a system of 'the uncon
scious* and a system of 'consciousness* we are now dividing it
into id, ego, and superego, in which the quality of conscious
ness or unconsciousness varies. Last time I represented to you
that aspect of the id which is unconscious, and that's why I
used the term in the way I did. I hope I have answered the
questions of the people who were worried about this.
There were further questions, and they showed me quite
clearly the points where the last lecture made you feel a
bit uncomfortable. The question arose in the minds of many
whether it is really true that the id is a closed system without
communication with the outside world. Can such a thing be?
And can such an organism exist? And you were quite right to be
worried. Such a thing cannot be, and such an organism cannot
exist—and besides, I did not say there is no communication
between the id and the environment. I said something slightly
different. I said that functioning in the id takes no notice of the
environment, that the id functions according to its own prin
ciple which is strictly one of wish fulfilment: fulfilment of
instinct satisfaction no matter what happens in the outside
world. I also said the id has no organ of perception, no instru
ment to take notice of the outside world, by which I meant not
until it develops one. The id would, indeed, be a closed system
if it were not open towards the environment in one place—
namely, where the fulfilment of the id-needs of the drives is
located. If we were to think of a satisfied id where every need is
fulfilled as it arises, then we would have a closed system. But
such a thing happens perhaps in one situation only—that is, in
the unborn child, in the foetus carried inside the mother, with
24 ANNA FREUD." THE HARVARD LECTURES
all its needs automatically fulfilled through the agency of the

mother's body. From the moment of birth onward there are
needs that have to be fulfilled, and for these needs the environ
ment is necessary.
You may remember another remark I made last time, that
the contact with the environment is the one chance which the
environment—for instance, the parents—has to get some in
direct influence over the drives of the child, although the par
ents can have no direct influence. They can control the drives
to a certain extent by giving or by withholding satisfaction. The
child, once born, needs the fulfilment of its wishes, and since it
does not yet have the possibility of controlling, changing, or of
dealing with the environment, one adult person at least—the
mother or her substitute—is necessary to keep that young or
ganism alive. This means that the mother fulfils the function of
being the link between the child's needs and the environment,
until something happens in the development of the child which
helps the young individual to take over that role himself. So
perhaps that answers the question about whether or not the id
is a closed system.
I think I warned you that you would have to take what I say
here from a particular aspect—do you remember that I used
the word 'anatomy'? What I am trying to give you here, though
it has nothing to do with the brain or the body, might in some
way be called the anatomy of the human personality. Well,
what I do is to present you with sections of it, and naturally
each section by itself makes no sense. If you were at an ana
tomical lecture and were demonstrated a stomach all by itself,
you would say, 'this cannot exist, this needs a mouth, this
needs some communication with the food outside, something to
lead from the mouth to the interior or the stomach. How else
should the food arrive?' They cannot function by themselves—
but for the purpose of studying them, learning about them,
analysing them, we have to take them piecemeal. So you had
the id last time just as a piece of the personality, and we are
now trying to link it up again with the other pieces that trans
form one segment into the beginning of a growing organism.
The id, then, has to create its link with the environment.
This link, which is gradually created by modifying part of the
original chaotic structure I described to you last time, will then
be what we call the 'ego*. I will try to show you gradually how
this ego is built up. Again I look for guidance to a question
someone posed at the end of the last lecture—that if everything
is unconscious in the id, what about the sensations that arise?
Well, that's just it. What is unconscious are the drives them
selves. What comes to the awareness of the individual are the
sensations, the 'tensions' as I called them last time, which are
felt as unpleasure or pain when they are raised, as pleasure
when they are lowered through the instincts being given satis
faction. This means that what the newborn infant is aware
of is a range of sensations from inside—sensations of pleasure
and pain which guide the id's functioning, which always goes
towards the gaining of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. That
is all the awareness we have at first. But then we immediately
have a second group of sensations or perceptions which come
to the awareness of the infant. They are the perceptions which
are derived from the sense organs, the sensations of hot and
cold and wet and dry, the sensations from the skin that are
derived from the child's body being touched by the mother or
by the material that envelops the child, and so on; they are
noises, they are the sensations of light; some of them are pleas
urable; but above a certain intensity they are always painful to
the child. The child's awareness, then, is full of these two lines
of sensation, arising from inside and from outside. The first
nucleus of what later will come to be called the ego is formed
around these sensations, around the pleasurable and the pain
ful sensations that we imagine as collected in what we might
call a centre of awareness, the nucleus of the ego.
In the very beginning the child does not distinguish be
tween what arrives from outside and what arrives from inside.
That is, as you know, a well-known fact. A stomach-ache which
sends up very painful sensations to the child's awareness is in
no way distinguished or is in no way different for the
child from, let us say, a loud noise which creates a painful
acoustic sensation. The first function the child develops in this
respect—we might say the first important ego function—is a
distinction between sensations from inside and perceptions
from outside: the term we use for that in psychoanalysis is that
child has learned to "test reality*. It takes several months be

fore this testing of reality is perfected by the child. I can give
you some very simple examples of how this function develops.
A hungry child has painful sensations coming from his
stomach, but since that child has already had experiences of
satisfaction which are connected with the appearance of the
mother, with the mother's breast, or with the bottle of milk, he
calls up alongside the pain of hunger the image of the satisfy
ing object in the outer world. The satisfying object might be, as
I said, the bottle, the milk, the breast, the mother. It concerns
the child only so far as it is satisfying. This calling up of the
image of the satisfying object is an inner image and does not
satisfy the child; but if the same image appears in reality in the
person of the mother, in the reality of the bottle and the milk, it
may look the same to the child, yet it is a perception arising
from outside. These two events, the inner and the outer, are
only distinguished from each other by the experience of satis
faction that follows the outer one, the real one, but not the
inner. The distinction between the two guides the child to a
knowledge of—to a distinction between—outer reality and an
internal world of images. I don't know whether that sounds
very complicated to you, but it may help if you to remember
that later in life, when we have no difficulty any more in distin
guishing between the productions of our own imagination and
the real pictures coming from the outside world, we still
have moments when we fall back into the infant state. In our
dreams we have very vivid pictures of the outside world, but
they only bring us the semblance of satisfaction. We wake up
unsatisfied. In the simplest forms of dream, the hunger dream
where we dream of food, the experience Is very nice while we
dream, but we are just as hungry when we wake up, whereas
the same picture offered to us by the outside world comes from
the satisfying food. We know that at the height of the activity of
our imagination it can happen that sometimes we confuse a
very satisfactory fantasy structure with reality, but we do this
only for a short moment. But there are mental illnesses where
people actually return to the state of the infant, where they
have hallucinations, which means that they mistake the pro
ductions of their own inner wishful thinking for appearances
and experiences in the outside world. These hallucinatory pro

cesses are normal in the infant and help the infant towards the
all-important ego function which we call reality testing.
Now there you have the beginnings of an ego, and with
that function once under way, other functions are added very
rapidly during the first months of life. The first impressions
which the infant has arefleeting.They come and go, and they
are only distinguished from each other by the connotation of
being pleasurable or unpleasurable or painful. But almost
immediately the child begins to develop the ability to stir up
experience, which means that a past experience of satisfaction
is remembered when the same need arises again. The child is
hungry again and remembers the moment of satisfaction. This
ability to stir up sensations that have happened once—sensa
tions from inside and outside—develops gradually into what is
known to all of us as the function of memory.
So now we have an infant able to distinguish between inside
and outside and who possesses the function of memory—an
all-important function because it guides the child from then
onward. But there is one function which only comes into play
after a certain time. In the very beginning the child does
not distinguish between himself and the environment—they are
one—or rather, the child does not know where his own person
ends and where the outer world begins. So far as we can deter
mine it from later analytic exploration, we have reason to be
lieve that the child takes the milk bottle or the mother's breast
to be part of himself and makes no distinction between his own
hand which can be sucked and the breast or bottle which can
be sucked too. The only difference is that the thumb, for in
stance, is always there, whereas the mother or her hand or her
breast periodically disappears. So this is the realm where, with
the help of the new function of memory, the child gradually
learns to determine where his own personality comes to an end.
But in the beginning he makes many mistakes in this impor
tant business because he takes as the basis for the distinction,
not how things really are, but relies again on the sensations of
pleasure and pain. The child claims as his own what is pleasur
able, and would like to ascribe what is painful to the outer
world—a very sensible idea, but it doesn't work in the long run.
28 ANNA FREUD: T H E HARVARD LECTURES
because the distinction, after all, has nothing to do with the

qualities of pain and pleasure. But it takes quite a long time
before the child can assimilate disagreeable parts of himself
into his picture of himself.
But what is the child'sfirstpicture of himself—or, as we can
say now, of his beginning ego? When we say T (the equivalent of
ego), we know exactly what we mean. We mean our body plus
3
what we know of our personality, which means our body and

our conscious mind. One assumesfromstudies of children at
slightly later ages and from studies of adults that, according to
all indications, the child first experiences what belongs to his
body as himself, as his ego. This is, of course, very obscure
territory we are in. The first ego—and this is the way it is put in
the literature—is the body ego, built up of the sensations sent
by the various parts of the body to the child's awareness. When
you observe infants, you will find that they are very fascinated
by their own body, that they explore their own body and make
gradual acquaintance with it. They are evidently very busy with
receiving these sensations from the various parts of the body
and building them into some kind of structure for which we
have that rather vague name of the 'body ego'. The body ego is,
4
then, the basis of the future conscious personality that collects

around it, which has very important contents (of which I will
tell you another time). This future conscious personality fills
itself with impressions taken from the outside world, which you
know about under the title of 'identifications with the outside
world'. The body ego is older than the ego which is built up on
the basis of identifications. What I am describing to you are
happenings in the first year of life—or, rather, in the first few
months of life—and I have tried to keep my description as
chronological as possible.
T h e use of *ego' for T (as distinct from the 'other') is one of the
3
meanings given by Freud to das Ich and is to be distinguished from the

use of the same term for the mental organization (the 'agency') Intro
duced i n 1923 i n The Ego and the Id (1923b, Standard Edition, 19) Anna
Freud moves from one usage of *ego* to the other for purposes of exposi
tion, and the context makes her meaning clear.
Now sometimes referred to a s the *body self.
4
A further, highly important acquisition of that young ego is

now the establishment of a communication between various
parts. There is not only a centre of awareness where sensations
and perceptions meet, but there is also an attempt to unify
these perceptions and sensations, to do something about con
tradictory impressions. That is, in short, what we call an at
tempt at integration or synthesis within the ego. We must not
place this too early in life; or, rather, we can say it begins early,
but early on it only concerns the simplest perceptions and sen
sations. Then, as the child grows, this synthetic function of the
ego proceeds further and further in an attempt to create the
unified structure out of the small organ which we later know as
our well-functioning adult ego.
It will become quite obvious to you that once this integration
of the ego is under way, peace in the child (if there ever is such
a thing) is at an end. I described last time how it is one of
the important characteristics of id functioning that there is no
contradiction between its various strivings. Contradictory in
nature as they may be, they live side by side and exist simulta
neously. Each urge strives towards satisfaction without regard
to the others. When the representatives of these urges meet
within the ego, they have to be brought into a sort of harmony
with each other, which means that from that moment on, con
flict in the human being begins. I do not know whether you
have met in literature, in poetry, in history, and every so
often in the conversations of people, one particular wish which
seems to play a very great part in human beings—namely the
wish that one could be a really unified being without inner
conflict. One always finds, especially in literature and mythol
ogy, these wishful structures of supermen, we might say, who
are able to pursue one wish or the other, one aim or the other,
without being bothered inside, as if they are moved only by a
single purpose. I think that this idea is so widespread because
it is so impossible to fulfil it. You might say that the id infant
that I represented to you last time is such a superman of single
purpose, that he has only one purpose—namely, the fulfilment
of his instinctive wishes. But the moment higher development
begins, conflicts set in. Conflict and all its consequences are
the price paid by human beings for their so-called higher devel
opment, which means the division, the splitting up, which

occurs within their personality.
Now, what is the good of all these ego functions? How are
they used by the infant who has by now grown, let us say, into
a child of perhaps a year or a year and a half? There is one more
function of high importance we have to take into account—the
function of speech. To study the development of speech is in
itself a very interesting pursuit. I am no authority on speech;
all I have are certain observations on it. If you observe speech
development in the infant, you will see that it has roughly two
phases. In one phase the infant merely amuses himself—or
entertains himself—by trying out the noises his mouth and
tongue can make. You will find such an infant lying in his crib
and, as the adults say, 'talking' to himself, babbling, crowing,
making all sorts of noises, and being pleased with that. That is
the first phase. This is very soon then used to establish com
munication between the infant and the mother. The mother will
be the first to understand what the noises mean—or, rather,
will recognize them as the expression of a certain mood in the
child, a mood pointing to a certain need, and she will answer
that need. The mother knows very well that the hungry child,
the sleepy child, the wet child, the tired child will produce
noises that are of a different kind. These noises change into
articulate speech, which definitely serves communication with
the environment. It is probably known to all of you from other
studies that the understanding of speech comes earlier in the
child than the ability to talk—at least for most children. The
onset of speech cannot be pinned down to a certain age. There
are children who begin to speak at the age of eleven months,
and there are other children who reach the age of two and a half
before they can speak, the usual age being between one and
two years. Psychological studies have shown us that there is a
given number of words that children normally use at specific
ages, but I know quite a number of people who have not spoken
before the age of two and a half (one of them is even here). The
parents are often greatly worried about it—but these children
usually make up for it later in life by talking a lot. So the
acquisition of speech is a very individual process which serves
the same purpose—to make the link, the communication with
I
the environment. From the analytic side we know little about

what the delay in speech means. It need not mean that this or
that particular child is in poor contact with the environment,
because the child's understanding of the speech of adults
serves the purpose of contact too.
Speech is a highly important function for the child and a
very delicate one. If anything happens to upset the child in the
two or three months during which speech is acquired, or even
three or six months afterwards—if the child at that time is very
ill or loses his parents or is sent to hospital or is separated or
receives a severe shock of some other kind—speech is usually
lost and has to be learned again. I have seen a great number of
children who had recently learned to speak and could speak
quite well while with their mothers, but who lost their speech
when separated from mother and who took months to relearn
it. This means that the function of speech is an especially
vulnerable one. On the other hand, once speech is acquired, it
takes a very severe mental illness indeed for it to be damaged
or lost. (I leave out here the slight things that can happen
for neurotic reasons, like stammering and other distortions of
speech.) But the function of speech is not easily lost in later
life, because it is intimately connected with the form of thinking
which now becomes the normal form for the growing ego of the
child—that is, connected, logical thinking, with all those con
nections between images which we miss so much in the de
scription of the unconscious. I mean the temporal and causal
connections between the thoughts which can only be expressed
with the help of speech. From then on, thinking, though it still
makes use of images like thinking in the id, proceeds in the
ego with words; and that is the enormous difference between
former functioning and later functioning, between id function
ing and ego functioning.
The ego then uses these abilities to distinguish between
inside and outside, to memorize (that is, to store up experi
ence), to distinguish itself from the outside world, to have an
integration of its various wishes, to express its thoughts in
logical order, and to control its actions. Before the advent
of an ego (or before the ego has any strength with reference to
the instincts), action proceeds directly under the impact of the
drives. Action is meant to bring about wish fulfilment, and

action is directed by the drives, without—as I said last time
any other factor being taken into consideration except the wish
to acquire pleasure. But now the direction of action is taken
over by this new person which has arisen, by the ego, and
instead of permitting action to follow directly on the experi
ences of an instinctive wish, thought is placed between the
wish and the action—thought used for the purpose of examin
ing whether the action is appropriate. What would happen in
the outside world if that action were to be undertaken? Will it
bring danger? Will it harm the individual himself? Will it harm
somebody else? And according to its assessment of the state
of the environment, the ego now begins to control the inner
world—namely, to assess which wishes are safe to fulfil, to
what extent, and when. That means that the ego singles out
wishes for fulfilment, rejects others, postpones some.
If the little infant that I described to you last time—the
infant who acts completely under the direction of his id—had
full control of his muscular strength, he would be the most
dangerous individual imaginable. He would be a sort of orang
utang, striding along and hitting out right and left and taking
what he wants. We are only saved from this dangerous indi
vidual by the fact that he cannot move, cannot walk, cannot
grasp, and has no strength. It is lucky that with the growing
bodily strength we get a growing functioning ego which
automatically controls that strength. But, of course, we get
moments when the id is once more freed from the control of the
ego, the moments I mentioned last time when human beings go
rabid for some reason, commit crimes, allow their outbursts of
temper, become passionate in one direction or another; which
means that the direction of action has for the moment slipped
out of ego control and has been restored to what it was in the
beginning in relation to the id urges—a dangerous situation. 5
Not all outbursts of the sort described by Anna Freud are eruptions
5
of id impulses. Temper tantrums, for example, while often expressions

of the aggressive drive, are often reactions to anxiety, and the aggressive
behaviour shown in the tantrum need not be instinctual in origin.
I t h i n k it w o u l d b e a great m i s t a k e , o n the other h a n d , if y o u

l o o k e d a t t h i s g r a d u a l b u i l d i n g u p of t h e ego a s a s m o o t h p r o
c e s s , a s a p r o c e s s t h a t follows o n e l i n e w i t h o u t s e t b a c k s . Y o u n g
c h i l d r e n l e a r n to c o n t r o l t h e i r a c t i o n s or, a s w e s a y , t h e y l e a r n
to a c t r a t i o n a l l y , a n d t h e n t h e i r p a r e n t s e x p e c t t h e m a l w a y s to
a c t r a t i o n a l l y ; b u t t h e y d o n ' t . Y o u n g c h i l d r e n of two o r t h r e e ,
for i n s t a n c e , a r e q u i t e u n r e l i a b l e . W e do n o t k n o w w h e t h e r a t a
g i v e n m o m e n t t h e i d w i l l s t i l l h a v e c o n t r o l over t h e i r a c t i o n s , o r
t h e ego. It i s w o r t h e n q u i r i n g w h a t m a k e s t h e difference, o r h o w
w e c a n p r e d i c t w h a t w i l l h a p p e n , I w i l l give y o u a n e x a m p l e of
t h e s i m p l e s t k i n d . I n a b i g c i t y w i t h traffic i n t h e s t r e e t i t i s
c o m p a r a t i v e l y e a s y to t e a c h c h i l d r e n w h o a r e two o r t h r e e y e a r s
o l d t h e d a n g e r s of t h e r o a d . T h e y k n o w q u i t e w e l l t h a t if t h e y
r u n i n f r o n t of a m o t o r - c a r , t h e y w i l l b e r u n over. W h y don't
we t r u s t t h e m , t h e n — b e c a u s e w e don't t r u s t t h e m — t o w a l k o n
t h e s t r e e t s a l o n e ? W e l l , i m a g i n e a c h i l d of t h a t a g e — a s i t u a
tion w h i c h everybody h a s s e e n so m a n y t i m e s — w a l k i n g quite
peacefully on the street a n d even, u n d e r guidance, c r o s s i n g the
street i n a n orderly m a n n e r , very p r o u d that h e h a s learned
to m a n a g e t h e traffic. B u t t h e n i m a g i n e t h a t s a m e c h i l d i n
t h e f o l l o w i n g s i t u a t i o n . T h e m o t h e r of t h e c h i l d h a s left i n t h e
m o r n i n g , p e r h a p s for h e r p r o f e s s i o n a l w o r k ; t h e c h i l d i s b e i n g
t a k e n for a w a l k i n t h e s t r e e t a n d s u d d e n l y s e e s t h e r e t u r n i n g
m o t h e r , a t l u n c h t i m e p e r h a p s , o n t h e o t h e r s i d e of t h e r o a d . I f
t h e c h i l d w e r e to b e a l o n e , p r o b a b l y n o t h i n g w o u l d k e e p h i m
from running over the r o a d to greet h i s m o t h e r , ignoring
d a n g e r o u s traffic. B u t w h y ? T h e c h i l d k n o w s a b o u t t h e traffic
a n d h a l f a n h o u r e a r l i e r c o u l d o b s e r v e t h e traffic r u l e s . W h a t
t h i s m e a n s I s t h a t w h e n n o t h i n g t e m p t i n g i s o n t h e o t h e r s i d e of
t h e s t r e e t , t h e ego h a s c o n t r o l of t h e c h i l d ' s m o t i l i t y . B u t a t t h e
m o m e n t w h e n the c h i l d s a w the desired mother the control
s l i p p e d a w a y f r o m t h e ego, a n d t h e c h i l d ' s a c t i o n i s c o n t r o l l e d
b y t h e w i s h to r e g a i n t h e m o t h e r a s q u i c k l y a s p o s s i b l e . T h i s
w i s h n o w d i r e c t s a c t i o n , a n d t h e w i s h h a s n o t h i n g to do w i t h
t h e traffic i n t h e s t r e e t . A l l t h i s m e a n s t h a t t h e o r d e r l y b e h a v
i o u r , t h e r a t i o n a l b e h a v i o u r , of t h e c h i l d d e p e n d s o n a c e r t a i n
r e l a t i o n s h i p w h i c h h a s to do w i t h m e n t a l e c o n o m i c s . It i s a
q u e s t i o n of r e l a t i v e s t r e n g t h : h o w s t r o n g i s t h e w i s h , how
s t r o n g i s t h e e g o ? A t t h e t i m e w h e n t h e ego i s n e w a n d b e i n g
formed, any wish of a certain strength can overpower it; and

this is true for the whole process of childhood. We only regard
the process of ego formation as completed when the ego is able
to keep control of action and of movement under all conditions,
regardless of the strength of the wish, with the exception of
those overpowering moments of passion to which everyone is
subject at certain times in life. Have you, for instance, ever
wondered why young people get their driving licences so late?
It's not because they can't manage a motor-car. They can usu
ally manage the driving better than their parents, but the police
(who seem to know all about relative ego and id strengths!) do
not trust them. They may experience a wish to be somewhere in
a hurry, and that overrides the traffic rules. They get their
driving licence at a moment when their actions are supposed to
be under ego control all the time. That seems to be very late in
life.
What, then, does the ego achieve by building up the various
functions; what does it bring about in the personality? To re
peat: it achieves two extremely important things. The first is to
lift the level of the thought processes from the primary process,
which I described to you as belonging to the id, to what we now
call secondary process: namely, the conscious, logical, rational
functioning under ego control—an enormous change. The sec
ond all-important function is to interpose conscious thinking
each time between the wish and action, which changes the
whole appearance of the personality. If you look at it that way,
then you will see that the ego has two roles—or we might even
say one main role. On the one hand, the ego is of enormous
help to the instincts. By knowing the outside world, it can guide
the instincts towards fulfilment and particularly towards safe
fulfilment. The ego takes regard of reality. It is not any more
owned by the pleasure principle. But, on the other hand, by
interposing these thought processes and by insisting on safety,
reality, and good sense, it holds up and inhibits wish fulfil
ment. So, while on the one hand the ego is the friend of the id
and on the other it seems to be the enemy of the id, in reality it
forms the link between the id and the environment.
That is as far as our knowledge takes us today. I suppose
you have realized one thing. What I have given you concerning
the id and the ego is a framework only^the bare bones of each,

two skeletons. I have not told you anything about the content of
the id, and I haven't told you anything about the content of the
ego. I have told you something about the principles of id and
ego functioning and their modes of functioning. And it should
now be the work of next week to fill in the empty frames, so that
we will begin with the content of the id. I thought it would be
helpful to you if you had a structure of the personality first to fit
it all in.
LECTURE THREE
Sexuality and development
I feel very different about this audience from the way I felt
last week. I know more of what you want, but I have only
one real question that was sent to me during the week. It is
one that worried me very much indeed, because it showed me
that people expected, after presenting the id and the ego, that I
would proceed further in an orderly fashion and make you
acquainted with the superego. But where should I take the
superego from at this point in our proceedings? There is no
basis for it. The superego is the product of the forces in the id,
and though I have given you the outlines, the principles, the
modes of functioning of the id, we have not yet become
acquainted with the forces in the id, with the content of the id.
So you will have to wait with the superego until we have arrived
at the right place.
I hope that the expectation that you might now be able to
complete your knowledge of the human personality has not
taken away your thoughts from other matters connected with
the material—namely, from the question to which we should
return after every theoretical excursion. You remember my
37
assignment here is two-sided: on the one hand, it is to make

you acquainted with the psychoanalytic theories concerning
childhood; on the other hand, it is to point out to you where
these theories are of immediate concern to people who deal
with the upbringing of children—namely, the parents. And that
is an important issue to add to the material that we have had so
far. In what way does what we have learned about the id and
the structure of the ego relate to the parents? It seems to me
that you could use all that knowledge to throw light on one
particular point. You have heard it said so often that the most
important years for influencing a child are the firstfiveyears of
life. I don't know whether you have always asked yourselves
why, but the answer is contained in the material that I have
given you. Think once more of the newborn child as an id with
no direct communication with the environment, and then think
of the ego as the tool, the instrument fashioned out of the id to
bring about that communication. Then you will easily see from
my description last time that it takes a number of years before
that instrument, the ego, the mediator between inside and out
side, the link between the inner world and the outer world, is
perfected sufficiently to complete its task. During the time of
the immaturity of the ego, the parents step in to fulfil the func
tions which the immature ego of the child is so far unable to
fulfil. This means they have the all-important task of choosing
whether a given instinctive wish should be frustrated or should
find satisfaction; in the eyes of the child this makes them all
powerful. The task undertaken by the parents is later taken on
by the ego itself, and it becomes one of the most important ego
functions to control the inner world of instinct, to select what is
suitable for satisfaction, to postpone what would endanger the
child if satisfaction were to be found immediately, and to
modify what cannot find satisfaction in its primitive state. If
you then see the task of the parents as being that of a kind of
substitute ego for the child, you will also realize how much the
attitude of the parents ought to change with the growth in the
functioning of the child's own ego. So it is a grave mistake for a
parent to continue to try to fulfil these ego functions for a child
who already has a mature ego, or a nearly mature ego, and
is perfectly able to fulfil them himself. That is when you all
THREE: SEXUALITY AND DEVELOPMENT 39
become so resentful towards your own parents, when they try

to do for your Inner world what you like to do for yourself.
So that is just the practical application of the theoretical
material that we have dealt with, and it is high time now to give
you some concrete idea of the content of the id. What really 1
happens in this underworld? What are those instinctive forces

which need the environment for their satisfaction? What is our
conception of them?
So far in our lectures I have led you in a more or less sys
tematic way, showing you something about the human person
ality, without regard to the chronological order in which it
was discovered. I now want to go the historical way: namely,
to begin where what we call the 'psychoanalytic theory of in
stincts' has its origin—namely, with the study of the sex
instinct. At the same time, I suppose, it is the realm of psycho
analytic knowledge about which you know most, because the
knowledge of it is now most widespread. There is a point about
it that might be of interest to you. Now that so much knowledge
about human sex life has become common property, it is very
difficult for the individual to differentiate how much, really,
belongs to analytic work, what discoveries psychoanalysis can
claim in that realm, and what has always been known.
Well, before it was the subject of psychoanalytic study,
knowledge of the sexual functions and the sexual life of the
human individual was more or less limited to one aspect only of
it. Of course, the importance of the sexual function for adult
life, for married life, for procreation, was always known, but it
was limited to that. As you may remember (but for you it is old
history) sexual life was supposed to begin at adolescence. No
knowledge of sexual life was thought necessary to understand
1
W h a t follows is a description, a s Anna Freud often put it, 'from the
side of the id*. In considering the development of the child's sexuality,
emphasis is placed on his move through the various phases of child
hood sexuality. It is worth noting that such phases, while they may
be appropriate for considering sexual development, are not the best way
of looking at ego a n d superego development, nor at the development of
relationships with others—matters dealt with later i n these lectures.
children under at least the age of pre-adolescence—twelve was

usually the age, and in what was told to parents nothing
was included under the term 'sexual life* except genital activity
with a partner of the opposite sex leading to reproduction. But
what was left out there was a great deal. There were no previ
ous stages leading to this sexual end-result. There was no way
of understanding from the theory of sex life, as it existed then,
where all the many abnormalities of sex life come from. Even
in those times, children before the age of adolescence or pre
adolescence were known to show sexual reactions and to have
genital interests. This was ascribed to an abnormal, precocious
development, and even though such things were always known
to those people who dealt intimately with children—mothers or
nurses—they were kept secret; because every mother thought
that only her child showed such reactions, and she did not
want to expose her child to criticism and blame. So, on the one
hand, it was common knowledge, and, on the other hand, com
mon ignorance. But what interested us later was to see that the
adult world which did not believe in sexuality before adoles
cence had still built up very strict sets of prohibitions and
precautions against something that was, according to their
mind, non-existent.
There are other points: the many inhibitions of sexual
functions in adult men and women—what you know as frigidity
in women and all the various forms of complete or partial
sexual impotence in men—were not understood in those times.
They were thought to have an organic basis, to come from the
body, not from the mind. And, further, all those irregularities of
sex life which are known under the name of perversions, where
either the sexual act is not performed on a partner of the oppo
site sex or not by means of the genital parts themselves—were
considered as merely signs of abnormality and depravity, as
degeneration of human beings, without any possibility of find
ing their true causes.
That is more or less the picture of sex knowledge at the
point where the psychoanalytic work on it began. If I try to
summarize for you what psychoanalysis has added, we still
need only a very few headings. It has added, above all, the
knowledge that the adult sex life that I have described before is
T H R E E : SEXUALITY AND DEVELOPMENT 41
not something 'given* in itself, but the end-product of a long

cycle of development beginning at birth and finding its conclu
sion in adolescence; rather, that these pre-stages of sexuality,
as you might call them, are characterized by the fact that other
parts of the body, apart from the parts directly serving the
sexual function—the genital parts, the sex parts—are involved
in it. These other parts of the body are capable of yielding
bodily pleasure to the individual of a kind which is comparable,
or identical to a certain degree, with that pleasure derived later
from the genital parts. These, then, are the very early stages
of sexuality about which you have heard and read under the
name of 'infantile sexuality' or 'pregenital sexuality'. Curiously
enough, the fight about these matters that went on for twenty
or thirty years was not always directed against the discovery of
these facts—because it is very difficult to deny facts once they
are drawn into the light—but they concerned the terminology.
The world at large would have been much more ready to accept
these psychoanalytic assumptions if only the word 'sexual' had
not been extended in its use to cover these pregenital stages, if
one had called them something else—'erotic stages' or 'stages
of preparation for sexuality'; but the adoption of any of these
terms would have obscured the situation in an important man
ner. They would have denied the fact that these matters play
the same role in the life of the child as genital sexuality plays in
adult life; and besides, that these are the tributaries which flow
together to make up adult sexuality.
I only need to remind you very quickly now of the next bit of
knowledge—namely, the building up of the phases of infantile
sexuality, centred always around those parts of the body which
yield sexual pleasure at the different ages of the child. You may
be interested to be reminded of one fact, that none of this was
discovered on the child in the first place. It is very curious that
an important discovery of this kind was not actually made on
the individuals where, after all, it could be seen, but was made
during the study of adults who, in the form of their neurotic
illnesses, were pointing back to important happenings in child
hood. This means the early stages of sexuality were deduced
first from material gained on the adult and then confirmed on
the child. By now the confirmation has gone so far that every
42 ANNAFREUD: T H E HARVARD LECTURES
body can see it, and there are very few people by now who don't
believe in it. The direct study of children nowadays, when
people undertake it with open eyes, can furnish the same con
viction and bring the same material that the indirect study by
way of the adult had brought in the beginning.
Now here is the place to put in another question. If all this is
so important in childhood, why was it impossible for adult indi
viduals to make this discovery on themselves, with the help of
their own memories? Every human being has a good knowledge
of his own sexual urges. Why was it impossible for the thought
ful and studious individual to follow that knowledge back to
those times before the sexual urges had assumed their adult
form? Well, another curious factor comes in here, about which
you have surely heard many times—namely, that normally hu
man individuals do not remember theirfirstfiveyears of life, or
only very little of it. What happens then are id happenings
which are opposed in many ways by the child's growing ego.
For reasons of precaution of which we shall hear later, because
these early instinctive urges create anxious situations in a
child, the memory of them goes by the board or is relegated to
the unconscious. And that fact made it necessary to make our
studies by the roundabout way of studying abnormal adults,
and later by the roundabout way of using a technique of study
ing normal individuals which leads back to those repressed
unconscious parts of the personality—namely, the analytic
technique.
But now about the stages of sex development as we find
them in the child. They are known to you under three names:
the oral, the anal, and the phallic stages. I am quite sure I tell
you nothing new with that. This means they are centred during
the first year of life around the child's mouth, which is then the
source of pleasure; later on around the child's anus, which
then becomes the source of pleasure; and approximately be
tween the ages of three and five around the child's genital
parts—but around the male child's genital parts and the
equivalent in the female. That is why this time is called the
'phallic phase', because it is centred around the penis in the
boy and the clitoris in the girl. What does that mean, to say that
the pleasure is centred there? And what does it mean that it
comes about in such an orderly sequence? Well, certainly it

does not mean that at a given date a child ceases to have
pleasure from his mouth and becomes interested in other parts
of his body; nor is there a sharp transition between the anal
and the phallic phase. Probably sensations from all these three
parts of the body—sensations of a sexual, erotic nature—are
furnished by the body, or demanded by the body throughout
the whole of childhood, and the weight shifts from the one to
the other in these various stages, with another part of the body
coming into the centre of attention. The phases overlap but are
still distinguishable.
Well, during the first year of life we know that the child's
main concern is the feeding process, and it would be quite
wrong to think—though I have met that error in many people—
that the only pleasure which the child gains from the feeding
process is a sexual one and is therefore what we call a
'mouth pleasure*, an oral pleasure. That is certainly not true.
The pleasure that the child gains from feeding is the satisfac
tion of a body need—namely, of hunger. But while the child
satisfies his hunger, something happens in his mouth which is
extremely pleasurable, which is the first pleasure of that kind
we call sexual pleasure; and quite apart from the feeding pro
cess, a child who has once discovered that pleasure during the
feeding process pursues it further when he has no need for
food. We know how children pursue it further. They suck other
things beside the milk bottle or the mother's breast. They suck
a variety of substitutes, not, as people used to think, because
they are hungry, but because they would like to get more of
that mouth pleasure which they have experienced during the
feeding process. Children, as you know, suck their thumbs or
other fingers; some are really greedy and suck two or three
fingers at the same time, as much as they can get into their
mouth. Some suck their feet, or that part of the foot they can
bring to their mouth. Some suck parts of their pillow or an edge
of their blanket—there is really no end to the variety of things
that can be sucked. We once tried, in a group of about twenty
five sucking infants, to establish similarities in this area, but
children seem to have as much variety of taste in their sucking
preferences as adults have in the dishes they order in a
restaurant. They have their preferences, and they stick to

them. This means that the child who sucks his thumb would
think that the other fingers are quite uninteresting; whoever
prefers his blanket will not be satisfied with the thumb, and so
on. This sucking seems a very harmless procedure—all the
more harmless since children are very satisfied and quiet when
they do it, so much so that in the last century, for instance, it
was the habit of mothers and nurses to provide children with
something that they can suck—I don't know what it's called
because it has gone so much out of fashion. It's something like
the top of the milk bottle with no milk bottle behind it. [Some
body in the audience says, *a pacifier' !. A pacifier—why a
2
pacifier? Because it pacifies the child's desire for oral pleas

ure—people just forgot to give the pacifier its full name in those
times. In the last century and in the beginning of this century,
there was an enormous movement, not only against using paci
fiers but against letting the child have that sucking pleasure
from his ownfingers.Children were prevented from sucking by
all imaginable, and for us now unimaginable means—by tying
their hands, by putting bad-smelling or bad-tasting substances
on their fingers, and so on. There were all sorts of ration
alizations about why one should prevent children from suck
ing their fingers—that it would deform their upper teeth,
that it would create damage to the skin of the fingers, and so
on. The first battle between child and parent—or child and
nurse in those years—was fought out on the battleground of
sucking. Perhaps now, with our greater knowledge of what is
behind the sucking process, we can guess why this was so,
though probably people were never conscious of it. The child
who is able to pacify his own desires is, to the extent to which
he gains satisfaction in this way, independent of the environ
ment; and it is as if the parents have realized this and claim
strictly that they have the role of deciding when the child
should have satisfaction. The self-satisfaction of the child on
the oral level was considered a menace. If you ask me how long
the pleasure from the sucking process lasts, the answer is not
2
A * dummy*.
q u i t e e a s y to A n d . B y r i g h t s i t s h o u l d b e p r e s e n t i n t h e f i r s t a n d
s e c o n d year, b u t development is not a l w a y s a s it s h o u l d be, a n d
y o u w i l l f i n d c h i l d r e n of t h r e e , f o u r , a n d five s t i l l s u c k i n g t h e i r
t h u m b s i f it i s n o t f o r b i d d e n . T h e o t h e r d a y I e v e n h e a r d of a
h i g h - s c h o o l b o y w h o , after s o l v i n g a m a t h e m a t i c a l p r o b l e m ,
r e t i r e s i n t o a c o r n e r of t h e c l a s s r o o m a n d p u t s h i s finger i n t o
h i s m o u t h . W e feel t h a t t h e r e i s s o m e t h i n g w r o n g t h e r e . W h y
d i d n ' t t h e c h i l d p r o c e e d f r o m t h i s p l e a s u r e to t h e n e x t ?
Well, what about the next pleasure? T h e next pleasure
comes, a s y o u also know, in about the second year a n d lasts
p e r h a p s for two o r t h r e e y e a r s . I t i s c e n t r e d a r o u n d t h e p r o c e s s
of d e f e c a t i o n a n d a g a i n i s n o t , a s m a n y p e o p l e i m a g i n e , m e r e l y
a n i n t e r e s t i n t h e p r o c e s s of d e f e c a t i o n or a p l e a s u r e c o n n e c t e d
with the relief that the child experiences w h e n h i s bowels h a v e
moved; c h i l d r e n are very m u c h plagued by w h a t goes on i n
t h e i r i n t e s t i n e s . Q u i t e p a r a l l e l to w h a t h a p p e n s i n t h e m o u t h , it
is the m u c o u s m e m b r a n e a r o u n d the a n u s w h i c h yields p l e a s
u r a b l e s e n s a t i o n s a n d t e m p t s t h e c h i l d to p r o v i d e m o r e of t h e s e
s e n s a t i o n s , even w h e n defecation does not take place. B u t the
a n a l o g y d o e s n o t go a n y f u r t h e r . A q u e s t i o n w a s s e n t u p t h e
o t h e r d a y a s k i n g w h a t t h e s y m b o l i c v a l u e of e x c r e m e n t , of d i r t ,
i s for t h e c h i l d , a n d t h i s i s t h e m o m e n t to a n s w e r it. E x c r e m e n t ,
t h e c h i l d ' s o w n s t o o l , d o e s n o t h a v e s y m b o l i c v a l u e for the
c h i l d . I t i s v a l u e d a s s u c h , for i t s o w n s a k e , w h i c h i s v e r y
difficult for t h e a d u l t to i m a g i n e . H e r e w e h a v e a n e n o r m o u s
gulf between t h e f e e l i n g of t h e c h i l d a b o u t s o m e t h i n g and
t h e c o r r e s p o n d i n g f e e l i n g of t h e a d u l t . W h a t i s to t h e n o r m a l
adult a disgusting, dirty matter, a n d perhaps also a slightly
despicable matter, towards w h i c h he h a s a contemptuous atti
t u d e , i s to t h e c h i l d s o m e t h i n g v e r y m u c h p r i z e d — n a m e l y , a
p a r t of h i s o w n b o d y . T h e c h i l d of two o r t h r e e w h o d o e s n o t
k n o w a n y t h i n g of w a s t e - p r o d u c t s of t h e b o d y t h i n k s t h a t t h i s i s
a s g o o d a p a r t of h i s b o d y a s , for i n s t a n c e , h i s a r m o r h i s l e g o r
h i s h a n d or h i s t h u m b .
T h e s t r i c t n e s s of m a n y p a r e n t s a b o u t h a b i t t r a i n i n g m a y
c a u s e t h e c h i l d to l o s e s o m e of t h e p l e a s u r e h e g a i n s f r o m t h e
s e n s a t i o n s a r o u n d the a n u s . Now c h i l d r e n are not given the
o p p o r t u n i t y to fulfil t h e s e a n a l d e s i r e s w h e n t h e y a r e c a r e f u l l y
b r o u g h t u p , o r v e r y l i t t l e of t h e s e d e s i r e s o n l y . T h e y s h i f t t h e m
very soon to other matters which have some similarity to the

product of their body, and the general interest of the child in
dirty matter derives from that. Here the question about the
symbolic value comes in. For the child, all dirty matter has
a symbolic value representing the waste-product of his own
body, his excrement. I don't know whether there is anybody
among you who only knows clean children. If that should be so,
I would like that person to set up an immediate experiment—
namely, to collectfivechildren, two and a half years old (if you
want to, ten children, but that would make a great noise!) in a
room of this size. You can paint the room in very gay colours
and you can fill it with most interesting toys, toys appropriate
to that age, and then, in the far corner of that room, you put a
pail of tar, and then wait a few minutes. . . . And then, if you
want to take the time to quantify things, you can see how long it
takes the child to leave everything else and get to the tar. It is
quite incredible how irresistible the attraction of dirty matter,
smeary matter, matter of a certain colour are for children of
that age. Probably the attraction is so irresistible because, due
to the way in which children are taken care of and brought up,
the child is permitted very little of the original anal pleasure.
When, later on, we go into other aspects of the child's devel
opment, I will be able to show you that to each of these phases
of sex development belong certain aspects of the child's person
ality; but we will leave that for the moment. I can only tell you
(again, it's not news to you) that great change comes about in
these dirty little children at approximately the age of three or
between three and four, when their interest in anal matters
ceases to a large degree and when the sexual sensations centre
around the genitals. You all know how the child shows pleasure
and interest in that part of the body, by playing with his geni
tals. Probably it is less clear to you that this interest in the
genitals is connected with two very open, manifest attitudes.
These are, firstly, a very high curiosity about how other
people's bodies are built, especially from the point of view of
whether there is a male genital or not, and, secondly, an enor
mous pleasure which the little boy has in whatever perform
ance he can bring about with his own genital—namely, his first
erections. Erections are to be found in little boys at a much
earlier age, but at this time they become really important to

him, and the admiration for his erect penis, the wish to have it
admired by the mother, is the peak of that sex phase. I shan't
tell you more about it, because you can find it in the litera
ture—you have probably found it already—and I would like to
lead you further.
At the peak of the phallic phase the little boy is very close in
his whole makeup to being a little man, closer than he will be
for a long time again. Yet just when we would expect this devel
opment to go further, and perhaps for adult genital sexuality
to grow out of this infantile phallic form, something happens
(again something which we will see from another aspect later)
to make the instinctive demands of the child quieter. Oral,
anal, and phallic pleasures recede into the background, the
wishes connected with them become less important, and the
child enters into the phase which we call the latency phase'
because we look at it from the point of view of the instincts
which are latent then. Other people call this the 'school age'
because at that time the child first passes into the hands of the
school authorities. The important thing for us is that at this
time the relative strengths of ego and id change place. Whereas
in the first period of infantile sex development the instinctive
demands have been very strong and the force of the ego
directed against them was comparatively weak, the instinctive
demands now drop, and that gives the child a chance to
develop further, to strengthen itself, to accomplish all sorts of
other tasks. The most important of these is learning, in the
sense of the development of the intellect.
And now the child, from the age of, let us say, six to twelve
or thirteen (it is not the same in all children), begins to resem
ble the adult in many other ways, no longer of in the forms of
his sex activities, but very much so in the fact of nearly being a
rational person. Children of this age—latency children—are re
liable, more or less, in the way their ego guides their instinctive
wishes. And again, just at the time when we think that this
individual is really a sensible human being, the child reaches
the stage of what we call pre-Adolescence, and the whole thing
breaks open once more; which means that all the infantile
instinctive wishes return. They do not return this time in the
form of phases of development, one after the other, but all at

once. This means that boys in particular (I am sorry if I sound
prejudiced) between then and the age of fourteen or fifteen
become once more very greedy, very dirty, and find it quite
difficult to keep their bodies reasonably clean. They are very
impatient to get satisfaction, very unable to control themselves;
and if we examine the form of their behaviour, looking at one
item after the other, we can point to all the infantile items
which have reappeared from early childhood. So we get this
period of revival of infantile sexuality.
And then again, we get a complete change when adoles
cence sets in, when all these pregenital activities suddenly be
come unimportant in comparison with real adult genital wishes
directed towards a partner of the opposite sex. Such wishes
express themselves very soon as real wishes for intercourse
with a partner of the opposite sex and are either delayed or find
their fulfilment, according to the social class to which the indi
vidual belongs, according to the habits of the community. At
that time the individual is ready for adult sex life if everything
has gone right. But because the way is as complicated as I have
shown here, there are many possibilities for hold-ups during
the process. At every stage of development there is, as you have
seen by now, the problem of demand and fulfilment. How much
demand for satisfaction is there in the oral phase, for instance,
how much of it becomes fulfilled, how much frustrated? The
same is true for the other phases. And hold-ups cannot be
prevented by withholding all satisfaction with the idea that the
child will then go from one phase to the next because nothing
much is being got anyway in the way of pleasure. Children who
are denied too much satisfaction in one phase keep a resent
ment and a hankering after the pleasures of that phase, which
means that they becomefixed—or,as we say, 'fixated'—to that
phase, so that at the time when they should be adults in their
sexuality they still pursue their oral or their anal wishes.
'All right/ the world said, a short time after these facts be
came known, 'let them have all the satisfaction in every stage
that they want'. But you know, whenever a child in one of these
early phases gets too much satisfaction, he just sits down and
refuses to move on, and he acquires a fixation of a different
THREE: SEXUALITY AND DEVELOPMENT 49
kind. It is perfectly true that the move forward is a biological

one, motivated by innate forces, but if the child is very unwill
ing to leave satisfactions, there is a strong counterforce set up
in him, and the end result is the same fixation to the early
phases. This puts a very difficult burden on the parents who
have to guide the child through this development—namely, the
task of determining, in each phase, how much satisfaction and
how much frustration is appropriate; that's the quantitative
aspect of upbringing through the phases. But further, the
parents have also to determine in each phase whether to treat
all the pregenital instinctive wishes in the same manner or
differently. What you usually find in parents is that either they
are very tolerant, and then they are tolerant throughout, or
they are very demanding and intolerant, which means that they
deny the child satisfaction in all phases. Well, I suppose the
qualitative aspect of education in these early years would be for
the adult to look closely at each of the instinctive wishes be
longing to one of these phases of pregenital development and to
determine whether or not there is any place for them later in
life. There is a lot of place for the oral wishes later in life,
in normal adult sexuality. Every healthy adult uses his mouth,
to a certain extent at least, in preparation for the sex a c t
in kissing, for instance. Apart from the sex act, many mouth
pleasures are provided later in life: by smoking, by drinking, by
speaking. It is quite different for the anal wishes, which are
really excluded from later, life, which means that satisfaction
given to them very early on might set up attitudes which are
quite unusable for the normal adult. On the other hand, the
anal instinct, if properly modified at an early stage, brings most
important contributions to the adult character. Again this is
something we will learn about at a later stage. I would just like
you to keep in mind now that it is a great mistake for parents to
have this all or nothing, much or little, quantitative attitude;
instead, they have to scrutinize the instinctive wishes of the
child and correlate them with the way things are in later life.
Where do we normally find the energies of this pregenital
sexuality, and what happens to the forms in which it
shows itself? Much of it, as you know, finds a place in sex life
itself, either as an accompaniment to the genital act or as a
preparation for it, and that is perfectly normal. The extent to

which this is so varies in different communities. But abnormal
ity begins where one of these forms of pregenital sexuality re
mains stronger, or becomes stronger again in later life, than
the genital wish itself. This now brings us to an understanding
of what has always been called the 'perversions*: namely, what
we see in those adults whofindtheir sexual pleasure not in the
normal genital act but in some abnormal act centred around—
and you may perhaps be surprised—one of these pregenital
forms of sexuality—namely, where the use of the mouth or the
region around the anus or some form of exhibition with the
penis, with no other use of it, becomes more important than
genital intercourse. This means that this study of the pre
stages of sexuality in childhood gives us at the same time an
explanation of the abnormalities of sex life which we find in
later life. There is a definite affinity between infantile sexuality
and the adult perversions. This does not mean that the child is
a pervert. Perversions are normal in childhood, just as it is
normal in childhood to crawl on all fours, something which is a
sign of very great abnormality in adult life.
The inhibitions of sex life, which were so difficult to under
stand before, equally assume a different aspect when you
correlate them with the difficult processes of frustration and
denial of pleasure which the child has to go through during his
infancy. Any prohibition given to the child during the time of
infantile sexuality can remain as an inhibition or develop into
an inhibition, and can hold up adult sexuality; this does
not mean that freedom given to infantile sexuality guarantees
normality in the adult—far from it.
This infantile sexuality—and this is a point that I would like
you to retain—is meant to pass. Normal development means
experiencing these phases of development in a way which will
make it possible to pass through them, to retain only what can
be placed in adult life, and to modify the parts which have no
place. And that is very much easier said than done.
LECTURE FOUR
More on the id
I have received several thoughtful questions since the last

lecture, and if you don't begrudge the time, I think I should
answer at least five or six of them. This time the questions
remained very close to the problems which have been under
discussion. In answering them, on the other hand, I become
more aware of the shortcomings of my presentations than you
probably have while listening to me. In presenting this rather
difficult material to you, and in attempting to create an overall
picture in your mind, I have, when I move from one step to the
next, to make my choice between various possible approaches.
In particular we can approach the presentation of the psycho
analytic theory from three sides. We can do what I have been
trying to do till now—that is, to give you a structural picture to
begin with. Or I could really have chosen a dynamic presenta
tion from the very beginning—namely, I could have confined
myself more to an evaluation of the forces which act against
each other or with each other. I could even have presented
this to you from an economic point of view, quantitatively, so
that the personality and behaviour can be regarded as an out
51
52 ANNA FREUDI THE HARVARD LECTURES
come of the relative strengths of forces whichfightit out on the

battleground of the ego of the personality. I do vary my ap
proach between these possibilities, but the shortness of time
does not give me sufficient opportunity to do so. In presenting
to you the picture of sexual development in the human being
last time, for instance, I have had to leave the economic point of
view for the next lecture. By the economic point of view I mean
the idea that what is active in this development of human
sexual life is a force, the energy hidden in the sexual instinct,
the energy for which we have a particular name in psycho
analysis—libido—and we mean also that whatever happens in
the sequence of development, we can view as the fate of the
libido. I will try to consider a little of that for you next time.
But now for the questions. I received one important ques
tion, asking whether I considered it proper that the study of the
abnormalities in human life should lead us to what we consider
to be a psychology of the normal. This is a question which has
been raised many times, especially in the first years of psycho
analytic history. I do not know whether such an extension is
proper; I only know that psychoanalysis is not the onlyfieldin
science where it happens. The functioning of the normal body
is also often studied from the point of view of its pathological
distortions. The use of the pathological is extremely important
for us, especially in the realm of psychoanalysis, where we do
not think it possible to stage experiments—at least not so far as
the major events of life are concerned. Psychological experi
ments will always have to restrict themselves to minor in
cidents, and we can then perhaps judge the major ones from
viewing the minor happenings. It would be too dangerous to
interfere with human life for research purposes. On the other
hand, in the abnormalities of human nature we are constantly
presented with involuntary experiments. Every mental abnor
mality is at the same time the over-stressing of one variant of
behaviour or of one mental causation relative to others; and so
we learn enormously about the normal from studying the
abnormal. The question, then, of whether we make a proper
use of abnormal mental occurrences can be answered by those
instances where the observation and experience confirm for the
normal person what we have found for the abnormal. And, so
FOUR: MORE ON T H E ID 53
far as human sexual life is concerned, this has actually been

the case. For instance, the stages of sexual development—or of
libidinal development, as they are usually called—have been
found in the abnormal, but they have been confirmed over and
over again in normal children.
Several other questions put to me were concerned with the
details of the various stages of sexual development. For in
stance, what is the significance of continued thumb-sucking? I
have hinted in my lecture that there are certain children who
will still persist in sucking their thumbs in their fourth and
fifth years, whereas we would relegate that particular form of
satisfaction to the oral stage and to what comes immediately
after. I think the question of what we consider as the signifi
cance of such an occurrence is easy to answer. It is not that
we consider the phenomenon highly abnormal, not that such
a child is exposed to a particular danger of some kind; but,
rather, that we would consider that this child would have given
up sucking and would have gone over to one of the later forms
of libidinal satisfaction if something had not happened to tie
him more strongly than normal to the oral phase. This means
that appreciable amounts of sexual energy—oral libido—have
remained fixed at that point, and there is a danger for the child
that this energy may be missing at later stages of development;
which means that his pleasure in later events may be weak
ened because too much of that particular energy is still busy on
an early level.
Another questioner asked whether we have any reason to
believe that the child uses the process of defecation as an ex
pression of aggression or contempt. You know that in the adult
world, and in the area of jokes and allusions to toilet matters,
there is great emphasis on this particular aspect: that defeca
tion, or whatever relates to it, has a contemptuous meaning. It
may mean revolt, derision, and especially contempt for another
person. Well, I would say that in that respect the little child
may in the beginning defecate for somebody, on behalf of some
body—one might say, as an expression of love. Much of the
child's training for cleanliness is based on the fact that
the mother induces the child to move his bowels at a certain
specified time for her sake—we migjit say, because the mother
wants it. She answers to it by expressing her pleasure, as if this

were a gift given by the child; and it is actually considered by
the child as a gift, as part of his body, perhaps the first gift he
can make. When the attitude to the content of the bowels, to all
anal matters, is changed to the opposite—which happens very
abruptly when great pressure is used, and very gradually when
little pressure is used—this gift may change into an expression
of the opposite—namely, to an expression of anger, revolt, con
tempt, derision, and so on.
Another question put to me may have been intended as a
question about terminology. Somebody asked why we differen
tiate between a phallic and a genital phase—after all, the phal
lus, the penis, is the genital. I tried to explain it when I first
used the term by indicating that in the phallic phase the female
genital plays no part. For both sexes it is the male genital, or its
equivalent in the female, which acts the leading part, and that
is why the particular term is used.
Another question leads us far afield and is one which is
under discussion in many places. This is whether the latency
period, the lessening of the instincts after the fifth year, has a
biological basis or is a product of civilization and culture, or
perhaps a product of the educational forces converging on a
particular child. In a seminar last night I heard the interesting
information that in a large number of very different cultures a
latency period existed in children. Still this is a question which
you will hear discussed very often.
The last communication expresses the hope that I won't
simply leave the statement that parents should be careful
not to give too much and not too little satisfaction, but that
I should, at some point, be a little more explicit about what
parents really should do. Well, I will keep that in mind.
Perhaps the last question leads us right back into the time
when the psychoanalytic theory of sexuality was first presented
to the world and raised a great amount of worry, resentment,
and all kinds of disbelief. So far as parents are concerned,
there is no doubt that the discovery that something like infan
tile sexuality exists places a new burden and a new responsibil
ity on them. Their task, from that moment on, in regard to their
child has to be looked at with different eyes—they used to think
FOUR: MORE ON T H E ID
55
that their task was to protect the child against the sexual influ
ences which might reach it from the outside world. At those
times in history when psychological theorists took the view that
the nature of the child is essentially good, parents saw them
selves as faced only with the task of preserving that goodness
in the child and not spoiling it; whereas, as we see now, the
task of the parent is a difficult one. It is the guidance of the
child past all those stages which are potentially dangerous,
because the child might be held back, or might acquire patho
genic nuclei at each stage. But that was probably not the only
reason why it took the public a long time to accept these facts of
sexual life, with all its ramifications as psychoanalysis sees it,
and above all the fact of infantile sexuality. The acceptance of
this in the last ten or twenty years has gone very far, and it is
now possible nearly everywhere to talk to parents about these
matters. In many parts of the world children are treated as
beings who have a right to their sexual life, to their sexual
instruction, to the help that they need to develop a normal
adult sexuality. It is interesting to recall that just the other day
a reviewer in a leading English newspaper spoke about the
most recent edition of the Three Contributions to the Theory of
Sex, Freud's book with which all this understanding about
1
childhood sexuality started, and which appeared in the year

1905. The reviewer said that he could really not see why any
body made such a fuss about that book; there was nothing new
in it, everybody knew it all anyway. He forgot that it was with
that book that our knowledge of all of this started!
I thought that perhaps, after getting this overall picture of
human sexuality, you would be prepared to remember a critical
accusation which has been made against psychoanalytic theory
for very many years (not so much lately)—namely, that psycho
analysis is essentially a form of pan-sexualism, explaining all
the facts of life as coming from the action of the sexual instinct.
It is curious that this accusation could ever have arisen, be
cause when one goes through the literature of analytic instinct
F r e u d ' s book was later retitled Three Essays on the Theory of Sexu
ality (1905d, Standard Edition, 7).
theory you will realize that psychoanalytic theory has never

tried to explain human behaviour—normal or abnormal—as
the result of the action of one principle in the mind alone, but,
rather, that psychoanalytic theory, instinct theory, has been
strictly dualistic from the very beginning, always looking for
two principles acting against each other. The first study of neu
rotic illnesses was certainly not made on the basis that these ill
people were over-sexual or that their sexual instinct produced
all these abnormalities in them. The view was quite the
contrary, that it was the pressure from somewhere else on
the sexual instinct, which meant the repression of it, which
then led to abnormal symptom formation. What, then, are
these principles working against each other in the human
mind, as psychoanalysis approached them over the course of
years? Well, in the beginning, when human sexual life was
studied in this manner, the contrast was seen as being between
the action of the sexual instinct on the one hand, and the action
of other instincts—hunger is their main representative—on the
other, one group of instincts—namely, reproduction—serving
the purposes of the species, the other group serving the pur
pose of preserving the life of the individual. So we had an inter
action between two forces represented by hunger and love.
That was the very tentative beginning of an analytic instinct
theory—one could say, its first stage. After a number of years
this proved very unsatisfactory. Theories, as you know, are set
up to help to bring order to the facts. Well, this theory did not
seem to cover the facts sufficiently, because further studies, I
am sorry to say again of abnormal states of mind, led to the
finding that the hunger—namely the individual side, what we
would now call the *ego* side of human life—equally played a
part in the sexual forces. We will talk more of that next time. It
was realized that a sharp contrast between sex and ego could
not be made in that form. So the interaction of forces which
had various consequences in human behaviour had now to be
looked at in terms of an interaction between ego instincts and
sexual instincts: two different forms of instinctual life. Aggres
sion, about which we hear so much now, was at that time not
counted among the instincts at all but was seen as a reaction of
the ego which appeared in defence of wish fulfilment. The view
FOUR: MORE ON THE ID 57
w a s t h a t i n t h e f a c e of i n s t i n c t r e s t r i c t i o n , of f r u s t r a t i o n , t h e
i n d i v i d u a l w o u l d d e v e l o p a g g r e s s i o n to d e f e n d h i s r i g h t to s a t i s
faction.
T h a t w a s , m o r e or l e s s — I p u t whole b o o k s together h e r e i n a
few s e n t e n c e s — t h e n e x t s t a g e . T h i s w a s followed b y a f u r t h e r
f o r m a t i o n of t h e o r y , t h e o n e h e l d a t p r e s e n t b y a m a j o r i t y of
psychoanalysts—namely, t h e t h e o r y of t h e s o - c a l l e d life a n d
d e a t h i n s t i n c t s . T h e r e i s m u c h c o n t r o v e r s y a b o u t t h a t , a n d to
m a n y p e o p l e t h e t h e o r y s e e m s e x t r e m e l y difficult to a s s i m i l a t e ;
t h a t i s w h y I t h o u g h t y o u m i g h t b e g l a d i f I s a i d a few w o r d s of
o r i e n t a t i o n a b o u t it.
T h e a s s u m p t i o n b e h i n d that theory i s the following. T h e r e
a r e t w o g r o u p s of f o r c e s a c t i v e i n t h e h u m a n m i n d . O n e w o r k s
towards t h e u n i f i c a t i o n of life, t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n of life, the
b u i l d i n g u p o f e v e r - g r e a t e r u n i t i e s i n life. T h e s e c o n d force
w o r k s s i l e n t l y a t t h e s a m e t i m e , t r y i n g to u n d o life, to d e s t r o y
w h a t h a s b e e n b u i l t u p a n d to l e a d t h e i n d i v i d u a l t o w a r d s
d e a t h . Y o u h a v e h e a r d before t h a t t h e force of t h e i n s t i n c t s
is represented i n the h u m a n m i n d by the tensions w h i c h a r e
p r o d u c e d , a n d t h a t t h e a c t i o n s l e a d i n g to w i s h f u l f i l m e n t go
t o w a r d s l o w e r i n g t h e t e n s i o n s . I f y o u a p p l y t h i s i d e a of t h e
p l e a s u r e - p a i n p r i n c i p l e to t h e life a n d d e a t h i n s t i n c t t h e o r y ,
y o u w o u l d get o n e g r o u p of f o r c e s w o r k i n g t o w a r d s t h e b u i l d i n g
u p of t e n s i o n , w h e r e a s t h e o t h e r g r o u p of f o r c e s w o r k s t o w a r d s
t h e l o w e r i n g of t e n s i o n c o m p l e t e l y , s o t h a t n o life w o u l d e x i s t a t
a l l . T h i s i s a difficult c o n c e p t i o n , a n d p e r h a p s y o u w i l l b e v e r y
r e l i e v e d to h e a r t h a t i t i s n o t a c o n c e p t i o n w h i c h r e a l l y c o n
c e r n s y o u a s p s y c h o l o g i s t s . It i s a b i o l o g i c a l s p e c u l a t i o n . 2
Most
psychologists, w h e n viewing t h e i n t e r p l a y of f o r c e s in the
h u m a n m i n d , h a v e f o r m e d s o m e t h e o r y or o t h e r a b o u t t h e i n
s t i n c t s w h i c h a r e t h e c a u s e of it; b u t b y r i g h t s i n s t i n c t t h e o r i e s
b e l o n g i n biology, t h e a c t i o n s of i n s t i n c t a r e b i o l o g i c a l o n e s ,
a n d we are only concerned with them i n psychology insofar a s
T h e idea of a death drive has remained speculative a n d is not

2
accepted by many—perhaps by most—psychoanalysts. O n the other hand,

the role of aggression in h u m a n behaviour a n d development, discussed
later in this lecture, has been given increasing importance.
58 ANNA F R E U D I T H E HARVARD LECTURES
t h e a c t i o n of t h e I n s t i n c t s m a k e s a c o n s t a n t c l a i m o n t h e m i n d
a n d u r g e s t h e i n d i v i d u a l to t a k e c e r t a i n a c t i o n s . It i s w i t h t h e
p s y c h o l o g i c a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of i n s t i n c t i v e life i n t h e m i n d w i t h
w h i c h we a s psychologists are concerned. F o r that purpose the
s p e c u l a t i o n s a b o u t t h e m e a n i n g of t h e s e i n s t i n c t i v e forces,
t h e u n d e r s t a n d i n g of h o w t h e y a r e g r o u p e d together, a n d w h a t
n a m e s t h e y s h o u l d b e g i v e n , a r e of l e s s c o n c e r n to u s .
It s e e m s to m e t h a t m u c h c o n f u s i o n h a s b e e n i n t r o d u c e d
i n t o p s y c h o l o g y a n d into p s y c h o a n a l y t i c p s y c h o l o g y b y c o n f u s
ing biological speculation with psychological observation. T h e
question we s h o u l d really be concerned with is: w h a t c a n we a s
o b s e r v e r s s e e of t h i s i n t e r p l a y of forces i n t h e m i n d ? H o w c a n
w e define t h e a c t i o n of a n i n s t i n c t f r o m t h e psychological,
r a t h e r t h a n from the biological s i d e ? Well, I t h i n k we c a n see
from o b s e r v a t i o n t h a t w h a t the i n s t i n c t d o e s to t h e h u m a n
m i n d i s to exert c o n s t a n t p r e s s u r e , t h a t it i s o n e of t h e m a i n
f u n c t i o n s of t h e m i n d to d e a l w i t h t h a t p r e s s u r e , a n d t h a t w h a t
we are talking about here are really the methods at the disposal
of t h e i n d i v i d u a l to d e a l w i t h t h e p r e s s u r e s b r o u g h t to b e a r o n
t h e m i n d . B y t h e w a y , t h i s m i g h t b e a n i n t e r e s t i n g p l a c e to
r e m e m b e r t h a t i t i s o n e of t h o s e h u m a n i d e a l s w h i c h c a n n o t b e
fulfilled, to p o s s e s s a m i n d w h i c h i s free f r o m t h e p r e s s u r e s of
t h e i n s t i n c t s , w h i c h m e a n s free from t h e p r e s s u r e s of t h e b o d y .
M a n y p r a c t i c e s s u c h a s Y o g a t r y to s e r v e t h e p u r p o s e of freeing
t h e m i n d a s far a s p o s s i b l e from b o d i l y p r e s s u r e s , f r o m i n s t i n c
tive p r e s s u r e s , b e c a u s e t h e n t h e m i n d , a c c o r d i n g to these
i d e a s , w o u l d b e free to a c c o m p l i s h t h e m o s t u n h e a r d - o f t h i n g s .
Only we forget, w h e n forming a n i d e a l of t h i s k i n d , that
a l t h o u g h t h e m i n d w o u l d t h e n b e e m p t i e d of energy, t h e e n e r g y
w o u l d be c a r r i e d b a c k into the m i n d from the i n s t i n c t s . I a m
treating a y o u n g patient, a student, a very clever b u t at the
s a m e time a very ill individual, who h a s a s h i s m a i n pathologi
c a l c o n c e r n t h e w i s h to b e a b l e to f u n c t i o n w i t h o u t feeling a n y
t h i n g from h i s b o d y . B u t , of c o u r s e , h i s b o d y t a k e s r e v e n g e o n
h i m , a n d j u s t w h e n h i s m i n d b e g i n s to f u n c t i o n p r o p e r l y h e i s
r e m i n d e d t h a t h e h a s a b o d y b y a d e s i r e of s o m e k i n d , by
h u n g e r , b y h i s s e x u a l n e e d , b y a n e e d f r o m h i s b l a d d e r or h i s
b o w e l s , e v e n b y h i s o w n n e e d to b r e a t h e . T h i s m e a n s it i s a
h o p e l e s s t a s k to c o n c e i v e of a m i n d n o t a t t a c h e d to a b o d y . O f
course, such a mind, if it could exist, would be free of the

demands made on it by the instincts.
What do we know about the instincts then? What can we see
from psychological observations? Well, we see that each in
stinct has a source, and that source is in the body. The various
levels of sexual development that I described to you last time
were distinguishedfromeach other according to the part of the
body which acts as their source: the mouth, the anus, the
genital parts, the whole surface of the body; and the skin yields
a certain number of sensations of this kind—what we call skin
eroticism.
As we have discussed before, what we are talking about is
the id. Each instinct not only has a source but an aim. The aim
is always the same: to reduce the tension, which means to
perform an action of some kind which will fulfil what the in
stincts are clamouring for—that is, the action offindingsatis
faction. And, further, each instinct has an object. Because the
aim is the fulfilment of a certain action, the person on whom
that action is carried out is the object of the instinct. For 3
the young child, for instance, the mother would be the object,
and the finding of nourishment from the mother, the pleasure
found at the mother's breast, the pleasure given by the
mother's fondling and touching the infant would be the aim.
That sounds very systematic and perhaps very superfluous to
you, but it will help us later to think of 'instinctual' as actually
in that form, that it comes from somewhere, wants some
thing, and needs the help of something or somebody to get
what it wants. But then, if we think of what we might call
a fight between body and mind, between ego and id, there
3
H e r e A n n a F r e u d looks at object relationships predominantly from
the viewpoint of the instinctual drives. It is necessary to point out that
since these lectures were given, increasing attention h a s been paid to
non-drive factors i n object relationships, particularly In regard to the
child's attachment to objects. T h e whole area of the interrelation be
tween the child a n d those close to him is exceedingly complex, a n d
cannot be reduced to libidinal cathexis alone. Nevertheless, A n n a F r e u d
highlights a highly important perspective.
i s o n e b i g factor o n t h e s i d e of t h e ego, i n t h i s difficult t a s k of

r e l i e v i n g t h e p r e s s u r e t h a t c o m e s from t h e i n s t i n c t — n a m e l y ,
t h a t i n s t i n c t s a r e m o d i f i a b l e i n t h e h i g h e s t degree. T h e y a r e n o t
inexorable, a l t h o u g h their p r e s s u r e , if they w a n t something, i s
i n e x o r a b l e — t h e p r e s s u r e i s a force t h a t w e h a v e to d e a l w i t h ,
t h a t w e c a n ' t do a w a y w i t h . B u t i n s t i n c t s a r e w i l l i n g , for i n
s t a n c e — i f w e n o w p e r s o n i f y t h e m to m a k e t a l k i n g a b o u t t h e m
e a s i e r — t o a c c e p t s u b s t i t u t e gratifications i f t h e y c a n ' t have
t h e i r full g r a t i f i c a t i o n . F o r i n s t a n c e , a c h i l d w h o h a s s o m e defi
n i t e l y c r u d e s e x u a l w i s h t o w a r d s father or m o t h e r w i l l a c c e p t
r e d u c e d g r a t i f i c a t i o n — w i l l a c c e p t affection i n s t e a d of s e x u a l
g r a t i f i c a t i o n . W e c a l l t h a t a n ' i n h i b i t i o n of a i m ' , b u t it i s r e a l l y a
l o w e r i n g of a i m . It i s a s if s o m e b o d y w a n t s a v e r y h i g h s a l a r y
b u t i f h e c a n ' t get it, w e l l , h e ' l l t a k e l e s s . A n d i n s t i n c t s a r e r e a d y
to do t h a t , a t l e a s t u n d e r c e r t a i n c o n d i t i o n s .
T h e r e a r e o t h e r t h i n g s to s a y a b o u t t h e i n s t i n c t s . I f t h e
original object—namely, the person on w h o m a n instinct w a n t s
to f i n d g r a t i f i c a t i o n — i s n o t a v a i l a b l e , a n o t h e r object m a y b e p u t
i n i t s p l a c e . Y o u c a n t h i n k of t h i s a s a s h i f t i n g , a s a s u b s t i t u t i o n
of o n e o b j e c t for t h e o t h e r . A g a i n , t h e p l e a s u r e m a y b e l e s s e n e d
t h e r e b y , b u t it w i l l b e a c c e p t e d a s g r a t i f i c a t i o n of a lower'
kind.
A n d even the a i m c a n be altered. If the child i s prevented,
l e t u s s a y , f r o m getting a n y p l e a s u r e f r o m h i s o w n e x c r e m e n t ,
h e w i l l b e w i l l i n g to s e t t l e for a l m o s t t h e s a m e p l e a s u r e f r o m
s o m e other l e s s forbidden dirty matter. T h i s is a d i s p l a c e m e n t
of a i m . T h e r e a r e v a r i o u s f o r m s of d i s p l a c e m e n t a b o u t w h i c h
we will talk later. F u r t h e r , i n s t i n c t s c a n c o m b i n e forces w i t h
e a c h o t h e r , c a n f u s e w i t h e a c h other, a n d c a n p a r t a g a i n . T h e y
c a n b e d i r e c t e d t o w a r d s t h e o u t e r w o r l d or t o w a r d s t h e i n d i
v i d u a l himself; a n d they c a n , u n d e r certain conditions, t u r n
i n t o t h e i r o p p o s i t e . It i s t h i s q u a l i t y of t h e i n s t i n c t , of b e i n g
o p e n to m o d i f i c a t i o n , w h i c h o p e n s the w a y for t h e b u i l d i n g - u p
of p e r s o n a l i t y a n d t h e f o r m s of c h a r a c t e r a b o u t w h i c h w e s h a l l
h e a r m o r e i n t h e l a t e r l e c t u r e s . If the i n s t i n c t s d i d n o t p o s s e s s
t h a t q u a l i t y of b e i n g o p e n to m o d i f i c a t i o n , a l l t h e s e o t h e r t h i n g s
c o u l d n o t h a p p e n . S o I w o u l d l i k e y o u to t h i n k of t h e m a s b e i n g
d e m a n d i n g i n t h e h i g h e s t degree, b u t o n the o t h e r h a n d o p e n
to n e g o t i a t i o n s . A n d t h e ability of t h e ego to d e a l w i t h t h e
demands of the instincts is dependent on these qualities of the

instincts.
Well, I suppose you have had enough of bare bones at the
moment. There is an instinct—in our theory spoken of as the
representative of the second force in the scheme of the life and
death instincts—about which I have not yet given you a picture,
and that is aggression. As we see it now in psychoanalytic
theory, we look at the sexual instinct as a representative of
forces operating on one side, and at aggression as the repre
sentative of forces on the other side, both having in our theory
more or less equal status as instincts. The study of aggression
is certainly not new in psychoanalysis and has not waited for
the building-up of these theories. Aggression has always played
a great part in the analyticfindings,but at first it was consid
ered as a quality attached to the primitive sexual life of the
child. The child's primitive sexual life is very aggressive, and,
as we see it now, this really comes from the fact that the ag
gressive instinct develops alongside the sexual instinct. It also
comes from the fact that in the various manifestations of life as
we meet them the two are inextricably mixed—they are fused.
You will normally not find an action of the child which is purely
sexual without an admixture of aggression, but you will also
not find (except in cases of great abnormality) any action which
is purely aggressive without having some admixture from the
sexual side. And this can be studied on each level of infantile
instinct development, again, in relation to abnormal cases—
namely, those cases where either the sexual instinct or the
aggressive instinct has been eliminated from the situation by,
for instance, severe repression. For some reason the action of
one instinct has been inhibited in the child, and we now get the
other side of the instinct alone. What about examples? Think,
for instance, of the child who eats. On the one hand, he fulfils a
body need, on the other he fulfils the urge of the oral drive by
incorporating something into his body by way of his mouth and
gets mouth-pleasure from it. In the simple process of getting
pleasure from food, both instincts are satisfied—the one in
stinct by the pleasure gained and by the incorporation of the
food, the other by possessing and destroying for one's own
purposes some substance that comes from outside. But some
62 ANNA FREUD*. THE HARVARD LECTURES
children are severely inhibited i n their eating processes rather

e a r l y i n t h e i r l i v e s b e c a u s e t h e y a r e d i s t u r b e d b y t h e fact t h a t
w h a t they eat i s destroyed: b y eating, they destroy.
W h e n y o u look a t m o s t h u m a n a c t i o n s , y o u w i l l find t h a t
w i t h o u t a n a d m i x t u r e of a g g r e s s i o n n o s e x u a l a c t i o n w o u l d e v e r
r e a c h i t s a i m . No p l e a s u r e c a n b e f o u n d w i t h a n y p a r t n e r w i t h
out p o s s e s s i n g the partner, p e r h a p s even without s u b d u i n g the
p a r t n e r to o n e ' s w i s h e s to a c e r t a i n degree, w h i c h i s a n a g g r e s
s i v e m o v e . E v e r y o n e of t h e s e x u a l p l e a s u r e s , a s t h e y a p p e a r
d u r i n g t h e l e v e l s of d e v e l o p m e n t ( w h e t h e r it i s , for e x a m p l e , t h e
w i s h to l o o k or to s h o w oneself), a l w a y s n e e d s a c e r t a i n a m o u n t
of a c t i v e a g g r e s s i o n to b e c a r r i e d t h r o u g h to i t s a i m . O n t h e
o t h e r h a n d , t h e a g g r e s s i v e a c t i o n s of t h e c h i l d , w h i c h i n c l u d e
a l l h i s a c t i v i t i e s , h i s a c t i o n s to m o u l d t h e o u t s i d e w o r l d to h i s
w i s h e s to a c e r t a i n degree, to t a k e p o s s e s s i o n , to find out. to
open u p : these actions, w h i c h are n o r m a l w h e n they are fused
w i t h the s e x u a l a i m at the s a m e time, become p u r e l y d e s t r u c
tive w h e n for s o m e r e a s o n the s e x u a l s i d e i s m i s s i n g . For
i n s t a n c e , i n r e c e n t y e a r s w e h a v e h a d the c h a n c e to study
c h i l d r e n w h o , t h r o u g h n o f a u l t of t h e i r o w n , t h r o u g h a c t i o n s of
fate w h i c h d e p r i v e d t h e m of love o b j e c t s i n t h e o u t s i d e w o r l d ,
w e r e u n a b l e to develop t h e l i b i d i n a l s i d e of t h e i r n a t u r e ; w h i c h
m e a n s that their aggression developed w i t h o u t b e i n g i n t e r
mixed with the sexual side. A n d this aggression i n those chil
d r e n a p p e a r s a s p u r e destruction. T h e y destroy w h a t is a r o u n d
t h e m , t h e y h a r m t h e m s e l v e s , t h e y h u r t o t h e r p e o p l e , t h e y get
n o p l e a s u r e from a n y t h i n g e x c e p t t h e p l e a s u r e of d e s t r u c t i o n .
T h e force of a g g r e s s i o n i n t h e s e c h i l d r e n c a n n o t b e d i m i n i s h e d
i n a n y w a y u n l e s s y o u i n d u c e their other side, their libidinal
s i d e , to develop. T h e n y o u get t h e n o r m a l f u s i o n b e t w e e n t h e
two i n s t i n c t i v e forces, a n d t h a t l e a d s to n o r m a l b e h a v i o u r i n
the child.
W h e r e aggression is n o r m a l , w h i c h m e a n s w h e r e aggression
a p p e a r s i n a l l t h e p o s s i b l e m i x t u r e s w i t h t h e l i b i d i n a l s i d e , it i s
a g a i n l i k e t h e s e x u a l i n s t i n c t i n t h a t it i s o p e n to m a n y t r a n s
f o r m a t i o n s . I n fact, t h e m o s t v a l u a b l e q u a l i t i e s of t h e h u m a n
b e i n g a r e i n t r o d u c e d i n t o t h e c h a r a c t e r (we w i l l h e a r more
a b o u t t h a t l a t e r , too) b y t r a n s f o r m a t i o n of t h e a g g r e s s i v e d r i v e ,
b u t this o c c u r s only i n those i n s t a n c e s where the aggressive
drive is there in the normal form—namely, fused with the other

drive and not in pure culture, as we might say.
You can imagine that there are many instances where two
forces in the mind which are so diametrically opposed to each
other—sex and aggression—clash with each other. They do not
always only fuse peacefully to produce the ordinary forms
of human behaviour. They clash, for instance, when sex and
aggression in the form of love and hate are directed towards the
same person—towards the mother, for instance, or towards
the father, or towards the siblings. To the extent that a particu
lar person is loved, the child wants to retain and keep that
object. So far as the particular person is hated, the child wants
to do away with him or her. According to our idea of the struc
ture of the human mind (and remember what we learned about
unification and synthesis within the id and the ego—namely,
that there is no synthesis in the id, but there is integration in
the ego) this does not lead to conflict in our sense before the
child has formed an ego. These opposite urges live peacefully
side by side in the undeveloped child. But once an ego is
formed and the representatives of these two instincts are
brought into consciousness and meet, the child is then under
the pressure of severe conflicts, which have to be solved in one
way or other; and they are not always solved in a beneficial
way.
In the literature you will find other theories which consider
that the conflict between the life and death instincts, between
love and hate, sex and aggression—whatever you want to call
it—exist from the beginning of life, regardless of ego formation. 4
But that is a somewhat different psychological theory, which

does not consider ego formation necessary for the experiencing
of anxiety. We will learn more about that when we learn more
about anxiety.
What I have tried to give you in this lecture and the last
is, then, a picture of the content of the id. Whatever psycho
analytic theory we work with, the content of the id is
4
A n n a Freud is referring here to the theories of Melanie Klein.
represented by two main forces, by the interaction of these

forces with each other and against each other. I wonder
whether you have noticed that I have thus far treated the whole
process more or less as if it took place only within the child,
and I expected a shower of questions in connection with this—
questions such as: What about the environment? What is the
direction of these forces? What are their objects, what are their
aims in the outside? Or, to use the terminology learned here,
where is the object world to which the forces existing in the id
are directed? Well, our next topic is the building-up in the child
of the picture of this object world.
LECTURE FIVE
Stages of development
I want to start again with some of the questions which have

been sent up to me, because they always show us where we
have not sufficiently gone over the ground. Most of
the questions are very appropriate in an interesting way.
They show up the places where, if this were not a course serving
partly as an introduction and partly as a survey and summary
of the subject matter, one would have to stop and give a sepa
rate course. They point to all the chapters that branch off from
the main line of thought and which we have no time to discuss.
But those of you who want to study the subject of psychoanaly
sis in detail will find that there are many places where you can
stop and remain for a long time, by going to the literature and
reading the books which treat the subject in detail.
There was one question which was very justified indeed. I
made so much, the questioner says, of the stages of develop
ment of the sexual instinct, and I rather glossed over stages
of development in the aggressive instinct (if, indeed, I talked
about them at all). What about them? Are they comparable in
65
i n t e n s i t y , i n d i s t i n c t n e s s , i n s e q u e n c e , to t h o s e of s e x u a l i t y ?
W e l l , o n e a n s w e r to t h a t m i g h t b e t h e following: t h e i n t e n s i v e
s t u d y of t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of a g g r e s s i o n b e g a n l o n g after t h e
s t u d y of t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of t h e s e x u a l i n s t i n c t — p e r h a p s t h i r t y
y e a r s after i t — a n d o u r k n o w l e d g e h a s n o t y e t r e a c h e d t h e s a m e
l e v e l . T h i s m e a n s w e k n o w v e r y m u c h l e s s a b o u t t h e s t a g e s of
d e v e l o p m e n t of a g g r e s s i o n , or, r a t h e r , w e t e n d to v i e w t h e m
v e r y m u c h a s i n t i m a t e l y c o n n e c t e d w i t h t h e s e x u a l l e v e l s of
d e v e l o p m e n t . O n e a c h level of i n f a n t i l e s e x u a l d e v e l o p m e n t t h e
a g g r e s s i v e i n s t i n c t a p p e a r s i n a different f o r m , a l w a y s c l o s e l y
l i n k e d with the s e x u a l urges. We do n o t k n o w w h e t h e r it
t a k e s i t s c u e from t h e m , w h e t h e r t h e level of s e x u a l i t y r e a c h e d
c o l o u r s t h e f o r m t a k e n b y t h e a g g r e s s i v e u r g e or w h e t h e r it i s
t h e o t h e r w a y r o u n d , w i t h definite s t a g e s of a g g r e s s i o n g i v i n g a
p a r t i c u l a r c h a r a c t e r to t h e l e v e l s of s e x d e v e l o p m e n t . It p r o b
a b l y goes b o t h w a y s , b e c a u s e (as I t r i e d to s h o w y o u l a s t time)
t h e two a r e v e r y i n t i m a t e l y l i n k e d , a n d i n w h a t e v e r t h e c h i l d
d o e s — w h e t h e r it i s a n e x p r e s s i o n i n t h e o r a l s t a g e or i n t h e
a n a l p h a s e or t h e p h a l l i c p h a s e — w e find a g g r e s s i o n a n d s e x
l i n k e d together. W e s e e t h i s , for i n s t a n c e , i n t h e s a d i s m of t h e
c h i l d , w h i c h i s p a r t l y a n e x p r e s s i o n of t h e a g g r e s s i v e i n s t i n c t —
especially i n the a n a l p h a s e — b u t w h i c h is above all a n outlet
for a g g r e s s i o n . S o t h i s i s a q u e s t i o n w h i c h a w a i t s detailed
study.
T h e n t h e r e w a s one c o m p l a i n t . W h e n t a l k i n g a b o u t t h e o b
j e c t a n d t h e a i m of a n i n s t i n c t , t h e q u e s t i o n e r s a y s , t h e two got
a b i t m i x e d u p . W h a t i s r e a l l y t h e difference b e t w e e n a n o b j e c t
a n d a n a i m , a n d are they not both the s a m e ? Well, that is
m e r e l y a m a t t e r of t e r m i n o l o g y , s o I s h a l l j u s t r e p e a t w h a t I
p e r h a p s d i d n o t s a y p r e c i s e l y e n o u g h . W e c a l l t h e a i m of a n
instinct the p a r t i c u l a r activity w h i c h serves the i n s t i n c t s s a t i s
f a c t i o n , a n d w e c a l l the object of a n i n s t i n c t t h e p a r t i c u l a r
p e r s o n — i n the outside world mostly, b u t not always, a s we
s h a l l h e a r later—on w h o m this particular activity is performed.
S o t h a t i s object a n d a i m , or, r a t h e r , t h o s e a r e t h e t e r m s , a n d
w e u s e t h e m for c o n v e n i e n c e . O f c o u r s e , y o u c o u l d d e c i d e to
s a y t h a t o n e p a r t i c u l a r a c t i v i t y i s t h e object a n d t h e o t h e r i s t h e
p e r s o n , b u t w h a t I h a v e described i s the w a y we u s e the t e r m s
in psychoanalysis.
FIVE: STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT 67
Another questioner asked why conflict in the human per

sonality should wait for the establishment of an ego? Is not
conflict always there before—this means conflict between the
instincts—before the ego has been set up? Is it not only that the
conflict does not become noticeable before that time? Well, this
is, of course, perfectly true. If you use the word 'conflict* for the
coexistence of urges which in our mind are not compatible with
each other, then conflict is there from the beginning. But if you
use the term for a very specific state of mind felt by the per
son—that is, 'being in two minds* about something—then con
flict has to wait for the ego where these incompatible urges
meet. This means you have to wait for the time when there is
integration within the personality, when there are organized
processes.
A further question has to do with children who are
separated from their families at very early ages, like the
children I have described in some of my publications. Are the
phases of sexual development the same in these children, or
are these phases of development influenced by the actual ex
periences in the environment of the child? Well, that is one of
the points where one has to stop and either write or read a book
about it. Because both statements are true. On the one hand,
we look at these phases of development, after having studied
them in a great number of children, as something which is to a
certain degree independent of outside influence, as something
for which the child is predestined in some manner, which to a
certain degree is innate in the child, which is a process of
maturation. But on the other hand, it is perfectly true that the
progression of these stages, the length of time which they per
sist, the role which they play later in life, has something to do
with environmental influences, which means that there is a
meeting at each stage between inner preparation in the child
and outside influence.
And then there is a question touching on the problems of
adolescence. Of course, one should stop here again and study
more about adolescence, because what I have tried to say in
one sentence only—that in adolescence, or at least in the
preparation for it, in pre-adolescence, the problems of early
childhood return—is no more than a chapter heading covering
v e r y i n t e r e s t i n g f a c t s . O u r q u e s t i o n e r w a n t s to k n o w w h e t h e r i n
adolescence, w h e n these infantile s e x u a l a n d aggressive p r o b
l e m s r e t u r n , t h e a t t i t u d e of t h e ego t o w a r d s t h e m i s r e d u c e d
o n c e m o r e to t h a t role it h a d t a k e n i n e a r l y c h i l d h o o d , w h e n t h e
o u t s i d e w o r l d h a s to s t e p i n to large degree a n d t a k e over t h e
c o n t r o l w h i c h t h e ego s h o u l d e x e r c i s e itself. A n d t h a t I s a defi
n i t e m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g of t h e facts. T h a t i s m y f a u l t , b e c a u s e I
d i d n o t m a k e it c l e a r t h a t one of t h e g r e a t s o u r c e s of s u f f e r i n g
i n a d o l e s c e n c e i s t h e fact t h a t t h i s c r u d e i n f a n t i l e i n s t i n c t i v e
life r e t u r n s a t a t i m e w h e n t h e r e i s a n ego, a n d , a s w e w i l l l a t e r
h e a r , a s u p e r e g o . A n d t h e s e two—ego a n d superego—retain
t h e i r c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s i n the a d o l e s c e n t p h a s e , s o t h a t w h e r e a s
t h e ego of t h e y o u n g c h i l d w a s t o l e r a n t t o w a r d s t h e s e i n s t i n c
tive u r g e s , t h e ego of t h e a d o l e s c e n t i s n o t a t a l l t o l e r a n t . T h i s
m e a n s t h a t t h e a d o l e s c e n t suffers a c u t e l y f r o m t h e r e t u r n of
the infantile instinctive world, w h e r e a s the s m a l l c h i l d is not
t h e o n e w h o s u f f e r s ; r a t h e r , it i s t h e p a r e n t s w h o suffer a s a
r e s u l t . (Of c o u r s e , t h e p a r e n t s of t h e a d o l e s c e n t s u f f e r t o o — w e
s h o u l d s a y t h a t b o t h suffer.) T h e a d o l e s c e n t i s firstly i n c o n f l i c t
w i t h h i m s e l f , a n d s e c o n d a r i l y i n conflict w i t h t h e e n v i r o n m e n t .
W h a t I w o u l d l i k e to do t o d a y i s to go o n c e m o r e t h r o u g h t h e
s t a g e s of d e v e l o p m e n t w h i c h I h a v e d e s c r i b e d to y o u r e c e n t l y ,
b u t f r o m a different a n g l e — n a m e l y , w i t h the q u e s t i o n i n m i n d
a b o u t w h a t t h e forces w e h a v e to d e a l w i t h i n t h e c h i l d r e a l l y
a r e . T h a t s u b j e c t l e a d s u s to a s k a g a i n w h a t t h e t a s k i s t h a t i s
i n v o l v e d h e r e for t h e p a r e n t s . I s it a n e a s y t a s k or a difficult
o n e ? I s t h e s e x u a l life of the c h i l d s o m e t h i n g t h a t c a n be
m o u l d e d , guided, influenced by the p a r e n t s , that c a n be e a s i l y
s u p p r e s s e d b y o u t s i d e i n f l u e n c e s ? A g a i n , t h e a n s w e r h a s to b e
y e s a n d n o . It c a n b e i n f l u e n c e d , it c a n b e h a r m e d , it c a n b e
m o d i f i e d , b u t it c a n n o t b e e l i m i n a t e d from t h e life of t h e c h i l d .
N o t h i n g t h e p a r e n t s c a n do w i l l do a w a y w i t h it. I s o m e t i m e s
find it u s e f u l , w h e n I w a n t to e x p l a i n to a p a r e n t w h a t a n e n o r
m o u s force t h e i n s t i n c t i s i n t h e c h i l d t h e r e , to d r a w t h e i r
a t t e n t i o n to o n e s m a l l i t e m i n w h i c h t h i s i n s t i n c t i v e life of t h e
c h i l d i s e x p r e s s e d . T h a t m i g h t b e , for i n s t a n c e , t h u m b - s u c k i n g .
It m i g h t b e o t h e r a c t i v i t i e s w h i c h t h e c h i l d p e r f o r m s o n i t s o w n
b o d y , for i n s t a n c e , m a s t u r b a t i o n i n t h e p h a l l i c p h a s e . It m i g h t
a t s o m e o t h e r t i m e b e a p a r t i c u l a r h o b b y of t h e c h i l d , s o m e
interest in which the child's sexual curiosity expresses itself.

Each of these single activities has behind it the full force of the
sexual instinct of the child. If you take a thumb-sucker or
perhaps a nail-biter, nothing in the world will make him stop.
The parents can use violence, they can use love, they can plead
and beg, and they can use threats, but the child cannot stop it.
Each of these activities, so far as it is carried by that instinctive
force, is indomitable in some way in its strength. Well, what is
this strength that we see here, what is this force? We can re
gard it as the energy underlying the sexual urges, and as you
know we have a special name in psychoanalysis for it—we call
it the libido' or the libidinal energy' of the child, which merely
means the energy of the child's sexual activities. We speak in
the same manner of the energy underlying the aggressive urges
of the child without using a special name: we merely speak of
'aggressive energy'. It is the flow of this energy which we have to
try to observe in the child if we want to have any chance
to guide and influence it. In doing so the parents have to guard
against two mistakes: against underrating the aggressive in
stinct—well, the child will soon teach the parent better; but we
also have to guard against overrating it, by saying, 'well, if that
wish in the child is so strong, nothing can be done about it, the
child has to have its way. I do not want to harm my child by
opposing either his sexual or his aggressive wishes'. This is, as
you know, a very common attitude of parents in our times. It is
the so-called permissive attitude. But parents who take this
line thereby renounce all hope, not only of opposing the instinc
tive urges of the child but of helping the child to modify them.
The child has to modify the instincts in the course of time
because most of themfindno place in adult sexual life or, so far
as aggression is concerned, in the adult community. Detailed
study of the fate of this instinctual energy, especially the fate of
the libido, is therefore our only safe guide in this difficult mat
ter. Again, I am presenting to you knowledge which has not
been found directly from children. Much (but not all) of it has
been confirmed from direct observation, and much has been
found from adults, normal and abnormal. This is because the
fate of the instinctual energy does not only determine character
formation, which means the development of the child in the
70 ANNA F R E U D : T H E HARVARD L E C T U R E S
early years, it also determines the normality, the abnormality,

the happiness, and the unhappiness—of the adult human
being.
How do we imagine, then, that the whole thing looks in the
beginning? Perhaps I had better first say a word about
the quantities with which we have to deal. We talk a great deal
of quantities in psychoanalysis—quantity of libido, quantity of
aggressive energy, and so on. We speak of 'sending* this quan
tity here or there, of 'charging' an object with it, for which a
Greek word is used in analytic terminology, the word 'cathexis',
which merely means, if you compare it with electricity, that a
certain amount of that energy is sent out to a certain person or
material object. I have never liked that term, but the transla
tors have found no better one. We talk, then, of quantities,
1
but we are not able in our particular science to measure

these quantities. All we can do is to compare them with each
other. We compare, for instance, the quantity of libido with
the strength of the aggressive urges; or we compare libidinal
strength with the force the ego has at its disposal. But we talk
of it, not mathematically, but more in an allegorical way, meas
uring two forces against each other in their battle with each
other. And these inner conflicts in the personality are very often
decided, not by the quality of the urges which are fighting with
each other, but by their respective quantities.
It is time now to make that more concrete. If we imagine
that a child is born with an innate sexual drive and is moved
from the beginning by this drive, we see—again from experi
ence gained in later years—that there are two possibilities for
the child to use this libidinal energy: he can use it on his own
person or on persons in the outside world. In ordinary terms we
would say the child can love himself or he can love a person in
the outside world, and the person or the self charged, cathected
in this manner with libidinal energy is the child's love object. So
that we have, from the beginning, two possibilities: sending
EDITOR'S NOTE: The original German word is Besetzung, a n d

1
'cathexis* is, indeed, an unhappy translation. Perhaps Investment*

would have been better.
libido out into the environment or keeping libido inside for

the child's own body and, as the ego and superego grow
and increase, directed towards the ego and superego. So from
the beginning we get two possibilities: self love and love for
others. For self love I want to introduce another term which
may be quite familiar to you—namely, 'narcissism'. We can
differentiate then between narcissistic libido and object libido.
We can say that the life of the child is really decided by how
his narcissism and his love for the environment stand towards
each other.
How does all this look in our actual experience of infants?
You remember that I said that for the infant, contact with the
environment begins on the basis of his bodily needs. He is
hungry and wants to be fed, and if he is fed he experiences
satisfaction. These first satisfactions that he experiences show
the way, provide the direction in which he is going to send his
libido. That sounds complicated, but it is terribly simple. If we
put it in words, we would say, the child feels, 'this is nice, I like
it*. The experience of satisfaction is followed immediately by
a sending-out of libido towards the environment, towards the
particular object or person who has provided that satisfaction.
Satisfaction, then, shows the way to libido attachment. But the
child does not always find satisfaction in the outside world. The
same bottle which gives milk at one time may be empty
at another time, perhaps immediately afterwards, before the
child's hunger is really satisfied. So it is not a nice bottle any
more, it is either an indifferent or an unpleasant bottle. Or the
same mother who has fondled the child leaves the room or
turns away, which means that for the child she is no good any
more, so far as satisfaction is concerned. It seems highly im
portant that in the moments of dissatisfaction, when the object
in the environment is no good, the child withdraws the libido
which he had sent out and uses it once more on his own per
son, only to send it out again towards the object world when
satisfaction is offered and the environment is pleasant. This
means that there is a continual change of narcissistic libido—
self love, into object libido—love for others, and change from
object love back again to self love, and so. This happens con
stantly in the earliest part of the child's first year (at least, that
i s h o w w e p i c t u r e i t o n t h e b a s i s of l a t e r e x p e r i e n c e ) . I w o u l d
l i k e to give y o u one little e x a m p l e w h i c h y o u c a n find i n c h i l
d r e n a y e a r older, s o m e t h i n g w h i c h i m p r e s s e d m e v e r y m u c h
w h e n I first s a w it. I f y o u h a v e e v e r h a d to feed c h i l d r e n of
a p p r o x i m a t e l y s i x t e e n or e i g h t e e n m o n t h s w h o c a n a l r e a d y e a t
o n t h e i r o w n , w h o d o n ' t h a v e to b e s p o o n - f e d a n y m o r e , w h o
u s e a c u p , a plate, a s a u c e r , a n d other i m p l e m e n t s , y o u will
have found a curious a n d interesting phenomenon. T h e y hold
t h e i r c u p , w i t h m i l k or c o c o a or w h a t e v e r they d r i n k from
it, a n d h a n d l e it q u i t e c a r e f u l l y a n d s k i l f u l l y . B u t w h e n it i s
e m p t y , a n d i f y o u a r e n o t v e r y q u i c k , t h e y t h r o w it a w a y (it's
v e r y good to h a v e p l a s t i c c u p s a n d s a u c e r s ! ) . Y o u s u r e l y h a v e
n o t i c e d t h a t . Now, w h a t i s t h e c h i l d d o i n g t h e r e t h a t w e d o n ' t
d o ? T h e c h i l d , a t t h a t r i p e age of e i g h t e e n m o n t h s , e v i d e n t l y
c a n give u p h i s r e g a r d for t h e c u p w h e n t h e c u p i s e m p t y . T h e n
it i s t h r o w n a w a y , it i s n o good; a n d t h i s gives u s a v e r y good
p i c t u r e of w h a t t h e c h i l d d o e s w i t h h i s love o b j e c t s , a t l e a s t u p
to t h a t age. H e c a n n o t r e t a i n h i s r e l a t i o n s h i p to t h e m w h e n
t h e y a r e e m p t i e d of t h e s a t i s f a c t i o n t h e y c o u l d offer. H e t h r o w s
t h e m a w a y — b u t t h a t i s s o m e t h i n g o n e c a n o n l y do w i t h a r e a l
c u p . W h e r e love o b j e c t s a r e c o n c e r n e d , t h e c h i l d w i t h d r a w s h i s
l i b i d o c a t h e x i s from t h e m , w h i c h i s a s good a s t h r o w i n g t h e m
away. A n d we consider this p h a s e , i n w h i c h the c h i l d treats h i s
o b j e c t s — a b o v e a l l the m o t h e r , or w h a t s h e h a s to offer—in t h a t
w a y , a s a s o r t of p r e p a r a t o r y p h a s e for w h a t w e c a l l object
r e l a t i o n s h i p . I t i s a p h a s e i n w h i c h t h e object for t h e c h i l d
c o n s i s t s o n l y of s o m e t h i n g w h i c h is a b l e to fulfil a n e e d . It i s t h e
p h a s e o f ' t h e n e e d - s a t i s f y i n g object', a s s o m e p e o p l e c a l l it. T h i s
n e e d m a y b e a m a t e r i a l n e e d — f o r i n s t a n c e , for t h e a p p e a s i n g of
h u n g e r . It m a y b e ( a n d t h i s c o m e s v e r y s o o n i n the c h i l d ' s life) a
n e e d for affection, for b e i n g c o m f o r t e d , f o n d l e d i n a l l s o r t s of
w a y s . W h a t e v e r t h e n e e d i s does n o t c h a n g e t h e e s s e n t i a l b a s i s
of t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p — n a m e l y , t h a t the r e l a t i o n s h i p i s i n c o n s t a n t
a n d c e a s e s w i t h the satisfaction, a n d is b e g u n again with the
r e n e w a l of t h e n e e d .
T h e n c o m e s t h e n e x t p h a s e i n t h e c h i l d ' s life, i n w h i c h h e
behaves i n r e l a t i o n to h i s c u p and saucer as we do. We
k e e p t h e m for t h e n e x t m e a l a n d h a n d l e t h e m c a r e f u l l y or e v e n
c h e r i s h t h e m , w h e t h e r t h e y s e r v e m o m e n t a r y s a t i s f a c t i o n or
n o t . N o w t h e c h i l d b e g i n s to do t h e s a m e w i t h h i s m o t h e r ,
which means his attachment to t h e m o t h e r — t h e libidinal
c a t h e x i s of h e r — r e m a i n s c o n s t a n t r e g a r d l e s s of t h e n e e d . T h i s
p h a s e , t h e n , w o u l d b e t h e p h a s e of o b j e c t c o n s t a n c y a n d i s
a l r e a d y v e r y m u c h n e a r e r to w h a t w e r e g a r d i n a d u l t life a s a
p r o p e r love r e l a t i o n s h i p or e m o t i o n a l r e l a t i o n s h i p to a n o t h e r
h u m a n b e i n g . B u t e v e n i n t h i s p h a s e of o b j e c t c o n s t a n c y i t
t a k e s a l o n g time before the c h i l d s e e s m o r e t h a n a provider i n
t h a t p e r s o n i n t h e o u t s i d e w o r l d . It t a k e s a l o n g t i m e u n t i l t h e
c h i l d b e g i n s to s e e t h a t t h i s i s a p e r s o n too, a p e r s o n w i t h h i s
own rights, his own needs, his own demands, a n d with w h o m
t h e c h i l d b e c o m e s a b l e to ' i n t e r c h a n g e ' affection, l o v e , emo
t i o n — n a m e l y , not only cathect the object w i t h libido, b u t o n the
b a s i s of t h a t c a t h e x i s c o n s i d e r t h e o b j e c t w i t h t h e s a m e r e g a r d
t h a t t h e c h i l d h a s for h i s o w n self. O n c e t h i s h a s o c c u r r e d , t h e n
w e h a v e w h a t we w o u l d call a real object r e l a t i o n s h i p i n that
particular child.
It m a y b e c o m e c l e a r e r to y o u t h a t s t u d y i n g t h e s e p h a s e s i s
m o r e t h a n of p u r e l y t h e o r e t i c a l i n t e r e s t w h e n y o u r e a l i z e t h a t
t h e s e v a r i o u s s t a g e s a n d l e v e l s of r e l a t i o n s h i p to o u r fellow
beings a r e reflected very closely i n a d u l t b e h a v i o u r . W e a l l
k n o w t h a t t h e d e s i r a b l e a d u l t b e h a v i o u r t o w a r d s o u r fellows
s h o u l d b e o n t h e b a s i s of t h i s l a s t s t a g e of o b j e c t r e l a t i o n s h i p —
n a m e l y , w h e r e t h e r e i s c o n s i d e r a t i o n a n d r e g a r d for t h e o b j e c t
w i t h a n i n t e r c h a n g e of f e e l i n g s . B u t t h e r e a r e m a n y i n s t a n c e s ,
a n d m a n y f o r m s of a b n o r m a l i t y , i n w h i c h a d u l t s r e g r e s s to
e a r l i e r l e v e l s of o b j e c t r e l a t i o n s h i p a n d s e e i n t h e i r f r i e n d s — i n
t h e i r s e x u a l p a r t n e r s , for i n s t a n c e — n o t h i n g b u t t h e p r o v i d e r ,
and o n l y love t h e m for t h e s a t i s f a c t i o n t h e y c a n get from
t h e m . A n d w e k n o w t h a t types of d i s t u r b e d a d u l t r e g r e s s to
that first p h a s e of i n c o n s t a n c y i n love r e l a t i o n s h i p s , w h e r e
objects are thrown away, figuratively s p e a k i n g , o r e m p t i e d of
c a t h e x i s w h e n t h e s a t i s f a c t i o n f r o m t h e m i s over a n d a n e w
o b j e c t i s s o u g h t for r e n e w e d s a t i s f a c t i o n . S o t h e s e p h a s e s of
d e v e l o p m e n t i n t h e c h i l d ' s love for t h e m o t h e r reflect a t o n e a n d
t h e s a m e t i m e t h e w h o l e r a n g e of p o s s i b i l i t i e s of d i s t u r b a n c e i n
a d u l t love r e l a t i o n s h i p s .
I k n o w there will certainly be someone w h o will s e n d i n a
question a s k i n g : w h a t about aggression at the s a m e time? A n d
h e r e a g a i n I h a v e to s a y t h a t o u r s t u d i e s of t h e p a t h s t a k e n b y
t h e a g g r e s s i v e i n s t i n c t a r e n o t a s d e t a i l e d a s t h o s e of l i b i d i n a l
c a t h e x i s . B u t w e do h a v e a n i d e a from w h a t w e h a v e o b s e r v e d
u p to n o w t h a t a g g r e s s i o n follows t h e c h o i c e of object m a d e b y
the libidinal urges, m a d e b y the s e x u a l side, very closely. T h i s
m e a n s t h a t t h e love o b j e c t s of t h e c h i l d a r e a l s o t h e h a t e d
o b j e c t s , t h o s e w h o h a v e to b e a r t h e b r u n t of t h e c h i l d ' s a g g r e s
s i o n . T h e r e i s a f u r t h e r i t e m to b e c o n s i d e r e d o n t h e a g g r e s s i v e
side. Whenever the child is refused libidinal satisfaction, h e
r e s p o n d s w i t h a g g r e s s i o n . W e do n o t k n o w w h e t h e r t h i s a g g r e s
s i o n m e r e l y s e r v e s t h e p u r p o s e of d e f e n d i n g h i s l i b i d i n a l i n t e r
e s t s . I t w o u l d b e q u i t e u n d e r s t a n d a b l e if it w e r e s o , b e c a u s e it
i s a l s o w h a t w e k n o w from a d u l t b e h a v i o u r . It i s a l s o true
t h a t w h e r e t h e l i b i d o does n o t find s a t i s f a c t i o n , t h e a g g r e s s i o n
p u s h e s i t s e l f a l l t h e m o r e into t h e p l a c e of t h e o t h e r i n s t i n c t . W e
do n o t k n o w w h e t h e r a c h i l d w h o h a s n o n e of h i s w i s h e s f r u s
trated w o u l d not be aggressive, b e c a u s e it i s i m p o s s i b l e to
e x c l u d e t h e e x p e r i e n c e of f r u s t r a t i o n i n a c h i l d ' s life. It i s p r o b
a b l y s o m e t h i n g w e w o u l d l i k e to try to d i s c o v e r t h r o u g h e x p e r i
m e n t , b u t s i n c e there is no s u c h state a s c o n s t a n t libidinal
s a t i s f a c t i o n , w e c a n n o t get o u r proof. A s a r e s u l t y o u w i l l f i n d
m a n y p e o p l e i n t h e p s y c h o l o g i c a l w o r l d w h o r e f u s e to b e l i e v e
that aggression is really a s basic, a s primordial, a s the s e x u a l
instinct i n the child a n d assert that aggression is merely pro
d u c e d b y e x p e r i e n c e s of d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n . A s I told y o u l a s t t i m e ,
I hold the other view—namely, that s e x a n d aggression are b o t h
b a s i c instincts. B u t I readily c o n c e d e — a n d you c a n all observe
it w h e n e v e r y o u d e a l w i t h y o u n g c h i l d r e n — t h a t over a n d a b o v e
the aggression w h i c h m a y be p r e s e n t i n the c h i l d from the
b e g i n n i n g , t h o s e a m o u n t s p r o d u c e d b y f r u s t r a t i o n of l i b i d i n a l
w i s h e s p l a y a v e r y g r e a t p a r t . T h e r e y o u m o r e or l e s s h a v e t h e
position.
B u t , t h e n , w h o a r e t h e p e o p l e i n the e n v i r o n m e n t o n w h o m
a l l t h i s p l a y of s e x a n d a g g r e s s i o n of t h e c h i l d i s a c t u a l l y ' a c t e d
o u t ' , a s w e s a y ? W e l l , I h a v e n a m e d t h e m o t h e r v e r y often, b u t
t h a t i s n o t q u i t e c o r r e c t , b e c a u s e i n t h e b e g i n n i n g the c h i l d i s
n o t c o n c e r n e d w i t h t h e m o t h e r . T h e v e r y y o u n g i n f a n t does n o t
h a v e t h e p o s s i b i l i t y of c o n c e i v i n g of t h e m o t h e r a s a p e r s o n .
W h a t h e i s c o n c e r n e d w i t h a r e t h o s e p a r t s of the m o t h e r w h i c h
serve to give immediate satisfaction. Such parts may be the
mother's breast, the mother's hand, perhaps the mother's face:
the breast giving nourishment, the hand giving pleasure to the
surface of the body, and the face and the mother's smile serv
ing the purpose of reassurance, of comforting, of quietening the
child. And in the phase of lack of object constancy, of breaking
off relations ever so often—what we call the phase of *the need
satisfying object'—it is such parts of the person which play a
significant role for the child. And as the child matures, as his
ego functions become more complete and his recognition of the
outside world better, he takes in more of the mother, until the
whole person of the mother becomes the object of his interest,
of his sexual interest, of his aggressive interest. He then really
has become attached to the person of the mother. This is not an
easy time for the mother, when she is claimed for the first time
as a whole person by the child. Because the child claims her as
if there were no one else in the world except the two of them.
Now no mothers—or very few—live alone with their young in
fants. The whole set-up of mother and infant occurs within a
family, which means that there are other people who play their
part and who claim the mother's attention, who claim her love
and interest as much as the infant does. Which is the first
insoluble conflict for the young infant, and the first misunder
standing between the environment and the child. I say
this because for the child it is impossible to conceive why this
mother should not belong to him exclusively, to love and to
hate, to play with, to have, to satisfy himself on; whereas to the
mother it must be just as inconceivable that she should belong
to that one child only. And naturally to the father and the other
children it does not make sense.
There is one way, though, in which every normal mother
meets the demands of the infant, at least in the first few
months of life. When people discuss the position of a new child
born into the family and the jealousy which older siblings must
feel on that account, there is always talk of reassuring the older
child—for instance, the child of two or three—that in spite of
the new baby's arrival, his mother loves him just as much as
she has loved him before. And we wonder why young children
find it so difficult to believe that, and why they always act for a
76 ANNA FREUDI THE HARVARD LECTURES
time, w h e n e v e r t h e n e x t s i b l i n g i s b o r n , a s i f t h e y h a d l o s t t h e i r
m o t h e r ' s love m o r e or l e s s c o m p l e t e l y . I t h i n k t h e y a c t t h a t w a y
b e c a u s e t h e r e i s a g r a i n of t r u t h i n i t . F o r t h e y o u n g m o t h e r ,
every n e w b o r n c h i l d is something very specially h e r s , very
m u c h a p a r t of h e r b o d y s t i l l — w h i c h , after a l l , it h a s b e e n for a
v e r y l o n g p e r i o d — v e r y m u c h b e l o n g i n g w i t h i n t h e f r a m e w o r k of
h e r o w n self-love, p a r t of h e r self, a n d therefore l o v e d i n a v e r y
p e c u l i a r w a y . W h i c h m e a n s t h a t m o r e or l e s s e v e r y n o r m a l
m o t h e r i s r e a d y to b e l o n g , for a s h o r t w h i l e a t l e a s t , for a few
m o n t h s , to t h e n e w b o r n b a b y e x c l u s i v e l y , e v e n if s h e m a k e s
e v e r y c o n s c i o u s effort n o t to w i t h d r a w a n y love from t h e o l d e r
c h i l d . T h i s i s a difficult s i t u a t i o n , a n d e v e r y m o t h e r of m o r e
t h a n o n e c h i l d k n o w s it v e r y w e l l .
T h e q u e s t i o n i s v e r y often r a i s e d of w h a t t h e r o l e of t h e
f a t h e r i s i n t h a t first y e a r of life. U n d e r l e s s m o d e r n c o n d i t i o n s
f a t h e r s u s e d to h a v e v e r y little to do w i t h t h e i r n e w b o r n b a b i e s .
T h e y u s e d to l o o k a t t h e m f r o m a d i s t a n c e , t h e y w o u l d c o m
p l a i n a good d e a l a b o u t t h e d i s t u r b a n c e w h i c h t h e b a b y c r e a t e d
i n t h e h o u s e , a n d t h e y u s e d to r e s e n t t h e fact t h a t t h e c h i l d
took s o m u c h of t h e m o t h e r ' s a t t e n t i o n a w a y from t h e m . U n d e r
m o d e r n c o n d i t i o n s t h i s h a s c h a n g e d a good d e a l , a n d many
f a t h e r s t a k e p a r t i n t h e b o d i l y c a r e of t h e b a b y ; t h i s m e a n s , a s
w e w o u l d s a y , t h a t t h e s e f a t h e r s offer t h e m s e l v e s to t h e i n f a n t
i n t h e r o l e of a n e e d - s a t i s f y i n g object, t h e r o l e u s u a l l y o n l y
t a k e n b y t h e m o t h e r i n r e l a t i o n to t h e b a b y . B u t w h e r e the
father does not actually s h a r e i n the b a b y ' s care, the relation
s h i p to h i m b e g i n s o n q u i t e a different l e v e l . It b e g i n s a good
w h i l e after t h e m o t h e r r e l a t i o n s h i p h a s b e e n f i r m l y e s t a b l i s h e d ,
a n d t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h t h e f a t h e r u s u a l l y b e g i n s i n two w a y s
a t o n c e . O n e of t h e s e i s a d i r e c t w a y : object l i b i d o i s s e n t o u t to
the father, n o longer b e c a u s e h e is need-satisfying i n the bodily
s e n s e b u t b e c a u s e h e i s l i k e d a n d a d m i r e d for c e r t a i n of h i s
q u a l i t i e s , for c e r t a i n t h i n g s w h i c h h e c a n do w h i c h t h e m o t h e r
c a n n o t do. S o h e b e c o m e s a d i r e c t object of affection to t h e
c h i l d , a n o b j e c t of a d m i r a t i o n , s o m e t i m e s of a g g r e s s i o n . B u t a t
t h e s a m e t i m e , i n v a r i a b l y i n t h e n o r m a l family, h e b e c o m e s a
rival. T h e b a b y a n d the father h a v e rival c l a i m s on the mother;
a n d t h a t b e g i n s q u i t e e a r l y . I o n l y t a l k of t h o s e f a t h e r s (I h a v e to
be very careful about fathers b e c a u s e they a r e very touchy
n o w a d a y s ) w h o d o n o t c a r e i n a b o d i l y w a y for t h e i r b a b i e s , a n d
w h o m t h e b a b y p r o b a b l y w o n ' t n o t i c e m u c h before t h e s e c o n d
y e a r . If the father feeds the b a b y , dries the b a b y , a n d w a s h e s
t h e b a b y , t h a t w i l l b e different.
S o , o n t h e b a s i s of c o n s t a n t o b j e c t r e l a t i o n s h i p s , w e now
h a v e , i n t h e s e c o n d y e a r of t h e c h i l d , t h r e e e l e m e n t s . O n e i s
t h e p o s i t i v e a n d a n e g a t i v e a t t i t u d e to t h e m o t h e r — l o v i n g a n d
h a t i n g h e r a c c o r d i n g to h e r b e h a v i o u r t o w a r d s t h e c h i l d . T h e n
t h e r e i s t h e s a m e k i n d of a t t i t u d e t o w a r d s t h e f a t h e r ; a n d t h e
t h i r d i s the distinct rivalry w i t h the father. T h e libidinal s i t u a
t i o n n a t u r a l l y b e c o m e s c o m p l i c a t e d for t h e g r o w i n g b a b y w h e r e
there are older siblings i n the family, a n d we c a n n o w s t u d y
t h e s e v a r i o u s s h a d e s of r e l a t i o n s h i p ; b e c a u s e t h e s a m e k i n d
of r i v a l r y t h a t e x i s t s w i t h t h e f a t h e r n a t u r a l l y e x i s t s w i t h t h e
s i b l i n g s . B u t t h i s i s l e s s full of c o n f l i c t for t h e c h i l d b e c a u s e
the siblings a r e l e s s loved. T h e y a r e i n the first p l a c e r i v a l s , a n d
only secondarily companions.
It i s i n t e r e s t i n g to s e e t h a t s i t u a t i o n s of t h i s k i n d a r e o p e n to
a g r e a t d e a l of v a r i a t i o n a c c o r d i n g to e n v i r o n m e n t a l c i r c u m
s t a n c e s . I t h a s b e e n p o s s i b l e r e c e n t l y to o b s e r v e t h e l i b i d i n a l
r e l a t i o n s h i p s of c h i l d r e n t o w a r d s o t h e r c h i l d r e n of t h e s a m e o r
n e a r l y the s a m e age, w h i c h m e a n s towards c o n t e m p o r a r i e s i n
t h e p o s i t i o n of s i b l i n g s , i n t h e a b s e n c e of p a r e n t s . T o o u r s u r
p r i s e it h a s b e e n f u l l y c o n f i r m e d — a t l e a s t i n t h o s e i n s t a n c e s
w h i c h w e r e o p e n to o b s e r v a t i o n — t h a t u n d e r t h e s e c o n d i t i o n s
c h i l d r e n d o n o t s e e m to d e v e l o p t h e j e a l o u s y of t h e i r c o n t e m
p o r a r i e s w h i c h s e e m s s o n o r m a l a n d n a t u r a l to u s u n d e r u s u a l
family conditions. T h i s m e a n s that the child is not j e a l o u s , does
n o t h a t e h i s b r o t h e r or s i s t e r b e c a u s e t h e y b o t h w a n t t h e s a m e
t h i n g a n d c a n ' t h a v e it or b e c a u s e t h e o t h e r c h i l d r e n t a k e
s o m e t h i n g a w a y f r o m t h e c h i l d — t h e y t a k e h i s t o y s or d e s t r o y
h i s g a m e s , b u t do s o q u i t e e x p l i c i t l y , b e c a u s e t h e s e o t h e r c h i l
d r e n a r e r i v a l s for t h e love of f a t h e r a n d m o t h e r . W h e r e t h i s
b a s i c r i v a l r y i n t h e f a m i l y i s a b s e n t , c h i l d r e n c a n love e a c h
o t h e r — w h i c h i s a v e r y c u r i o u s fact, b e c a u s e s i b l i n g s c e r t a i n l y
do n o t love e a c h o t h e r . Y o u w i l l s a y t h a t i s n o t t r u e , b u t t h e
t r u t h i s t h a t t h e y l e a r n to love e a c h o t h e r i n l a t e r y e a r s . A n d ,
a g a i n , t h e y l e a r n to love e a c h o t h e r o n t h e b a s i s of s o m e t h i n g
v e r y c u r i o u s ; t h e y l e a r n to love e a c h o t h e r b e c a u s e t h e y b e l o n g
to t h e s a m e p a r e n t s . A n d w h e n e a c h c h i l d h a s h i s full l i b i d i n a l
o b j e c t r e l a t i o n s h i p to t h e p a r e n t a n d h a s r e a c h e d t h e s t a g e
where sacrifices c a n be made, the c h i l d begins to l i k e h i s
b r o t h e r s a n d s i s t e r s b e c a u s e t h e y b e l o n g to t h e m o t h e r , j u s t a s
t h e c h i l d l e a r n s to l i k e t h e m o t h e r ' s d r e s s e s , t h e m o t h e r ' s c o a t ,
a n d t h e m o t h e r ' s i m p l e m e n t s i n t h e h o u s e , a n d to s p a r e t h e m
r a t h e r t h a n d e s t r o y i n g t h e m . S o t h e love of s i b l i n g s towards
e a c h o t h e r goes b y w a y of the love of t h e p a r e n t s , j u s t a s t h e
j e a l o u s y of t h e o t h e r s goes b y w a y of t h e love of t h e p a r e n t s .
T h e r e l a t i o n s h i p s look c o m p l e t e l y different where children,
i n t h e a b s e n c e of a d u l t love o b j e c t s , s e n d o u t t h e i r l i b i d i n a l
c a t h e x i s d i r e c t l y to t h e i r c o n t e m p o r a r i e s — a m o s t abnormal
s t a t e , b u t v e r y u s e f u l to u s for t h e p u r p o s e s of s t u d y .
T h e s e m a t t e r s a r e c o m p l i c a t e d , a n d I d i d n o t w a n t to s u m
m a r i z e t h e m too m u c h . I w a n t n e x t t i m e to t a k e y o u a t l e i s u r e
t h r o u g h t h e f o r m s w h i c h t h e love a n d h a t e r e l a t i o n s h i p s of t h e
c h i l d c a n t a k e , following t h r o u g h t h e l i b i d i n a l a n d a g g r e s s i v e
s t a g e s of d e v e l o p m e n t , a n d t h e n to t a k e t h e m to t h e i r p e a k
in the family situation—namely, to the so-called Oedipus
complex.
LECTURE SIX
Love, identification,
and superego
T
h e p h a s e s o f d e v e l o p m e n t of t h e c h i l d a n d t h e v a r i o u s
s t a g e s i n h i s r e l a t i o n s h i p to p e o p l e i n t h e o u t s i d e w o r l d
a r e w h a t h a v e b e e n w o r k e d over m o s t i n p s y c h o a n a l y t i c
t h e o r y a n d p r a c t i c e . T h e r e i s t h e r e f o r e a v a s t a m o u n t of d a t a i n
t h i s field, a n d i t i s a field i n w h i c h t h o s e p e o p l e w h o d e a l w i t h
t h e a n a l y t i c t h e o r i e s o f c h i l d d e v e l o p m e n t s t a y for m o r e o r l e s s
a l l t h e i r w o r k i n g l i v e s . T o s p e a k for o n l y o n e o r t w o h o u r s o n
t h e s e m a t t e r s m e a n s a g r e a t effort i n s u m m a r i z i n g , a n d i t i s
only n a t u r a l that very important parts of the whole m a t t e r h a v e
to b e d e a l t w i t h a s i f t h e y w e r e o n l y of m i n o r , s e c o n d a r y i m p o r
t a n c e ; a n d m u c h h a s to go b y t h e b o a r d . I c a n o n l y t r y to do m y
b e s t a b o u t it, b u t n o b e s t c a n b e good e n o u g h .
If, for i n s t a n c e , y o u c o n s i d e r t h e p e r i o d i n t h e c h i l d ' s life
w h i c h I t r i e d to d e a l w i t h l a s t t i m e , y o u w i l l r e a l i z e t h a t i n
c l u d e d i n it i s a n e n o r m o u s a d v a n c e from a close intimate
relationship between one small h u m a n individual a n d one
o t h e r p e r s o n ( t h e m o t h e r ) , a r e l a t i o n s h i p c o n f i n e d to a n i n t e r
c h a n g e of t h e m o s t p r i m i t i v e k i n d . A n d t h e n , u p to t h e t h i r d o r
79
f o u r t h or fifth y e a r , t h e r e i s t h e w i d e n i n g of t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p s to
a n u m b e r of p e o p l e , w i t h e n o r m o u s v a r i a t i o n s i n t h a t w h o l e
p r o c e s s w h i c h w e s p e a k of u n d e r t h e n a m e of ' o b j e c t r e l a t i o n
ship'. T h e advances w h i c h a c h i l d m a k e s d u r i n g that time, from
b e i n g a s m a l l , p r i m i t i v e , i n s t i n c t i v e , a n i m a l - l i k e b e i n g to t h e
n e a r l y c o m p l e t e a p p a r e n t l y a d u l t p e r s o n — b e c a u s e t h e c h i l d of
five i n m a n y r e s p e c t s g i v e s a p i c t u r e of a n a d u l t p e r s o n — a r e
e n o r m o u s . A n d w h e n o n e h a s t h e o p p o r t u n i t y to w a t c h t h i s
c h a n g e c l o s e l y , e i t h e r i n o n e ' s o w n c h i l d r e n or i n c h i l d r e n w h o
are u n d e r one's observation, one is a l w a y s s u r p r i s e d at w h e r e
t h e a d v a n c e s c o m e from. I h a v e b e e n i n t h e p o s i t i o n w h e r e I
h a v e s e e n c h i l d r e n d a y after d a y , w h e r e I w a s c o n t r o l l i n g t h e i r
e n v i r o n m e n t a n d h a d full k n o w l e d g e of t h e i r e n v i r o n m e n t a l
influences, a n d again a n d again I have seen reactions arise i n
t h e s e c h i l d r e n w h i c h w e r e q u i t e s u r p r i s i n g to m e . W e a r e c o n
fronted over a n d over a g a i n w i t h t h e q u e s t i o n : w h e r e d o e s t h a t
change really come from? T h i s m e a n s that w h a t we see i n the
c h i l d i s n o t m e r e l y a r e s u l t of e n v i r o n m e n t a l i n f l u e n c e w h i c h
evokes a r e s p o n s e from the child. T h e s e environmental influ
ences, a c t i n g on the b a s i c i n b o r n personality, are w o r k e d over
w i t h i n the c h i l d a n d a p p e a r o n the surface a s s o m e t h i n g c o m
p l e t e l y n e w , a p r o c e s s w h i c h i s f a s c i n a t i n g to follow b u t n o t s o
e a s y to d e s c r i b e i n c o n c i s e t e r m s .
A t t h e e n d of t h e l a s t l e c t u r e we left t h e c h i l d a t a p p r o x i
m a t e l y a t t h e age of t h r e e or four w i t h a n u m b e r of d i s t i n c t
relationships formed in h i s m i n d . T h e r e w a s no longer the ex
c l u s i v e r e l a t i o n s h i p to t h e m o t h e r , b u t t h e object r e l a t i o n s h i p s
( w h i c h m e a n s t h e a t t a c h m e n t s to t h e o u t s i d e w o r l d ) h a d b e e n
e x t e n d e d to i n c l u d e a s e c o n d p a r e n t - f i g u r e , t h e f a t h e r , a n d a l s o
i n c l u d e d t h e s i b l i n g s , t h e b r o t h e r s a n d s i s t e r s ; a n d e a c h of
these relationships h a d a very distinct separate form. Y o u r e
m e m b e r t h a t I t r i e d to c h a r a c t e r i z e i n a few w o r d s h o w the
a m b i v a l e n c e t o w a r d s the m o t h e r i s of a different n a t u r e f r o m
the a m b i v a l e n c e towards the father ('ambivalence' is the t e r m
we u s e w h e n the c h i l d h a s positive a n d negative r e l a t i o n s h i p s
t o w a r d s t h e s a m e p e r s o n ) . T h e n e g a t i v e feelings t o w a r d s the
m o t h e r a r e b a s e d mostly on those i n s t a n c e s where the m o t h e r
fails to give t h e c h i l d s a t i s f a c t i o n , w h e r e a s i n t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p to
t h e f a t h e r t h e r e i s t h e a d d e d r o l e of t h e f a t h e r a s a r i v a l . I n t h e
SIX: LOVE, IDENTIFICATION, AND SUPEREGO 8 1
r e l a t i o n s h i p to t h e b r o t h e r s a n d s i s t e r s t h e r i v a l r y t a k e s first
p l a c e , a n d t h e p o s i t i v e r e l a t i o n s to t h e c o m p a n i o n s , to t h e p l a y
mates, comes afterwards.
Y o u m a y r e m e m b e r , i f y o u t h i n k b a c k to t h e l e c t u r e i n
w h i c h I t r i e d to e x p l a i n s o m e t h i n g of w h a t w e c a l l t h e ' t h e o r y of
l i b i d o d i s t r i b u t i o n * , t h a t w e f o u n d two w a y s i n w h i c h t h e c h i l d
u s e s the libido, the s e x u a l energy at h i s disposal. O n the one
h a n d , t h e c h i l d a t t a c h e s it to h i s o w n b o d y a n d h i s o w n p e r s o n
for t h e p u r p o s e s of s e l f - l o v e , or n a r c i s s i s m ; a n d o n t h e o t h e r
h a n d , t h e c h i l d u s e s t h i s s a m e e n e r g y for h i s a t t a c h m e n t s to
t h e o u t s i d e w o r l d — n a m e l y , for t h e p u r p o s e s of o b j e c t l o v e . T h i s
i s a n i m p o r t a n t c o n c e p t , w h i c h w e w i l l n e e d i n t h e l e c t u r e s to
come. T h e r e is a constant exchange i n the n o r m a l c h i l d be
t w e e n o n e t y p e of u s e of t h e l i b i d o a n d t h e o t h e r . I m e a n t h a t
w h e n e v e r a n o b j e c t i s u n s a t i s f a c t o r y , or w h e n e v e r t h e l o v e r e l a
t i o n s h i p to a n o b j e c t i s i n t e r r u p t e d for s o m e r e a s o n , t h e c h i l d
u s e s t h a t p a r t of t h e l i b i d o p r e v i o u s l y a t t a c h e d to t h e o b j e c t for
a t t a c h m e n t to h i s o w n p e r s o n . S o t h e r e i s a c o n t i n u a l e x c h a n g e
b e t w e e n s e l f - l o v e a n d love of o t h e r s .
W e n o w h a v e to a d d to t h e s e t y p e s of l i b i d i n a l u s e and
l i b i d i n a l b e h a v i o u r i n t h e c h i l d two s o r t s of r e l a t i o n s h i p to t h e
objects i n the outside world. E n v i s a g e , if y o u will, i n y o u r o w n
m i n d the m o t h e r , the father, a n d the siblings a s the prototypes
of t h r e e s o r t s of o b j e c t r e l a t i o n s w i t h t h e e n v i r o n m e n t . T h e n t h e
m a t t e r i s c o m p l i c a t e d f u r t h e r b y t h e fact t h a t t h e c h i l d d o e s n o t
m e r e l y h a v e w h a t w e c a l l a n ' o b j e c t a t t a c h m e n t * to t h e s e t h r e e
'sets* of p e o p l e , b u t h a s a s w e l l a s e c o n d t y p e of r e l a t i o n s h i p of
w h i c h y o u h a v e certainly h e a r d a great deal—namely, a n 'iden
tification' w i t h t h e m . I h a v e r e m i n d e d y o u o n c e m o r e of t h e i d e a
t h a t o b j e c t l i b i d o c a n b e c h a n g e d b a c k to n a r c i s s i s t i c l i b i d o ,
b e c a u s e w e n e e d to u n d e r s t a n d t h i s p r o c e s s i n o r d e r to u n d e r
s t a n d t h e n a t u r e of a n i d e n t i f i c a t i o n . It i s r e a l l y a v e r y c u r i o u s
thing that happens here. Let u s imagine the c h i l d n o w in
h i s r e l a t i o n s h i p to t h e m o t h e r , i n o n e of t h o s e s i t u a t i o n s I
d e s c r i b e d b e f o r e i n w h i c h t h e m o t h e r i s u n a b l e to s a t i s f y the
c h i l d e i t h e r w i t h food o r love o r w i t h h e r p r e s e n c e . I h a v e s a i d
t h a t i s t h e m o m e n t w h e n t h e c h i l d w i t h d r a w s love f r o m the
m o t h e r a n d u s e s i t o n h i m s e l f , b u t n o w w e w a n t to l e a r n m o r e
about t h i s p r o c e s s . T h e c h i l d i s a b l e to w i t h d r a w f r o m the
mother i n a very curious way only—namely, b y erecting some

w h e r e i n s i d e h i m s e l f , w i t h i n h i s ego, a p i c t u r e of t h a t p a r t of
t h e m o t h e r w i t h w h i c h h e h a d d e a l i n g s j u s t before. S o m e t h i n g
of t h e m o t h e r figure, of t h e m o t h e r i m a g e , i s c a r r i e d i n s i d e a n d
b u i l t u p i n s i d e t h e c h i l d , p r o b a b l y o n the b a s i s of a w i s h
ful p i c t u r e . D o y o u r e m e m b e r t h o s e w i s h f u l i m a g e s w h i c h t h e
c h i l d c r e a t e s a t t h e b e g i n n i n g of life w h e n a n y i n s t i n c t i v e u r g e
a r i s e s i n h i m ? T h e u r g e b r i n g s w i t h it t h e p i c t u r e of the fulfil
m e n t a n d of t h e object o n w h i c h fulfilment s h o u l d t a k e p l a c e . It
is probably i n this way that the child who is dissatisfied with
t h e m o t h e r n o w a t t a c h e s h i s libido to t h e i m a g e of t h e m o t h e r
i n s i d e , a n d t h i s i m a g e of the m o t h e r i n s i d e i s n o w ' c a t h e c t e d ' ,
a s w e s a y — c h a r g e d n o m o r e w i t h object libido b u t w i t h n a r c i s
s i s t i c l i b i d o . It h a s b e c o m e p a r t of t h e c h i l d , a n d t h e m o t h e r i s
n o w a p i c t u r e i n s i d e ; the c h i l d i s t r y i n g to get s a t i s f a c t i o n f r o m
t h e p i c t u r e , i n s t e a d of from a r e a l m o t h e r o u t s i d e . W e m i g h t
s a y t h a t p a r t of t h e c h i l d h a s c h a n g e d s o a s to r e p r e s e n t t h e
m o t h e r for p u r p o s e s of s a t i s f a c t i o n .
S o t h i s p r o c e s s of c h a n g i n g object libido i n t o n a r c i s s i s t i c
l i b i d o i s a c c o m p a n i e d b y a c o n t i n u a l d e v e l o p m e n t of i d e n t i f i c a
t i o n s . T h a t i s a c t u a l l y t h e w a y i n w h i c h t h e c h i l d ' s ego e n l a r g e s ,
g r o w s , fills i t s e l f w i t h c o n t e n t . If y o u r e m e m b e r the l e c t u r e
a b o u t t h e ego, y o u w i l l a l s o r e m e m b e r t h a t a t t h a t t i m e I s p o k e
of t h e ego m e r e l y a s a g r o u p of f u n c t i o n s , p e r f e c t e d to fulfil
c e r t a i n t a s k s r e l a t i n g to the o u t s i d e a n d t h e i n s i d e w o r l d s .
But now we are t a l k i n g of a different aspect of t h e ego
a l t o g e t h e r — n a m e l y , of t h e ego a s the k e r n e l of t h e p e r s o n a l i t y
containing w h a t we claim as ourselves. T h i s very personal per
s o n t h a t w e c a r r y i n s i d e i s m a d e u p o u t of b i t s a n d p i e c e s of t h e
p e o p l e w h o m w e loved a s little c h i l d r e n . T h i s i s a c u r i o u s p r o
c e s s , w e l l w o r t h t h i n k i n g a b o u t , a n d , i n d e e d , a g r e a t d e a l of
w o r k h a s b e e n d o n e to f i n d o u t m o r e a b o u t It. to c a t c h the c h i l d
i n t h e a c t i o n of identifying, a n d to d e t e r m i n e , after i d e n t i f i c a
tion h a s t a k e n place, i n w h a t way the identification h a s come
about.
W e h a v e therefore t h e c h i l d i n the c e n t r e of a s m a l l g r o u p
of p e o p l e a r o u n d h i m , the n e a r e s t m e m b e r s of h i s family,
a t t a c h e d to t h e m b y object love o n the one h a n d , a n d o n t h e
o t h e r h a n d c o n t i n u a l l y identifying w i t h t h e m . I n t h i s w a y h e
SIX: LOVE, IDENTIFICATION, AND SUPEREGO 83
builds up a person who is, we might say, similar to them, but

the bits and pieces taken from the outside world get so inter
mixed that it is very difficult, except through a personal analy
sis, to decide where each single piece has come from. You all
know the situation when an interested aunt looks at a child and
says, Well, the eyes are the mother's, and the nose, that's the
father's, and, you know, the mouth is the grandfather's.' We
smile about these attempts to find the features of the parents
and grandparents and uncles and aunts in the child's face,
though there is often, of course, a great deal of truth in what is
seen. There is certainly a great deal of truth in it on the mental
side. All the pieces which now make up the child's ego have
belonged to others, and it is a great mixture of attitudes, of
qualities, of prohibitions, of commands, of ideas, of wishes,
which the child collects; and the child has the task of making
one harmonious whole out of it. Perhaps if you look at
the process of identification in this manner it will become also
clearer to you why it is so difficult for children whose parents
are in a marriage full of conflict to build up a harmonious ego.
If the bits and pieces which the child takes over from the out
side world are conflicting in the outside world, they will be very
difficult to harmonize inside. The same is true in cases where
the child is dealt with by more than one person in the earliest
months of life. The younger and cruder and simpler the organ
ism is, the more beneficial it is for the child not to have too
many objects of identification. It is better to build up these first
inner images, these first parts of his personality, on the basis of
a single or a very few relationships only: one relationship first,
two relationships afterwards.
An appropriate question to ask now would be whether the
siblings serve the same purpose. Do we really, besides having
those pieces of our father and mother inside us, also have all
these little pieces of our brothers and sisters? Well, yes and no.
Where there is a big difference in ages, bigger brothers and
sisters can play a role for the child of, we might say, reduced
parents; they are then treated also by identification, as with the
parents. But where siblings are more or less contemporaries,
these identifications take place very much less or are much
less important.
T h e r e a r e two important questions n o w . W h a t d e t e r m i n e s

the i m p o r t a n c e of a n identification? B y 'importance* I m e a n t h e
r o l e w h i c h t h i s i d e n t i f i c a t i o n i s d e s t i n e d to p l a y i n t h e c h i l d ' s
l a t e r life, b e c a u s e t h e s e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s a r e v e r y difficult o r i m
p o s s i b l e to get r i d of. T h i s i s o n e of t h e a n a l y s t ' s t a s k s l a t e r i n
life. T h e s e c o n d q u e s t i o n i s : w h a t a r e f a v o u r a b l e a n d u n f a v o u r
a b l e c o n d i t i o n s for i d e n t i f i c a t i o n ? W h i c h i s a g a i n w h a t P r o f e s
sor Sears' work is about. 1
I t i s n o t s o difficult to d i s c o v e r w h a t
d e t e r m i n e s t h e p o w e r of a n i d e n t i f i c a t i o n . It i s i n d i r e c t p r o p o r
t i o n to t h e p o w e r a n d s t r e n g t h of t h e e m o t i o n a l r e l a t i o n s h i p
w h i c h h a s preceded the identification. A p a s s i o n a t e relation
s h i p o f t h e c h i l d to f a t h e r o r m o t h e r o r b o t h w i l l b r i n g s t r o n g
I d e n t i f i c a t i o n s . T h e p o w e r of t h e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i l l i n a s e n s e b e
t h e h e i r to t h e s t r e n g t h of t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p . It i s o n e of t h e
a d v e r s e f a c t o r s affecting t h e fate of t h o s e c h i l d r e n w h o , t h r o u g h
t h e a b s e n c e of p a r e n t s o r t h r o u g h t h e p o o r q u a l i t y of t h e p a r
e n t s , h a v e n o t h a d t h e o p p o r t u n i t y to f o r m s t r o n g o b j e c t r e l a
t i o n s h i p s to t h e m , t h a t t h e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s of t h e s e c h i l d r e n a r e
w e a k a n d p o w e r l e s s . T h e i r egos r e m a i n s o m e h o w defective, l e s s
s a t i s f a c t o r y . H o w e v e r , it w o u l d b e a m i s t a k e to t h i n k t h a t t h e
p o w e r of t h e object r e l a t i o n s h i p i s i n d i r e c t p r o p o r t i o n to t h e
p e r m i s s i v e n e s s of t h e p a r e n t s . It i s n o t t r u e t h a t t h e c h i l d l o v e s
the p e r m i s s i v e parent more t h a n the restrictive p a r e n t . T o o u r
s u r p r i s e , w e v e r y often find t h e o p p o s i t e . I t w o u l d l e a d u s too
far a w a y h e r e to d i s c u s s w h y . B u t w h e n y o u s t u d y i d e n t i f i c a
t i o n s , y o u w i l l find t h a t t h e y a r e u s u a l l y m a d e i n s t a t e s w h e n
the c h i l d h a s b e e n dissatisfied with the p a r e n t . T h i s w o u l d
m e a n t h a t a g r e a t l y l o v e d p a r e n t , t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p to w h o m
is interrupted b y frustrations—all the inevitable frustrations
w h i c h t h e p a r e n t s h a v e to i m p o s e — w o u l d p r o b a b l y b e t h e o b
j e c t of t h e s t r o n g e s t i d e n t i f i c a t i o n . O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , a p a r e n t
w h o t r i e s to b e p e r m i s s i v e a l l t h e t i m e w i l l p r o b a b l y m a i n t a i n
t h e c h i l d ' s a t t a c h m e n t , h i s object r e l a t i o n s h i p , to a degree
w h i c h l e a d s m u c h l e s s to a f r e q u e n t o r c o n t i n u a l p r o c e s s of
i d e n t i f i c a t i o n . After a l l , w h y s h o u l d o n e n o t l e a v e t h e o b j e c t i n
T h e reference here is to Robert Sears, who was one of the first to test
x
psychoanalytic hypotheses experimentally.

six: LOVE, IDENTIFICATION, AND SUPEREGO 85
the outside w o r l d i f the object i s so highly satisfactory, i s s u c h

a c o n t i n u a l p r o v i d e r of s a t i s f a c t i o n ? It i s t h e t a k i n g of t h e o b j e c t
i n s i d e w h i c h r e p r e s e n t s a n a t t e m p t to c o n t i n u e t h e r o l e of p r o
v i d e r from i n s i d e .
I t h i n k t h i s i s t h e m o m e n t to r e m i n d y o u t h a t w h e n I g a v e a
p i c t u r e of t h e s t r u c t u r e of t h e h u m a n p e r s o n a l i t y , I s t o p p e d
after d e s c r i b i n g two p a r t s of i t — n a m e l y , i d a n d e g o — a n d I s a i d
t h a t I h a d n o t h i n g y e t to s a y to y o u a b o u t t h e b i r t h of t h e
superego. Well, this is the m o m e n t w h e n y o u c a n see w h e r e the
superego h a s c o m e from. W h a t w e call 'superego' is n o t h i n g
m o r e , a n d n o t h i n g m o r e m y s t e r i o u s , t h a n t h e r e s u l t of t h e s e
first identifications of t h e c h i l d . Because the first loves of
t h e c h i l d a r e t h e m o s t p o w e r f u l o n e s , t h e first i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s —
t h o s e of t h e first y e a r s — a r e t h e m o s t p o w e r f u l . T h e y r e t a i n a
s e p a r a t e p o s i t i o n w i t h i n t h e ego f r o m t h e n o n w a r d s , a n d i t i s
this separate position, this added importance a n d power, this
g l o r i f i c a t i o n of t h e first i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s w i t h i n t h e p e r s o n a l i t y ,
w h i c h w e designate a s the superego. T h e r e is no superego ex
c e p t o n t h e b a s i s of i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i t h t h e p a r e n t s , a n d t h e r e i s
no identification with the p a r e n t s — a t least no identification
l e a d i n g to a s u p e r e g o — e x c e p t on the b a s i s of love for the
p a r e n t s , of o b j e c t a t t a c h m e n t to t h e p a r e n t s . T h i s m e a n s t h a t
t h e s u p e r e g o i s b o r n of t h e o b j e c t a t t a c h m e n t s to t h e p a r e n t s ,
a n d t h a t e x p l a i n s c e r t a i n q u a l i t i e s of t h e s u p e r e g o . I f w e o n l y
h e a r t h e t e r m 'superego*, w e c o u l d e a s i l y b e l e d to t h i n k t h a t
t h i s f o r m a t i o n w i t h i n t h e ego i s i n a l l r e s p e c t s s u p e r i o r to t h e
ego w h e r e a l l f u n c t i o n s a r e c o n c e r n e d : for i n s t a n c e , t h a t i t i s
m o r e r e a s o n a b l e t h a n t h e ego. B u t t h a t i s c e r t a i n l y n o t t h e
c a s e , a n d it w o u l d b e a g r e a t m i s t a k e to t h i n k s o . T h e r e a s o n
a b l e p a r t of t h e p e r s o n a l i t y i s t h e ego, a n d it r e m a i n s t h a t w a y .
T h e ego h a s b e e n b u i l t u p a s a r e s u l t of t h e s t r u g g l e w i t h
o u t s i d e r e a l i t y , for t h e p u r p o s e of k n o w i n g a n d p a r t l y d e a l i n g
w i t h i t , b u t t h e s u p e r e g o h a s n o t b e e n b u i l t u p for a n y s u c h
p u r p o s e . A s a n h e i r to l o v e r e l a t i o n s h i p s w h i c h h a v e been
s u s t a i n e d b y t h e u r g e s of t h e i d , it i s r e a l l y c o n s t r u c t e d o f i d
material a n d is carried within the personality, charged with the
e n e r g y of t h e i d u r g e s — a t l e a s t w i t h t h e s e x u a l e n e r g y of t h e i d
u r g e s . S o it i s m u c h n e a r e r to t h e i d t h a n t h e ego, w h i c h s e e m s
paradoxical in many ways.
A g a i n , t h i s i s a p l a c e for a q u e s t i o n w h i c h i s v e r y often
a s k e d : i s t h e s u p e r e g o a faithful i m a g e of t h e p a r e n t s , o r i s i t a
faithful c o m b i n a t i o n of p a r t i m a g e s of s e v e r a l p a r e n t f i g u r e s ?
O n e m i g h t b e v e r y t e m p t e d to s a y y e s , b u t t h e r e i s s o m u c h
e v i d e n c e a g a i n s t it. F o r i n s t a n c e , y o u c a n find c h i l d r e n w i t h
l e n i e n t , t o l e r a n t , l o v i n g p a r e n t s , w h o , o n t h e b a s i s of t h e i r r e l a
t i o n s h i p to t h e s e p a r e n t s , h a v e b u i l t u p a s e v e r e , c r u e l s u p e r
ego. W h e n y o u w a t c h t h e c h i l d a t p l a y a n d s e e t h e g u i l t feelings
h e d e v e l o p s , h o w h e p u n i s h e s h i m s e l f for s m a l l m i s d e e d s , h o w
a n x i o u s h e i s , h o w m u c h h e s h o w s i n n e r conflict, y o u m i g h t
feel q u i t e c e r t a i n t h a t t h i s c h i l d h a s h a d o v e r - s t r i c t p a r e n t s
w h o m h e i s i m i t a t i n g ; b u t it i s n o t t r u e . Y o u find c h i l d r e n of
r e s t r i c t i v e , s e v e r e , or e v e n c r u e l p a r e n t s w h o h a v e v e r y toler
a n t , l e n i e n t s u p e r e g o s , a n d y o u f i n d c h i l d r e n of l o v i n g , p e r m i t
ting p a r e n t s w h o a r e tortured by their superegos. W h e r e does
t h i s difference c o m e from, i f t h e s u p e r e g o i s a r e s u l t of i d e n t i f i
c a t i o n w i t h t h e loved figures o u t s i d e ? I n fact, t h e e x p l a n a t i o n of
t h i s h a s b e e n f o u n d , a g a i n , t h r o u g h t h e s t u d y of a b n o r m a l
p e r s o n a l i t i e s a n d w i t h t h e c o n f i r m a t i o n from the s t u d y of
n o r m a l p e r s o n a l i t y . W h a t I h a v e s h o w n y o u s o far i s t h a t t h e
s u p e r e g o i s b u i l t o n t h e fate of t h e s e x u a l u r g e of t h e c h i l d —
n a m e l y , t h e s u p e r e g o i s t h e h e i r to t h e c h i l d ' s love r e l a t i o n s h i p .
B u t w h a t a b o u t t h e fate of t h e a g g r e s s i v e u r g e s ? It i s e x a c t l y
t h e fate of t h o s e u r g e s w h i c h a l l o w s u s to e x p l a i n t h e h a r s h n e s s
a n d c r u e l t y of t h e s u p e r e g o , i n t h e following w a y . T h e a c t i o n of
t h e p a r e n t s i n f r u s t r a t i n g t h e c h i l d ' s w i s h e s , a s I t r i e d to e x
p l a i n l a s t t i m e , c a l l s forth a g r e a t d e a l of a g g r e s s i o n i n the c h i l d
d i r e c t e d t o w a r d s t h e p a r e n t s : a n d a p a r t from t h i s e v o k e d a g
gression, there is also the n a t u r a l aggression t h a t w e c o n s i d e r
inborn, w h i c h a p p e a r s i n the c h i l d at the s a m e time a s the
s e x u a l i n s t i n c t , a n d w h i c h i s d i r e c t e d t o w a r d s t h e p a r e n t s to
g e t h e r w i t h t h e s e x u a l i n s t i n c t . B u t t h e n t h e q u e s t i o n a r i s e s of
h o w m u c h of t h e s e a g g r e s s i v e feelings t h e c h i l d c a n a c t u a l l y
e x p r e s s t o w a r d s t h e p a r e n t s . T h e r e a r e m a n y h i n d r a n c e s to
t h i s e x p r e s s i o n of a g g r e s s i o n . O n e i s t h a t t h e p a r e n t s m a y n o t
l i k e it, m a y n o t l i k e t h e c h i l d to e x p r e s s h i s d e a t h w i s h e s , h i s
a n g e r , h i s r a g e . Before p a r e n t s g a i n e d a l l t h e psychological
k n o w l e d g e w h i c h t h e y p o s s e s s n o w a d a y s , t h e a g g r e s s i o n of t h e
c h i l d t o w a r d s t h e p a r e n t s w a s c o n s i d e r e d to b e o n e of the w o r s t
SIX: L O V E , IDENTIFICATION, AND S U P E R E G O 87
things in a child's behaviour, so it was strictly forbidden. Yet

even with permissive parents it is not at all easy for the child to
express aggression towards father or mother, because the child
has an internal conflict—these are loved people, and if one kills
off the people, one loves one misses them afterwards. This sort
of primitive reasoning exists in a child, but there is no integra
tion possible early on between an unchanged love and an un
changed hate towards the parents. So there is conflict, and
such conflicts lead towards prohibition and repression by the
child himself of aggression towards the parents. And now a
curious factor emerges. This aggression in the child does not
merely disappear but has to be used somewhere, so it is used
by the superego and directed inwards, towards the ego of the
child. This means that the superego of the child becomes harsh
and cruel to the degree to which the aggression has been
turned away from the parents. And the fact that loving parents
give the child much less opportunity for free outlet of aggres
sion explains some of the paradox I mentioned. The child feels
much worse about hating loving parents than about hating
unkind ones. So the superegos of these children with loving,
permissive parents become very harsh indeed, whereas harsh
and cruel parents provoke their children to revolt, and in that
revolt much of that aggression becomes conscious and can
be directed outwards rather than inwards. Consequently the
superegos of such children are very often lenient and permis
sive. These are complicated factors, but the complications are
those of life and are not invented by the analyst. 2
So now you have the three parts of the personality which

concern us. The child of the age I described, as I have repre
sented him to you, now has his id urges, his ego functions, the
ego content filled by identifications, and the superego, which
consists of the most important of these identifications. So you
2
Nowadays we might say that the child who experiences severe con
flict because of his ambivalence to h i s parents projects h i s unconscious
aggressive wishes into threatening fantasy figures, which then become
incorporated into h i s superego.
h a v e h e r e t h e c o m p l e t e d p e r s o n a l i t y of t h e s m a l l c h i l d ; b u t , of
c o u r s e , t h a t l e a v e s u s w i t h m a n y o t h e r f a c t o r s to d i s c u s s .
W h i l e t h e c h i l d goes t h r o u g h t h o s e p r o c e s s e s w h i c h b u i l d
u p h i s full p e r s o n a l i t y , h e g o e s s i m u l t a n e o u s l y t h r o u g h the
p h a s e s of l i b i d i n a l d e v e l o p m e n t w h i c h I d e s c r i b e d to y o u w h e n
w e d i s c u s s e d i n f a n t i l e s e x u a l i t y . S o t h e b e h a v i o u r of t h e c h i l d ,
if y o u w a n t to u n d e r s t a n d it n o w , has to b e v i e w e d from
two s i d e s . O n t h e o n e h a n d , w e h a v e to look a t t h e s t r u c t u r a l
s i d e a n d a s k w h i c h p a r t of t h e p e r s o n a l i t y i s i n v o l v e d i n o n e o r
o t h e r type of b e h a v i o u r . I s s u c h b e h a v i o u r o c c a s i o n e d b y t h e i d
u r g e s ? I s it r e g u l a t e d b y t h e ego or e n f o r c e d b y s u p e r e g o c o m
m a n d s ? O r i s it a m i x t u r e of a l l t h e s e ? If w e h a d t i m e I w o u l d
d i s c u s s w i t h y o u t h e i m p l i c a t i o n s t h i s h a s for e d u c a t i o n ; do w e
a d d r e s s o u r e d u c a t i o n a l efforts to o n e or o t h e r of the t h r e e
p a r t s of t h e p e r s o n a l i t y ? A n d y o u c a n v e r y w e l l c h a r a c t e r i z e
e d u c a t i o n a l efforts b y t h e p a r t of p e r s o n a l i t y to w h i c h t h e y a r e
directed.
Well, that is one view of l o o k i n g a t the behaviour of
t h e c h i l d . T h e v i e w f r o m t h e o t h e r s i d e i s to u n d e r s t a n d t h e
c h a n g e s i n t h e c h i l d ' s b e h a v i o u r b y r e f e r e n c e to t h e l e v e l s of
instinct development through w h i c h he p a s s e s — n a m e l y , the
oral, a n a l , a n d phallic p h a s e s , with the accompanying changes
i n t h e a g g r e s s i v e u r g e s . T h e r e y o u w i l l find t h a t it i s n o t too
difficult to g u e s s w h a t l i b i d i n a l s t a g e a c h i l d h a s r e a c h e d b y
o b s e r v i n g h i s b e h a v i o u r i n h i s object r e l a t i o n s h i p . O n e a c h
s t a g e t h e r e l a t i o n to t h e object i s a different o n e . T o c h a r a c t e r
ize it v e r y briefly, i n t h e o r a l p h a s e t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p of t h e c h i l d
to h i s o b j e c t s — p r i m a r i l y t h e m o t h e r — i s d o m i n a t e d b y t h i s o r a l
q u a l i t y of g r e e d — t h e c h i l d c a n ' t get e n o u g h , u r g e n c y a n d g r e e d
a r e m a r k e d ; g r e e d for food, for t h e p r e s e n c e of t h e m o t h e r , for
h e r f o n d l i n g , for e v e r y t h i n g . T h i s m e a n s t h a t t h e p o s s e s s i o n of
t h e o b j e c t a t t h a t t i m e s e r v e s the p u r p o s e of s a t i s f y i n g the
g r e e d . T h i s i s a h a r d t i m e for t h e m o t h e r , a s w e a l l k n o w , b u t it
i s n o t a s h a r d for t h e m o t h e r a s i s k e e p i n g u p t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p
i n t h e n e x t s t a g e , the a n a l o n e , w h e r e it i s n o t g r e e d a n y l o n g e r
w h i c h d o m i n a t e s t h e o b j e c t a t t a c h m e n t to t h e m o t h e r , but
o t h e r q u a l i t i e s . T h e c h i l d i n t h e a n a l p h a s e e q u a l l y w a n t s to
p o s s e s s t h e m o t h e r , b u t for o t h e r p u r p o s e s . H e w a n t s to h a v e
h e r , to h o l d h e r , w e m i g h t s a y to ' s q u e e z e ' h e r , b u t a l s o to h u r t
six: LOVE, IDENTIFICATION, AND SUPEREGO 89
her, to torment her, to handle and be handled by her. The

object relationship in the anal phase is a very specific infantile
one, which can hardly be mistaken. It is very much dominated
by the aggressive instincts, by the idea of giving and taking,
which is probably connected with the toilet training that takes
place at that time. Above all it is an inconsiderate and—I
would say—rather a cruel relationship. The child can't let go of
the mother, but when he has her he somehow tortures her. I
know this does not sound a very friendly description, but every
mother of a young toddler of about two years of age
would agree, if she is honest, that she feels tortured, and that
there is only one element in the situation which makes this
acceptable to her—namely, her great love for that child. But
this element of being tortured—and, indeed, the whole relation
ship, which seems to be what we call a 'sado-masochistic' one—
comes easily into the foreground of our awareness when the
person who takes care of the toddler is not the mother, with her
love for the child, but is a stranger. For the stranger, of course,
these feelings of being tortured are not mitigated by the same
love for the child, and so a battle with the child develops very
easily. That is why we hear so many stories of children of that
age having bad nurses, being badly treated, being restrained
too much, being punished too much. It needs complete affec
tion for the child in order to bear the difficulties of the love-hate
relationship which becomes so obvious in this stage.
And then the child passes on his own from the anal phase
to the phallic phase, to the genital level of the boy, and his
behaviour changes completely. All the sado-masochistic inter
play disappears, and the child, especially the boy (I have not
forgotten the girls—they come in a little later), adopts a purely
masculine attitude of love, protectiveness, helpfulness towards
the mother. This is very pleasing to the mother and a very
different experience from what has gone before. It is not educa
tion that has changed it, and it is not that the id urges at that
time are necessarily under better control than they have been
in the anal phase. It is that the aim of the phallic phase, in
regard to the object, is a different one. It is not any more to
possess and torture the object but to admire and be admired by
the object. This Is the phase where, for the boy, the wish to
impress the mother with h i s strength, with h i s skill, with his

b o d i l y p e r f e c t i o n , w i t h h i s p h a l l i c e r e c t i o n s , i s u p p e r m o s t . If
y o u w a t c h t h e i n t e r p l a y of m o t h e r a n d c h i l d i n t h e p h a l l i c
p h a s e , y o u w i l l b e s u r p r i s e d h o w often o n e w o r d r e t u r n s i n t h e
e x c l a m a t i o n s of t h e c h i l d , a n d t h a t w o r d i s ' L o o k ! ' It i s a c o n
t i n u a l d e m a n d o n t h e m o t h e r to look: l o o k h o w w e l l I c a n do
t h i s , h o w I c a n do t h a t , l o o k a t w h a t I h a v e j u s t d o n e . I r e m e m
b e r o n e little girl of s e v e n or eight, w h o w a s together w i t h s u c h
a b o y of t h r e e , a s k i n g m e w h e t h e r t h e n a m e of h i s m o t h e r w a s
' L o o k y ' , o r s o m e t h i n g l i k e t h a t — w e l l , it v e r y n e a r l y i s . It i s a
g r e a t r e l i e f for the m o t h e r w h e n t h i s s t a g e i s r e a c h e d , t h o u g h
t h e c h i l d n e e d s h e r j u s t a s m u c h a s h e h a s before. W i t h s o m e
little b o y s — a n d t h a t i s a g a i n a v e r y c u r i o u s t h i n g — t h e love for
t h e m o t h e r , t h i s h e l p f u l n e s s for h e r , t h i s a d m i r a t i o n for h e r , i s
m i x e d w i t h a s l i g h t c o n t e m p t — s h e i s o n l y a g i r l . A n d little b o y s
e x p r e s s t h a t v e r y often, a n d s o m e of t h e h e l p f u l n e s s t h a t t h e y
s h o w t o w a r d s t h e m o t h e r c o m e s f r o m t h a t s o u r c e . After a l l ,
w h a t c a n t h e p o o r girl do, s h e n e e d s a m a n to h e l p h e r . A l l t h i s
i s e x p r e s s e d i n t h e a t t i t u d e of the b o y , a n d it i s s o m e t h i n g
a b o u t w h i c h h i s feelings a r e q u i t e s e r i o u s .
A n d n o w t h e boy h a s r e a c h e d t h e s t a g e (girls h a v e r e a c h e d
t h i s s t a g e a s w e l l , b u t I w i l l d e s c r i b e t h e b o y first) t h a t y o u h a v e
h e a r d r e f e r r e d to i n t h e l i t e r a t u r e a n d i n y o u r s t u d i e s a s t h e
O e d i p u s c o m p l e x . T h e b o y i s n o w m a n e n o u g h to b e a full r i v a l
of h i s f a t h e r a n d to c l a i m t h e full p o s s e s s i o n of t h e m o t h e r i n a
m a s c u l i n e w a y . I t h o u g h t t h a t I w o u l d t a k e y o u t o d a y u p to t h e
s t a g e of t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x i n i t s s i m p l e s t f o r m a n d t h a t w e
w o u l d l e a v e t h e w h o l e n e x t l e c t u r e to e n t e r i n t o t h e c o m p l i c a
t i o n s of it, t h e a b n o r m a l i t i e s of it a n d t h e v a r i a t i o n s of it w h i c h
y o u find i n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of t h e g i r l .
LECTURE SEVEN
Towards the Oedipus Complex
Q
inevitable
u i t e a n u m b e r of q u e s t i o n s c a m e i n l a s t t i m e . S o m e of
t h e s e r e l a t e d to t h e t h e o r y , a n d I d o n ' t t h i n k I c a n
do m u c h m o r e t h a n n a m e t h e m . T h e r e w a s t h e a l m o s t
question about whether aggression is inborn or
w h e t h e r it is p r o d u c e d by the frustrations w h i c h the c h i l d h a s
to s u f f e r . T h e q u e s t i o n e r w a n t e d to k n o w w h e t h e r t h e r e was
a n y d i r e c t e v i d e n c e to s h o w t h a t a g g r e s s i o n e x i s t s w i t h o u t frus
tration. Well, there is n o direct evidence, b e c a u s e those people
w h o w o u l d l i k e to p r o v e it a r e h a m p e r e d b y t h e f a c t t h a t t h e r e
i s n o s u c h t h i n g a s life w i t h o u t f r u s t r a t i o n , a n d o n l y i f w e
could have a child who experienced no frustrations could we
prove that aggression i s there nevertheless. I s u p p o s e d i s c u s
s i o n of t h e s e d i f f e r e n t t h e o r i e s of a g g r e s s i o n w i l l accompany
y o u further through y o u r dealings, b u t y o u will realize that o u r
t h e o r i e s a r e f o r m e d , n o t s o m u c h o n t h e b a s i s of d i r e c t e v i
d e n c e , o n t h e o b s e r v a t i o n of s i n g l e c a s e s , b u t , r a t h e r , o n o v e r
a l l i m p r e s s i o n s . T h e t h e o r i e s a r e t r i e d o u t to s e e w h e t h e r t h e y
fit t h e f a c t s , w h e t h e r t h e y m a k e it e a s i e r to u n d e r s t a n d t h e
f a c t s . I f t h e y do n o t fulfil t h a t p a r t i c u l a r p u r p o s e for a n y l e n g t h
91
92 ANNA FREUD*. THE HARVARD LECTURES
of t i m e t h e y a r e d r o p p e d a g a i n . W e l l t h e t h e o r y of a g g r e s s i o n
being i n b o r n h a s not yet been dropped—or, I s h o u l d say, very
m a n y p e o p l e h o l d o n to it w h i l e v e r y m a n y o t h e r p e o p l e d o u b t
it, s o y o u c a n t a k e it a s a n o p e n q u e s t i o n .
T h e o t h e r t h e o r e t i c a l p o i n t i s e a s i e r to a n s w e r . S o m e b o d y
w a n t e d to k n o w w h e t h e r t h e d e s c r i p t i o n , a s I g a v e it l a s t t i m e ,
of t h e ego b e i n g b u i l t u p of i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s n e g a t e s c o m p l e t e l y
the idea that temperament a n d character c a n be inherited
f a c t o r s o r c a n c o n t a i n i n h e r i t e d e l e m e n t s . M y a n s w e r to t h a t
would be that nowhere i n psychoanalytic theoiy will y o u find
t h e n e g a t i o n of i n h e r i t e d f a c t o r s . W h a t w e a l w a y s imagine
is that there is a n interplay between inherited possibilities
a n d r e a c t i o n s to e x p e r i e n c e s c a u s e d b y t h e e n v i r o n m e n t . It i s
a l w a y s b o t h s e t s of factors w h i c h c o n t r i b u t e to t h e final r e s u l t .
So that this question c a n best be answered by saying that the
i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s b u i l d u p t h e ego o n the b a s i s of w h a t e v e r i n h e r
i t e d m a t e r i a l t h e r e i s i n t h e i n d i v i d u a l ; a n d t h a t a p p l i e s to t h e
q u e s t i o n of i n h e r i t a n c e v e r s u s e x p e r i e n c e a l l t h r o u g h t h e a n a
lytic theory.
O n e q u e s t i o n w h i c h s h o w e d v e r y good u n d e r s t a n d i n g a n d
w a s , a t the s a m e time, really a puzzlement about terminology
w a s w h e t h e r w h a t I t e r m e d ' n a r c i s s i s m * , t h e t u r n i n g of l i b i d o
i n w a r d t o w a r d s t h e ego or t o w a r d s t h e b o d y of t h e c h i l d , i s
i d e n t i c a l w i t h t h e n a m e w e u s e for t h e v a r i o u s a c t i v i t i e s w h i c h
t h e c h i l d p e r f o r m s o n h i s o w n b o d y for the p u r p o s e of g a i n i n g
p l e a s u r e — n a m e l y , t h o s e a c t i v i t i e s w h i c h l e a d to s e l f - s a t i s f a c
t i o n i n t h e o r a l , a n a l , a n d p h a l l i c p h a s e s . W e l l , w e do n o t u s e
t h e s a m e t e r m for b o t h s e t s of m a n i f e s t a t i o n s . B y n a r c i s s i s m
w e refer s t r i c t l y to t h e d i r e c t i o n t a k e n b y t h e l i b i d o , to t h e u s e
of t h e l i b i d o ; w h e r e a s w e c a l l t h e s e o t h e r a c t i v i t i e s a u t o - e r o t i c ,
w h i c h m e a n s e r o t i c a c t i v i t i e s for w h i c h t h e i n d i v i d u a l n e e d s n o
o t h e r object e x c e p t h i s o w n b o d y . B u t t h e t w o — n a r c i s s i s m a n d
a u t o - e r o t i s m — o v e r l a p s o m e w h e r e , of c o u r s e , b e c a u s e it i s t h e
i n w a r d t u r n i n g of t h e l i b i d o w h i c h , a t t h e s a m e t i m e , h a s s o m e
t h i n g to do w i t h t h e erotic feeling p r o d u c e d b y t h e b o d y itself. It
i s t h e b o d y w h i c h i s t h e s o u r c e of erotic f e e l i n g — w e w o u l d s a y
i n p s y c h o a n a l y t i c a l t e r m s t h a t t h e b o d y h a s 'erotic z o n e s ' ; b u t
t h e b o d y i s a l s o a r e c e p t a c l e for l i b i d o , it i s n a r c i s s i s t i c a l l y
charged. S o that w o u l d a n s w e r the question.
SEVEN: TOWARDS THE OEDIPUS COMPLEX 93
A f u r t h e r q u e s t i o n r e l a t e d to t h e w a y t h e s t r a i g h t l i n e of
n o r m a l development, w h i c h I described deviated into a b n o r m a l
or p e c u l i a r development w h e n there a r e c h a n g e s i n the envi
ronment, where the family setting is not complete, with the
result that the child could not b u i l d u p all three relationships,
to f a t h e r , m o t h e r , a n d s i b l i n g s ; o r w h e r e t h e r e i s s o m e i n n e r
h i n d r a n c e to d e v e l o p m e n t i n t h e c h i l d e v e n t h o u g h t h e o u t e r
setting is complete. There w a s also a complaint—which c a m e
q u i t e a p p r o p r i a t e l y a n d w h i c h I s h a l l t r y to d e a l w i t h t o d a y —
a b o u t feminine development being neglected. T h e r e w a s a fur
t h e r q u e s t i o n a b o u t t h e a p p e a r a n c e of t h e o b j e c t r e l a t i o n s h i p s I
described i n children brought u p in those settings where the
p a r e n t s t a k e s e c o n d p l a c e a n d t h e c o m m u n i t y first p l a c e , a s
h a p p e n s , for i n s t a n c e , i n t h e g r o u p u p b r i n g i n g p r a c t i s e d n o w
i n Israel i n the so-called 'kibbutz'—namely, the agricultural
c o m m u n i t y . T h e s e a r e v e r y i n t e r e s t i n g q u e s t i o n s to a n s w e r ,
b u t t h e y w o u l d l e a d u s too far a w a y f r o m o u r m a i n o b j e c t . W e
h a v e e v e r y r i g j i t , of c o u r s e , if w e w a n t to p u r s u e t h e w h o l e
subject m o r e i n d e t a i l , to go from family upbringing and
i t s c o n s e q u e n c e s to g r o u p u p b r i n g i n g a n d i t s c o n s e q u e n c e s . I
m e n t i o n t h e s e q u e s t i o n s to y o u e v e n t h o u g h I s h a l l n o t a n s w e r
t h e m to s h o w y o u s o m e of t h e p o s s i b l e t h i n g s y o u m i g h t b e
i n t e r e s t e d i n w h i l e f o l l o w i n g t h e s e l e c t u r e s . Y o u w i l l find t h a t
t h e r e i s a m p l e l i t e r a t u r e to s a t i s f y y o u r c u r i o s i t y .
Y o u w i l l r e m e m b e r l a s t t i m e w e left t h e m a l e c h i l d i n t h e
m i d d l e of h i s p h a l l i c d e v e l o p m e n t , w i t h t h a t s p e c i a l a t t i t u d e to
t h e m o t h e r a n d t h e f a t h e r w h i c h y o u h e a r s p o k e n of a s ' t h e
O e d i p u s complex'. T h e Oedipus complex h a s become, in recent
y e a r s , s o m u c h a b y w o r d , t h e t e r m h a s g o n e over s o c o m p l e t e l y
i n t o o r d i n a r y l a n g u a g e , t h a t few p e o p l e s t o p to p u z z l e o u t w h a t
i t s i m p l i c a t i o n s r e a l l y a r e . T h e s i m p l e s t w a y to d e s c r i b e it i s to
s a y that the boy h a s adopted the m a s c u l i n e attitude. H i s m a i n
w i s h i s p o s s e s s i o n of h i s m o t h e r ; h i s m a i n r i v a l , h i n d e r i n g t h e
f u l f i l m e n t of t h a t w i s h , i s t h e f a t h e r . T h i s m e a n s t h a t h i s l o v e i s
directed towards the mother, a n d h i s death w i s h e s , h i s hate, is
d i r e c t e d t o w a r d s t h e f a t h e r , w h o i s a t t h e s a m e t i m e h i s love
object from earlier times. T h i s creates considerable conflict i n
h i m . A s y o u know, this complex situation h a s received its n a m e
f r o m t h e G r e e k m y t h w h e r e t h e h e r o finds h i m s e l f i n t h e s a m e
s i t u a t i o n — n a m e l y , h a v i n g killed h i s father a n d m a r r y i n g h i s
m o t h e r . B y b u i l d i n g u p t h e w h o l e s t o r y of t h e o b j e c t r e l a t i o n
s h i p of t h e b o y s t e p b y s t e p l a s t t i m e , g r a d u a l l y a n d c a r e f u l l y , I
w a n t e d y o u to s e e i n t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x s o m e t h i n g m o r e
t h a n a m o m e n t a r y a t t i t u d e of the c h i l d , or s o m e t h i n g t h a t l a s t s
perhaps half a year a n d then disappears again. T h e Oedipus
c o m p l e x i s t h e c l i m a x of a l l t h e e a r l i e r d e v e l o p m e n t , a n d t h e
f o r m i t t a k e s i n t h e c h i l d i s m o r e or l e s s c o m p l e t e l y d e t e r m i n e d
b y w h a t h a s gone b e f o r e — n a m e l y , b y t h e o r a l a n d a n a l r e l a
t i o n s h i p to t h e m o t h e r , b y t h e e a r l i e r w i s h e s to get h o l d of h e r .
to p o s s e s s h e r , a n d b y t h e a m o u n t of fulfilment a n d f r u s t r a t i o n
w h i c h the boy h a s experienced d u r i n g these earlier stages.
Y o u c o u l d s a y t h a t for t h e c h i l d w a n t i n g to h a v e t h e m o t h e r
i s far f r o m n e w . It h a s b e e n t h e r e from t h e b e g i n n i n g , from t h e
first t i m e t h e c h i l d w a s n u r s e d b y t h e m o t h e r , or f r o m t h e f i r s t
t i m e t h e m o t h e r , r a t h e r t h a n t h e n o u r i s h i n g b r e a s t or t h e m i l k ,
b e c a m e t h e c h i l d ' s object. B u t t h e c h i l d ' s r e l a t i o n s h i p to t h e
m o t h e r i n t h e s e e a r l i e r p h a s e s i s p i e c e m e a l , t a k i n g little a c
c o u n t of h e r p e r s o n a l i t y a s a w h o l e . T h e c h i l d a l w a y s w a n t s
s o m e t h i n g , n e v e r gives a n y t h i n g , a n d it is o n l y i n t h e p h a l l i c
p h a s e t h a t for the first t i m e the r e l a t i o n s h i p t a k e s o n a n a d u l t
f o r m of e x c h a n g e . T h e r e i s , of c o u r s e , one i m p o r t a n t p o i n t
about the real a i m in the relationship with the mother that
differs from t h e a d u l t a i m . W h i l e i n b o t h c a s e s p o s s e s s i o n of
the w o m a n i s the a i m , i n the boy w h a t i s involved i s not the i d e a
o r t h e f a n t a s y of i n t e r c o u r s e ( w h i c h , b y t h e w a y , t h e b o y of t h a t
age i s i n c a p a b l e of c a r r y i n g o u t ) , b u t the i d e a of e x h i b i t i n g h i s
m a s c u l i n i t y to the m o t h e r a n d s o to w i n h e r a d m i r a t i o n for
h i s m a n h o o d . It s t o p s a t t h a t , t h o u g h i n c e r t a i n c h i l d r e n w e
c a n f i n d v a g u e f a n t a s i e s t h a t go f u r t h e r — f a n t a s i e s of c r a s h i n g
t h r o u g h a f o r b i d d e n o p e n i n g , of e n t e r i n g a f o r b i d d e n r o o m , a n d
s o o n ; s u c h f a n t a s i e s definitely f o r e s h a d o w l a t e r i n t e r c o u r s e .
T h i s p h a l l i c - o e d i p a l p h a s e h a s m o r e s i g n i f i c a n c e for t h e
c h i l d t h a n o n e m i g h t t h i n k a t first g l a n c e . W h e n a d u l t s r e c o g
n i z e d i t first, a n d w h e n p a r e n t s p e r m i t t e d t h e m s e l v e s to n o t i c e
t h e m a s c u l i n e a t t i t u d e of t h e little boy, t h e y u s e d to find it v e r y
p l e a s i n g , b u t a t t h e s a m e t i m e h u m o r o u s ; t h e y s a w a little b o y
t r y i n g to a c t a s i f h e w e r e a b i g m a n . I n fact, t h e fate of t h i s
p h a s e i s d e c i s i v e for t h e fate of t h a t b o y ' s l a t e r m a s c u l i n i t y . I f
s o m e t h i n g h a p p e n s i n the phallic p h a s e w h i c h frightens the

b o y o u t of h i s m a s c u l i n e a t t i t u d e d u r i n g t h e o e d i p a l r e l a t i o n
s h i p to t h e m o t h e r o r w h i c h i n d u c e s h i m to r e t r e a t from i t , h e
m a y l o s e i t forever after. W e l l , h o w c a n t h i s c o m e a b o u t ? T h e
a n s w e r i s t h a t i t c o m e s a b o u t m a i n l y i n two w a y s . D u e to t h e
rivalry w i t h the father, the boy fears the father's competition.
He sees the father a s more powerful, stronger, a n d the father
c a n p u n i s h h i m for i t . H e r e a g a i n a r e v a g u e i d e a s , w h i c h s o m e
times b e c o m e quite strongly explicit i n the boy's m i n d , that h e
will be p u n i s h e d by losing h i s genital. T h i s m e a n s that b e c a u s e
h i s g r e a t e s t w i s h i s to get a d m i r a t i o n for h i s p h a l l i c p o w e r s , h i s
greatest fear is t h a t h e m i g h t lose h i s p e n i s . If y o u a n a l y s e a
b o y of t h a t age, y o u I n v a r i a b l y f i n d s u c h f a n t a s i e s i n h i s u n c o n
s c i o u s . I n m a n y c h i l d r e n t h e y b r e a k t h r o u g h to c o n s c i o u s n e s s
at that time a n d express themselves quite openly i n w h a t we
c a l l T e a r s of c a s t r a t i o n ' .
D u e to t h e s e f e a r s , t h e b o y m a y give u p h i s m a s c u l i n e a t t i
t u d e to t h e m o t h e r a n d m a y w i t h d r a w f r o m h i s m a s c u l i n i t y a n d
t u r n b a c k i n h i s d e v e l o p m e n t . A s w e p u t it, h e w i l l ' r e g r e s s ' —
n a m e l y , h i s l i b i d o w i l l r e t r e a t to e a r l i e r s t a g e s w h i c h w e r e s a f e r ;
t h e c h i l d w i l l go b a c k to a r e l a t i o n s h i p to t h e m o t h e r of t h e o r a l
o r of t h e a n a l k i n d , w h i c h s e e m s l e s s d a n g e r o u s a n d n o t s o
t h r e a t e n e d b y o u t s i d e f o r c e s . S o y o u w i l l v e r y often s e e a b o y of
that age s u d d e n l y lose all the p r o m i s i n g a n d p l e a s i n g m a s c u
l i n e q u a l i t i e s a n d s i n k b a c k o n c e m o r e i n t o t h e a t t i t u d e of a
helpless, tormenting, querulous infant. T h e s a m e thing m a y
h a p p e n for a different r e a s o n . T h e b o y m a y n o t i c e t h a t h i s
fantasy attacks on the mother, or h i s a t t e m p t s to get the
m o t h e r to a d m i r e t h e m a s c u l i n i t y of h i s b o d y , a c t u a l l y d i s
p l e a s e t h e m o t h e r . H e m a y e v e n feel s o r r y for t h e m o t h e r w h o
i s n o w , w e m i g h t s a y , a t t a c k e d b y two m e n ; o r h e m a y have
n o t i c e d h e r r e j e c t i n g a t t i t u d e t o w a r d s t h e f a t h e r ' s a d v a n c e s to
h e r — t h i s h a p p e n s i n m a n y m a r r i a g e s , w h e r e the wife i s frigid.
T h e boy m a y then m a k e u p h i s m i n d that he would be a better
p a r t n e r for t h e m o t h e r , t h a t h e w i l l m a k e n o s u c h f o r b i d d e n
d e m a n d s o n h e r — a n o t h e r r e a s o n for h i m to d r o p h i s m a s c u l i n
i t y a n d r e t r e a t . O r h i s l o v e for t h e f a t h e r m a y b e s o g r e a t t h a t h e
c a n n o t b e a r to b e h i s r i v a l , a n d a g a i n h e w i l l r e t r e a t ; a n d t h e r e
is a further r e a s o n w h i c h we will d i s c u s s presently.
W h a t e v e r t h e r e a s o n , t h e b o y h a s o p e n to h i m a p a t h w h i c h
l e a d s b a c k w a r d s . A n d t a k i n g it i s a m a j o r d e c i s i o n (not a c o n
s c i o u s d e c i s i o n , it i s n o t t h a t t h e b o y s a y s to h i m s e l f , T d b e t t e r
n o t c o n t i n u e i n t h i s a t t i t u d e of m i n e , I h a d b e t t e r b e h a v e a s I
d i d before, a n d m y m o t h e r a n d father w i l l love m e much
more'—it doesn't h a p p e n that way). T h e decision is t a k e n a s a n
u n c o n s c i o u s a u t o m a t i c r e s p o n s e to t h e d a n g e r , to t h e d i s c o m
fort w h i c h h e feels i n t h e s i t u a t i o n of t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x . A n d
n o w c o m e s the d e c i s i v e s t e p , for i f h e r e t r e a t s , if h e d r o p s h i s
m a s c u l i n e d e m a n d s , if h e b e c o m e s m o r e of a b a b y a g a i n , h e
w i l l e n t e r i n t o t h e n e x t p h a s e of l i f e — n a m e l y , i n t o t h e l a t e n c y
p e r i o d , i n t o s c h o o l a g e — w i t h h i s m a s c u l i n i t y gone. A n d w h e n
p r e - a d o l e s c e n c e c o m e s to w a k e u p a l l t h a t p r e g e n i t a l s e x u a l i t y
a g a i n , it w i l l n o t w a k e u p t h e r e a c t i o n s of t h e p h a l l i c p h a s e b u t ,
a b o v e a l l , t h o s e r e a c t i o n s to w h i c h t h e b o y t u r n e d a t t h e h e i g h t
of t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x . T h i s i s t h e r e a s o n w h y many of
o u r m a l e c h i l d r e n go t h r o u g h t h e w h o l e of t h e i m p o r t a n t p h a s e
of t h e latency period, of s c h o o l life, not as proper boys
w h o l i k e to fight a n d to c o n q u e r , to explore a n d to p r o t e c t ,
b u t as rather passive, rather feminine, complaining, s o m e w h a t
c o w a r d l y c h i l d r e n w h o a v o i d c o m p e t i t i o n , w h o do n o t l i k e to b e
h u r t i n a n y p h y s i c a l w a y , w h o a r e n o t r e a d y to t a k e r i s k s , a n d
w h o r u n to t h e i r m o t h e r s a n d c o m p l a i n w h e n a n y t h i n g h a p
p e n s to t h e m . T h i s m e a n s t h a t y o u c a n d e t e r m i n e , e v e n w i t h o u t
analysing a child, whether by his manifest behaviour he h a s
b e e n a b l e to r e t a i n t h e q u a l i t i e s of the p h a l l i c p h a s e or n o t .
P e r h a p s I exaggerated w h e n I s a i d that i n the p h a l l i c p h a s e
a n d a t t h e h e i g h t of t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x t h e d e c i s i o n w i l l b e
m a d e h o w m u c h of a m a n t h i s i n d i v i d u a l w i l l b e i n l a t e r life.
T h i s is not completely true. T h e r e i s , i n adolescence, from the
b i o l o g i c a l s i d e , a g r e a t s u r g e of g e n i t a l l i b i d o t h r o u g h t h e p e r
s o n a l i t y , a n d i f t h i n g s go well i n s p i t e of the n o n - p h a l l i c l e a n
ings that the boy h a s brought w i t h h i m , h i s p h a l l i c m a s c u l i n i t y
c a n b e r e s t o r e d o n c e m o r e . B u t v e r y often it i s o n l y r e s t o r e d for
t h e p e r i o d of a d o l e s c e n c e , w h e n t h e i n c r e a s e i n t h e g e n i t a l
drive is s u c h a strong one. W h e n adolescence h a s p a s s e d , the
r e g r e s s i o n to t h e a n a l or o r a l p h a s e m a y r e a p p e a r . T h i s m e a n s
t h a t m a n y of t h e b o y s w h o l o s e t h e fight for t h e i r m a s c u l i n i t y i n
the Oedipal period have great trouble i n attaining a n o r m a l
a d u l t s e x u a l i t y l a t e r i n life. T h a t i s t h e r e a s o n w h y a n a l y s t s
have always placed s u c h tremendous importance o n the h a p
p e n i n g s i n t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x — n o t b e c a u s e it i s so p l e a s i n g
to find o n c e m o r e t h e i n g r e d i e n t s of a m y t h t h a t i s s e v e r a l
t h o u s a n d y e a r s old, b u t b e c a u s e this p h a s e is t h e battlefield
w h e r e t h e s t r u g g l e for f u t u r e a d u l t n o r m a l i t y o r a b n o r m a l i t y i s
f o u g h t o u t . S o I w o u l d l i k e y o u to t h i n k of t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x
of t h e b o y i n t h a t s e n s e .
A n d n o w , s i n c e w e a r e h a l f Radcliffe a n d h a l f H a r v a r d here,
it i s h i g h t i m e for t h e g i r l s w h o h a v e b e e n , I m u s t s a y , v e r y
p a t i e n t . T h e y h a v e n o t d o n e too b a d l y , b e c a u s e i n t h e f i r s t two
p h a s e s of t h e c h i l d ' s s e x u a l life—in the oral a n d a n a l p h a s e s —
t h e r e i s r e a l l y v e r y l i t t l e difference i n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f t h e
two s e x e s . B o t h b o y s a n d g i r l s h a v e t h e m o t h e r a s t h e i r m a i n
1
object of a t t a c h m e n t a n d the father a s the s e c o n d one, b o t h

h a v e the s a m e battle w i t h their s i b l i n g s , a n d b o t h develop the
s a m e forms of aggression a s they p a s s t h r o u g h t h e s e early
s e x u a l stages; a n d a l t h o u g h there a r e people w h o s a y that the
girls a r e a little l e s s aggressive, I don't t h i n k s o . F o r i n s t a n c e , i n
n u r s e r y s c h o o l , w h e r e b o y s a n d g i r l s of t h a t a g e a r e t o g e t h e r
a n d p l a y t o g e t h e r , i t i s v e r y often t h e g i r l s w h o h a v e t h e u p p e r
h a n d . T h e r e i s n o t m u c h to c h o o s e b e t w e e n t h e f o r m s of d e v e l
o p m e n t i n those two early stages.
It i s , o f c o u r s e , c l e a r w h e r e t h e i m p o r t a n t d i f f e r e n c e s b e g i n
to a p p e a r i n t h e p h a l l i c s t a g e . A c c o r d i n g to o u r a n a l y t i c f i n d
ings, b o t h b o y s a n d girls enter into that p h a s e w i t h the s a m e
e x p e c t a t i o n s , a n d w i t h t h e s a m e r e a d i n e s s to h a v e t h a t p a r t o f
the b o d y w h i c h i n the boy is the p e n i s a n d i n the girl its c o r r e
s p o n d i n g o r g a n — n a m e l y , t h e c l i t o r i s — a s t h e c e n t r e of s e x u a l
feelings. B u t n o w a l l the differences between these two o r g a n s
arrive o n the scene a n d express themselves i n the psychologi
c a l differences between the sexes at this stage. I m e a n t h a t the
b o y h a s a n o u t s i d e g e n i t a l to b e p r o u d of, to p l a y w i t h , to s h o w
off, w h i l e t h e g i r l l a c k s t h a t o r g a n a n d h a s o n l y t h e r u d i
m e n t s o f it, w h i c h p r o v e q u i t e i n s u f f i c i e n t a n d v e r y u n s a t i s f a c
t o r y for c a r r y i n g t h e l i b i d o a n d t h e l i b i d i n a l m a n i f e s t a t i o n s of
l
T h i s h a s since become a controversial issue.
that stage. T h e auto-erotic activity at that time is very n e a r l y

t h e s a m e w i t h b o y s a n d g i r l s , b u t i s m u c h l e s s s a t i s f a c t o r y for
t h e g i r l s t h a n for t h e b o y s , o w i n g to t h e q u a l i t y a n d size
of t h e o r g a n . S o t h a t t h e h e i g h t of m a s c u l i n i t y , w h i c h the
b o y e x p e r i e n c e s , e n d s , for t h e g i r l , i n a n a t t e m p t a t s o m e t h i n g
w h i c h b r i n g s d i s a p p o i n t m e n t ; a n d t h a t i s t h e b e g i n n i n g of t h e
c h a n g e i n t h e g i r l from b o y i s h m a n i f e s t a t i o n s to o t h e r s w h i c h
we call feminine ones. A n d that is not a l l . T h e r e i s a s e c o n d
i m p o r t a n t s t e p w h i c h t h e girl h a s to m a k e , w h i c h t h e b o y i s
s p a r e d . A s y o u w i l l h a v e r e a l i z e d i f y o u h a v e followed m y d e
s c r i p t i o n s , t h e b o y k e e p s h i s love object i n t h e e n v i r o n m e n t —
n a m e l y , t h e m o t h e r — c o n s t a n t u n t i l a d o l e s c e n c e . It i s o n t h e
p e r s o n of t h e m o t h e r t h a t h e l e a r n s to love. S h e i s h i s first
' w h o l e object', a s one c a l l s it, s h e i s t h e first o b j e c t i n r e l a t i o n to
w h o m h e l e a r n s the i n t e r c h a n g e of feelings, a n d i n r e g a r d
to w h o m h e l e a r n s f o r m s of a d u l t love. S h e a c c o m p a n i e s h i m
t h r o u g h the l a t e n c y period, a n d w h e n p r e - a d o l e s c e n c e and
a d o l e s c e n c e s e t i n , s h e i s s t i l l h i s object. A n d h e h a s to m a k e a n
e n o r m o u s effort i n a d o l e s c e n c e to d e t a c h h i m s e l f f r o m h e r a n d
to l o o k for a f e m a l e object o u t s i d e t h e family. It i s t h i s d e t a c h
m e n t w h i c h the boy c a n only a c c o m p l i s h w i t h a n enormous
a m o u n t of h o s t i l i t y a g a i n s t t h e m o t h e r . H e h a s to r e j e c t h e r a s a
l o v e d p e r s o n c o m p l e t e l y before h e c a n get free of h e r . T h i s i s
t h e — often v e r y t r a g i c — s t r u g g l e b e t w e e n m o t h e r a n d a d o l e s
cent. T h e mother cannot understand w h y her son suddenly
t u r n s against h e r with hostility. T h e r e is certainly nothing i n
h e r to c a u s e i t , or e v e n to r e s p o n d to it; b u t the b o y c a n o n l y
m a k e a s t e p to a n object o u t s i d e the f a m i l y if h e frees h i m s e l f
from t h e m o t h e r , w h i c h h e often does i n a v e r y b r u t a l w a y .
T h e g i r l h a s a different fate, a s y o u k n o w , b e c a u s e s h e h a s
already i n the phallic period changed h e r object—namely, s h e
t u r n e d f r o m t h e m o t h e r to t h e father, a n d f r o m t h e n o n k e p t t h e
f a t h e r a s a love object. S h e h a s t h e s a m e s t r u g g l e i n a d o l e s
c e n c e to free h e r s e l f from h i m a n d to t r a n s f e r h e r l i b i d o to a
s t r a n g e r outside the family, though the struggle i s r a r e l y a s
v i o l e n t , a s h a r s h — o r a s t r a g i c , a s w i t h the boy. S o t h e girl h a s
two c h a n g e s to m a k e : o n e , i n r e l a t i n g to h e r a c t u a l p h y s i c a l
s e x u a l i t y , a c h a n g e i n t h e p a r t of t h e b o d y w h i c h s e r v e s s e x u a l
p l e a s u r e , a c h a n g e f r o m t h a t r u d i m e n t of a m a l e o r g a n , the
c l i t o r i s , to t h e f e m i n i n e o r g a n , w h i c h s h o u l d s e r v e h e r l a t e r
i n life: a n d t h e s e c o n d c h a n g e i s c h a n g e of o b j e c t from m o t h e r
to f a t h e r . T h e b o y c a n k e e p h i s g e n i t a l a n d d o e s n o t n e e d to
c h a n g e i t , a n d h e c a n k e e p to t h e f e m i n i n e o b j e c t . T h e s e a r e t h e
two p o i n t s f r o m w h i c h t h e f u r t h e r d i f f e r e n c e s i n d e v e l o p m e n t ,
i n t h e m a n i f e s t a t i o n s of b e h a v i o u r b e t w e e n t h e s e x e s , b e g i n .
Again, I h a v e h a r d l y given y o u more t h a n the h e a d i n g s
for c h a p t e r s , b u t y o u w i l l h a v e n o difficulty i n finding various
e s s a y s , p a p e r s , b o o k s , on female sexuality a n d its development
i n t h e l i t e r a t u r e , a n d y o u w i l l a l w a y s f i n d t h e s e two major
c h a n g e s t h e g i r l h a s to m a k e s t r e s s e d . Y o u w i l l a l s o find a
c o n t r o v e r s y a s to t h e p o i n t i n d e v e l o p m e n t a t w h i c h t h e f e m a l e
g e n i t a l p a r t s b e g i n to p l a y a r o l e . I n r e c e n t y e a r s t h e r e h a v e
b e e n a u t h o r s w h o , after c a r e f u l i n v e s t i g a t i o n , a s s e r t t h a t l i t t l e
g i r l s from e a r l y i n f a n c y r e c e i v e c e r t a i n s e n s a t i o n s f r o m t h e i r
female genitals.
B u t this i s still a n open question. Together with it goes
a n o t h e r o n e : a r e t h e a n a l y s t s c o r r e c t i n s a y i n g t h a t t h e w i s h to
b e a boy a n d the d i s a p p o i n t m e n t a t n o t b e i n g a boy i n fact p l a y
s u c h a g r e a t p a r t i n t h e g i r l ' s life? I n t h e t h e o r y a s I h a v e
p r e s e n t e d it to y o u , t h e y do, b e c a u s e , u n l i k e t h e b o y , t h e g i r l ' s
fate i n l a t e r life c o n s i s t s n o t s o m u c h o n w h e t h e r s h e c o u l d
keep her sexuality i n the phallic phase, b u t on how s h e coped
w i t h t h e fact t h a t , after a l l , s h e i s n o t c o n s t r u c t e d for p h a l l i c
genitality.
T h i s i s , t h e n , t h e n o r m a l O e d i p u s c o m p l e x , for b o y s a n d
girls, a n d y o u m i g h t t h i n k it i s c o m p l i c a t e d e n o u g h . B u t it
becomes highly complicated by a further factor—namely, that
there are no s u c h beings as complete men and complete
women. We psychoanalysts believe that there i s something
b a s i c i n h u m a n n a t u r e that one c a n call 'bisexuality*—namely,
t h a t e v e r y m a l e i n d i v i d u a l h a s i n h i m t h e p o t e n t i a l i t y for f e m a l e
s e x u a l i t y , a n d t h e f e m a l e s h a v e t h e p o t e n t i a l i t y for m a l e s e x u
ality i n their bodies. A n d apart from h a v i n g these potentialities
i n their bodies, both m a l e s a n d females have t h e m i n their
m e n t a l d i s p o s i t i o n s . Y o u o n l y n e e d to t h i n k b a c k to t h e q u e s
t i o n of ego f o r m a t i o n a s I p r e s e n t e d it to y o u l a s t t i m e — t h a t i s ,
t h a t t h e c o n t e n t of t h e ego g r o w s s l o w l y t h r o u g h i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s
w i t h the love objects. Well, t h e s e are identifications involving
b o t h p a r e n t s . F o r a l o n g t i m e , for t h e f i r s t two y e a r s , b o y s a n d
g i r l s t a k e t h e i r i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s from t h e m o t h e r a n d b u i l d u p
part of their personality i n the mother's image. A n d w h e n the
f a t h e r c o m e s i n t o t h e life of t h e c h i l d , t h e s a m e h a p p e n s for
b o t h s e x e s i n r e g a r d to t h e father. T h i s m e a n s t h a t p s y c h o l o g i
c a l l y b o t h s e x e s c a r r y t h e r u d i m e n t s of f a t h e r a n d m o t h e r , of
b o t h s e x e s , i n t h e i r m e n t a l m a k e - u p , i n t h e i r ego a n d i n t h e i r
s u p e r e g o . T h e r e i s a r e a d i n e s s , therefore, i n b o t h s e x e s to r e a c t
s i m u l t a n e o u s l y a s m e n a n d a s w o m e n . T h i s m e a n s that every
b o y , b e s i d e s h a v i n g t h i s t r i a n g l e i n h i s l i f e — t h e t r i a n g l e of
o b j e c t r e l a t i o n s h i p s i n w h i c h h e loves t h e m o t h e r a n d i s t h e
r i v a l of h i s f a t h e r — a l s o e x p e r i e n c e s t h e o p p o s i t e — n a m e l y , a
t r i a n g l e i n w h i c h h e p l a y s t h e m o t h e r ' s p a r t for t h e f a t h e r ,
w h e r e t h e m o t h e r i s h i s rival a n d h e offers h i m s e l f to t h e f a t h e r
a s a love o b j e c t . W e c a l l t h a t t h e ' i n v e r t e d O e d i p u s c o m p l e x ' ; 2
a n d y o u c a n i m a g i n e n o w w h a t a p o w e r f u l a d d i t i o n it i s to t h e
r e g r e s s i v e forces i n t h e b o y , to h i s n e e d to d r o p h i s m a s c u l i n i t y
a n d to s i n k b a c k i n t o e a r l i e r p h a s e s , a n d w h a t a p o w e r f u l a d d i
t i o n it i s to t h e f e m i n i n e s i d e of h i s n a t u r e . F o r b e c o m i n g
p a s s i v e o n c e m o r e t o w a r d s t h e father, i n s t e a d of c o m p e t i n g
w i t h h i m , c o r r e s p o n d s e x a c t l y w i t h t h e f e m i n i n e s i d e of h i s
n a t u r e . S o w h e n y o u find that a boy h a s regressed from the
p h a l l i c p h a s e to t h e a n a l o n e , don't b e too q u i c k w i t h t h e d i a g
n o s i s that h e h a s regressed b e c a u s e h e fears h i s father. H e m a y
h a v e d o n e s o b e c a u s e t h e a t t r a c t i o n of t h e f e m i n i n e s i d e i n
h i m s e l f w a s too g r e a t . H e c o u l d n o t m a i n t a i n h i s m a s c u l i n e
position towards the mother a n d adopted instead the feminine
position towards the father.
I w a s a s k e d a question w h i c h I did not a n s w e r earlier. T h e
q u e s t i o n i s w h e t h e r i n f a n t i l e , a d o l e s c e n t , or a d u l t h o m o s e x u a l
i t y c o u l d b e t h e o u t c o m e of t h e e x p e r i e n c e s of t h e O e d i p u s
c o m p l e x . I w o u l d l i k e to modify t h e q u e s t i o n s o m e w h a t . W e do
n o t t a l k of i n f a n t i l e h o m o s e x u a l i t y b e c a u s e d u r i n g t h e p h a s e s
of i n f a n c y i t i s quite n a t u r a l for t h e c h i l d to h a v e a love o b j e c t of
t h e s a m e s e x , j u s t a s it i s n a t u r a l for h i m to h a v e a love o b j e c t
2
Also known as the 'negative' Oedipus complex.
of t h e o p p o s i t e s e x . E v e r y b o y w h o h a s — t o u s e t h e s e a d u l t
t e r m s n o w — a h e t e r o s e x u a l love for h i s m o t h e r h a s a t t h e s a m e
t i m e a l o v e for h i s f a t h e r : a n d w e g a i n l i t t l e b y c a l l i n g i t h o m o
s e x u a l . T h e s a m e i s true i n adolescence. Nearly every adoles
cent passes through a phase where h e connects himself with a n
object of t h e s a m e s e x before h e c a n e s t a b l i s h object r e l a t i o n
s h i p s w i t h a n object of the opposite sex. T h i s i s partly the
repetition of h i s c h i l d h o o d experiences. F o r the b o y this m a y
r e p r e s e n t o n c e m o r e h i s love for t h e f a t h e r . F o r t h e girl i t m a y
r e p r e s e n t a g a i n h e r d e e p a t t a c h m e n t to t h e m o t h e r .
There is another reason w h y all this reappears i n adoles
c e n c e . E v e r y a d o l e s c e n t goes t h r o u g h a p h a s e w h e n h e w i t h
d r a w s f r o m love o b j e c t s a l t o g e t h e r a n d b e c o m e s v e r y e g o i s t i c
a n d n a r c i s s i s t i c . A n d w h e n h e f i n d s h i s w a y b a c k to a n o b j e c t ,
h e u s u a l l y l o o k s f i r s t for a n o b j e c t l i k e h i m s e l f , a n d t h e f r i e n d
of t h e s a m e s e x t h e n i s t h e b r i d g e to t h e o t h e r s e x , for t h e f r i e n d
of t h e s a m e s e x r e p r e s e n t s t h e a d o l e s c e n t h i m s e l f , a n d i s a t t h e
s a m e time a n o t h e r p e r s o n . S o very m a n y a d o l e s c e n t s find their
w a y to t h e o t h e r s e x t h r o u g h a s h o r t p h a s e of h o m o s e x u a l
attachment. W e call these attachments 'homosexual* w h e n they
p e r s i s t i n t o a d u l t h o o d — t h a t i s , w h e n t h e w a y to t h e o t h e r s e x
r e m a i n s b l o c k e d a n d w h e n t h e i n d i v i d u a l , o n t h e b a s i s of t h e
i n h i b i t i o n s w h i c h h e h a s a c q u i r e d , o n t h e b a s i s of h i s i n a b i l i t y
to l e a v e t h e o b j e c t s of t h e f a m i l y o r to r e g a i n h i s a d u l t m a s
culinity, r e m a i n s fixed to o b j e c t s of t h e s a m e s e x . T h a t i s ,
then, what occurs in the adult homosexual, a n d m u c h h a s been
studied about this abnormality i n recent years. At the moment
a n a l y s t s a r e very m u c h more hopeful t h a n they were ten or
twenty y e a r s ago, that a l l these deviations from the n o r m c a n
b e s e t r i g h t a g a i n . T h e i n b o r n b i s e x u a l i t y i s , of c o u r s e , j u s t a s
3
3
A t the time these lectures were given, homosexuality was regarded
a s a n illness, which psychoanalysis could hope to cure. T h e prime aim
of analytic work with homosexual patients has changed in the last few
decades, for it is no longer the analyst's aim to 'cure* homosexuality a s
s u c h , but, rather, to analyse the conflicts a n d fantasies in the homo
sexual which have led to the request for analytic help, and which re
arise in the analysis—including conflicts over homosexuality.
102 ANNA FREUD I THE HARVARD LECTURES
i m p o r t a n t i n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of t h e g i r l , b e c a u s e it m a k e s it
v e r y a t t r a c t i v e for t h e g i r l to r e m a i n l o n g e r i n t h e p h a l l i c p h a s e
t h a n she perhaps should, considering her feminine body a n d
h e r f u t u r e fate. O n e s e e s little g i r l s i n t h e p h a l l i c p h a s e a d o p t ,
o n t h e b a s i s of t h e i r m a s c u l i n e s i d e , a v e r y m a s c u l i n e a t t i t u d e
t o w a r d s t h e m o t h e r i n r i v a l r y w i t h the f a t h e r ; t h a t i s t h e g i r l ' s
inverted Oedipus complex.
Y o u h a v e p r o b a b l y r e a d a n d h e a r d t h a t t h i s p h a s e of t h e
O e d i p u s c o m p l e x d o e s n o t l a s t v e r y l o n g , t h a t it p a s s e s . We
h a v e a l r e a d y t a l k e d a b o u t i t . B u t w i t h i t s p a s s i n g two t h i n g s
c o m e together, w h i c h w e a s c r i b e to i n n a t e forces i n t h e c h i l d .
T h e r e i s a l e s s e n i n g of t h e i d d e s i r e s a t t h i s p o i n t , c o u p l e d w i t h
t h e f r u s t r a t i o n s of t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x — n a m e l y , with the
i m p o s s i b i l i t y for b o y s a n d g i r l s to r e a l i z e a n y of the w i s h e s
w h i c h b e l o n g to t h e p h a l l i c p h a s e . T h e p a t h to fulfilling t h e m i s
b l o c k e d for b o t h ; t h e r i v a l i s t h e r e , t h e fear of t h e r i v a l i s t h e r e ,
a n d t h e p u l l b a c k to e a r l i e r p h a s e s , a s I h a v e d e s c r i b e d , p l a y s
i t s p a r t . N e i t h e r f a t h e r n o r m o t h e r i s w i l l i n g to i n d u l g e t h e c h i l d
a s far a s t h e s e w i s h e s a r e c o n c e r n e d . T h i s m e a n s t h a t u n d e r
n o r m a l c i r c u m s t a n c e s a l l t h e d e s i r e s of t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x
become frustrated, a n d t h i s is a v e r y p o w e r f u l factor i n c a u s i n g
t h e m to b e d r o p p e d , w i t h d r a w n , r e p r e s s e d , or h a v i n g d o n e to
t h e m a n y of a n u m b e r of o t h e r t h i n g s t h a t c a n b e d o n e w i t h
s u c h d e s i r e s (we w i l l h e a r m o r e of t h a t l a t e r ) .
If y o u r e m e m b e r , l a s t t i m e w e a s c r i b e d a n i m p o r t a n t r o l e
for i d e n t i f i c a t i o n to frustrations—namely, these short interrup
tions i n the satisfactory relationship between mother a n d child.
Y o u c a n j u d g e n o w w h a t a n i m p o r t a n t role for i d e n t i f i c a t i o n t h e
m a s s i v e f r u s t r a t i o n of the O e d i p u s c o m p l e x m u s t p l a y ; a n d it
really is so. Whatever identifications are m a d e w i t h the p a r e n t
become enormously enhanced and enlarged i n the p h a l l i c
period a n d somehow gain independence through this major
e v e n t i n i d e n t i f i c a t i o n . T h e g r o u p of i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s w h i c h w e
s u m m a r i z e u n d e r t h e n a m e o f ' s u p e r e g o ' b e c o m e s m o r e or l e s s
c o m p l e t e d i n t h a t s t a g e . W h a t i s a d d e d l a t e r i s negligible c o m
p a r e d w i t h w h a t h a s gone before. T h i s m e a n s t h a t t h e p a s s i n g
of t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x a n d t h e s e t t i n g u p of a n i n d e p e n d e n t
superego (namely a superego that no longer c o n n e c t s c o n t i n u
ally w i t h the environment) c o m e together. T h o s e c h i l d r e n w h o

d o n o t p a s s t h e i r O e d i p u s c o m p l e x , w h o get s t u c k s o m e w h e r e
i n t h e s t r u g g l e w i t h t h e p a r e n t s , fail to g a i n t h i s f i n a l i n d e p e n d
e n c e of t h e s u p e r e g o . T h i s m e a n s t h a t t h e i r s u p e r e g o d e m a n d s
a n d c o m m a n d s r e m a i n attached very m u c h longer t h a n w o u l d
n o r m a l l y b e t h e c a s e to t h e e n v i r o n m e n t , to t h e o r i g i n a l o b j e c t s
outside.
It i s a l w a y s d a n g e r o u s , of c o u r s e , to u s e t h e w o r d s ' n o r m a l *
a n d ' a b n o r m a l ' , b e c a u s e w h a t I h a v e r e p r e s e n t e d to y o u a s t h e
s i m p l e O e d i p u s complex a n d its variations i s , we c o u l d say,
a l w a y s i n t h e r a n g e of t h e n o r m a l . S i n c e b i s e x u a l i t y i s n o r m a l
a n d inevitable, the inverted v e r s i o n s of the O e d i p u s c o m p l e x
are equally n o r m a l a n d inevitable. S i n c e n o r m a l development
h a s so m a n y p h a s e s , stages, levels, so m a n y possibilities for
i n s t i n c t i v e e n e r g y to b e h e l d b a c k a t s o m e p l a c e d u r i n g t h a t
long way towards adulthood, there are i n n u m e r a b l e possibili
t i e s i n t h i s n o r m a l d e v e l o p m e n t to a c q u i r e a b n o r m a l i t i e s . It i s
r e a l l y o u r t a s k to h e l p t h e p a r e n t s to g u i d e t h e c h i l d t h r o u g h
t h e s e p h a s e s , a n d it i s a n e n o r m o u s t a s k . It i s a p r o b l e m for a l l
of u s to k n o w h o w m u c h p a r e n t s c a n b e h e l p e d i n t h i s b y
k n o w i n g a b o u t a l l these developmental stages, h o w far t h a t
k n o w l e d g e w i l l h e l p t h e m to l e a d t h e c h i l d f r o m o n e s t a g e to t h e
n e x t , o r a t l e a s t to d e a l w i t h h o l d u p s . A s y o u h a v e s e e n , t h e
p o s s i b i l i t i e s for a b n o r m a l i t y lie i n two m a i n f a c t o r s . T h e g r a t i f i
c a t i o n of t h e i n s t i n c t s i n e a c h p h a s e m a y b e too s a t i s f a c t o r y o r
too u n s a t i s f a c t o r y , a n d a s a r e s u l t i n s t i n c t u a l e n e r g y — t h a t i s ,
l i b i d o o r a g g r e s s i v e e n e r g y — w i l l r e m a i n fixed to t h a t p h a s e ,
a n d w h e n e v e r a difficulty a r i s e s a t a h i g h e r l e v e l , t h e c h i l d w i l l
b e p u l l e d b a c k to t h e l e v e l of d e v e l o p m e n t w h e r e s u c h a f i x a t i o n
h a s t a k e n p l a c e . T o p u t it i n a n a l y t i c a l t e r m s , t h e g r e a t d a n g e r s
i n a child's development a r e the fixations a n d the regressions.
W h a t w e w o u l d h o p e for t h e c h i l d i s a n o r d e r l y p r o g r e s s i o n
t h r o u g h a l l t h e difficulties t h a t l i e o n t h e w a y , u n t i l t h e f i n a l
s t a g e of a d u l t i n s t i n c t u a l life i s r e a c h e d , b o t h a s far a s the
drives are concerned a n d a s far as the objects on whom
t h e s e d r i v e s s h o u l d f i n d s a t i s f a c t i o n a r e c o n c e r n e d . It s h o u l d
b e p o s s i b l e to d e l e g a t e t h e t a s k of g u i d i n g t h e c h i l d t h r o u g h
these developmental difficulties to t h e p a r e n t s and to the
t e a c h e r s . A t t h e m o m e n t a n e n o r m o u s a m o u n t of h e l p s e e m s to
b e n e e d e d from p s y c h i a t r i s t s , a n a l y s t s , a n d s o o n , b u t p e r h a p s
only b e c a u s e parents a n d teachers have not yet l e a r n e d enough
about these matters.
* * *
W e a r e left w i t h two m e e t i n g s to s h o w a l l y o u f u t u r e p a r e n t s i n
m o r e detail h o w the c h i l d a c t u a l l y h a n d l e s t h e s e dangerous
d r i v e s , w h a t m e t h o d s a r e u s e d to s e c u r e s m o o t h d e v e l o p m e n t ,
a n d w h a t p o s s i b i l i t i e s a r e o p e n to t h e e n v i r o n m e n t to i n f l u e n c e
them.
LECTURE EIGHT
The ego's anxiety

and its effects
W e h a d better begin again with questions. T h e r e were

m a n y after l a s t t i m e , a n d I h a d to s u m m a r i z e a n d
t e l e s c o p e t h e m i n t o a few. S o m e w e r e m o r e o r l e s s
i n e v i t a b l e offshoots o f t h e s u b j e c t w h i c h I w o u l d c e r t a i n l y h a v e
i n t r o d u c e d i n t o t h e l e c t u r e i t s e l f i f I h a d n o t b e e n p r e s s e d for
time. F o r I n s t a n c e , several people r a i s e d t h e q u e s t i o n of w h a t
h a p p e n s if the family situation i s n o t complete. W e s p e a k i n
r e l a t i o n to n o r m a l d e v e l o p m e n t a s if t h e p r e s e n c e o f t h e f a t h e r
a n d m o t h e r w e r e i n e v i t a b l e i n g r e d i e n t s o f t h e s i t u a t i o n , b u t , of
c o u r s e , w e k n o w from clinical a n d social experience that this i s
n o t b y a n y m e a n s t h e c a s e . T h e r e a r e a n y n u m b e r of c h i l d r e n
w h o h a v e to p a s s t h r o u g h t h e i r p h a s e s of d e v e l o p m e n t w i t h o u t
either father or m o t h e r , losing father or m o t h e r i n t h e m i d d l e
of their development or g r o w i n g u p without one parent
almost from the beginning. Naturally these situations have
b e e n studied a n d have even contributed m o s t valuable insights
to o u r k n o w l e d g e of t h e n o r m a l f a m i l y s i t u a t i o n s . T h e r e i s n o
d o u b t t h a t a s p e c t s of t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x c h a n g e i n m a n y
w a y s w h e n t h e r e I s n o f a t h e r or m o t h e r p r e s e n t . Y e t a t t h e
105
106 ANNA FREUD". THE HARVARD LECTURES
same time it is surprising to see how much effort the

child makes to c o m p l e t e the situation a n d to a c q u i r e for
h i m s e l f t h e m i s s i n g p a r e n t — o r , r a t h e r , a s u b s t i t u t e for the
m i s s i n g p a r e n t — f r o m s o m e w h e r e e l s e . I l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d r e n , for
i n s t a n c e , w h o grow u p w i t h a m o t h e r a n d w i t h o u t a father, do
n o t o n l y feel the s o c i a l s t i g m a w h i c h i n m a n y c o m m u n i t i e s s t i l l
a t t a c h e s to t h a t s i t u a t i o n . T h e b o y s i n the o e d i p a l p h a s e feel
v e r y k e e n l y t h a t t h e r e i s n o f a t h e r figure o n t h e b a s i s of w h o m
t h e y c a n m o u l d t h e i r b e g i n n i n g m a s c u l i n i t y , o n t h e one h a n d ,
a n d w i t h w h o m t h e y c a n c o m p e t e , o n the o t h e r . I n s t e a d of b e i n g
g l a d of t h e o p p o r t u n i t y t h a t t h e y h a v e m u c h m o r e free a c c e s s to
t h e m o t h e r t h a n t h e n o r m a l c h i l d , t h e y look for f a t h e r figures
e v e r y w h e r e , a n d . a s I h a v e often s e e n , t h e y g r e a t l y e m b a r r a s s
t h e i r m o t h e r s b y offering t h e m a l l t h e n i c e - l o o k i n g m e n w h o m
they meet, p e r h a p s on a walk, a s a daddy. T h e y urge their
m o t h e r s t o w a r d s m a r r i a g e , to p r o v i d e t h e m s e l v e s w i t h t h e v e r y
object towards w h o m they will experience rivalry a n d competi
t i o n a s h o r t t i m e l a t e r . T h i s i s a v e r y s p e c i a l factor w h i c h l e a d s
to t h e q u e s t i o n of w h e t h e r t h e f a m i l y s i t u a t i o n a n d the O e d i p u s
c o m p l e x i s i n s o m e w a y p r e p a r e d for i n o u r c h i l d r e n — t h e s e
attitudes can't be inherited a s s u c h , b u t we don't k n o w w h e t h e r
t h e r e i s s o m e t h i n g i n t h e c h i l d p r e p a r e d for t h e m a n d s e r v i n g to
a r o u s e t h e o e d i p a l feelings, b e c a u s e t h e y h a v e b e e n r e p e a t e d i n
t h e c u l t u r a l e n v i r o n m e n t over s o m a n y g e n e r a t i o n s . T h i s p r o b
l e m h a s b e e n a p p r o a c h e d b y m a n y p e o p l e from m a n y s i d e s . I
c a n give y o u o n e o b s e r v a t i o n from m y o w n e x p e r i e n c e , a n d t h a t
i s t h a t w h e n y o u t a k e c h i l d r e n o u t of a f a m i l y s e t t i n g for s o m e
r e a s o n or o t h e r a n d b r i n g t h e m u p i n a c o m m u n i t y , t h e y t a k e a
l o n g t i m e to get u s e d to t h e c o m m u n i t y s u r r o u n d i n g s . B u t w h e n
children are brought up in community surroundings a n d are
t h e n p l a c e d b y a d o p t i o n into a family, u n d e r l u c k y c o n d i t i o n s
t h e y t a k e a v e r y s h o r t t i m e to a c q u i r e the f a m i l y a t t i t u d e s , a n d
e v e n t h e j e a l o u s i e s of t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x , a s if the f a m i l y
s e t t i n g w e r e v e r y m u c h m o r e a p p r o p r i a t e for t h e i r n a t u r e t h a n
t h e o t h e r . W h o e v e r i s i n t e r e s t e d i n s u c h q u e s t i o n s will find
p l e n t y of o p p o r t u n i t y to s t u d y t h e e x a m p l e s of d e v i a t i o n s f r o m
n o r m a l stages given i n the literature.
Someone asked under what conditions the superego
c h a n g e s i n l a t e r life; a n d the q u e s t i o n e r h i m s e l f n a m e s two
EIGHT: THE EGO'S ANXIETY AND ITS EFFECTS 107
c o n d i t i o n s — n a m e l y , that it i s well k n o w n t h a t t h e s u p e r e g o c a n
c h a n g e u n d e r t h e condition of p s y c h o a n a l y t i c treatment, a n d
also that it i s k n o w n that superego d e m a n d s , a n d the guilt
f e e l i n g s a c c o m p a n y i n g t h e m , c h a n g e after e l e c t r i c s h o c k t r e a t
m e n t o r i n s u l i n c o m a t r e a t m e n t ; a n d h e l u m p s t h e two c o n d i
t i o n s together, w h i c h I d i d n o t q u i t e l i k e . I t i s t r u e t h a t i n b o t h
s i t u a t i o n s s o m e t h i n g h a p p e n s to t h e e q u i l i b r i u m o f t h e p e r s o n
a l i t y , b u t i t h a p p e n s for v e r y different r e a s o n s . I f y o u r e m e m b e r
h o w t h e superego i s b u i l t u p o u t of t h e earliest identifications
of t h e c h i l d , t h e n y o u w i l l u n d e r s t a n d w h y psychoanalytic
t r e a t m e n t c a n modify t h e superego, b y l e a d i n g the i n d i v i d u a l
b a c k to t h a t e a r l i e s t t i m e of life, b y r e v i v i n g o n c e m o r e t h e
o b j e c t r e l a t i o n s h i p s w h i c h g a v e r i s e to t h e s e identifications,
a n d t h e r e b y g o i n g to t h e v e r y r o o t o f t h e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s u n d e r
lying them. T h a t is the procedure in psychoanalysis. Whereas
i n s h o c k treatment, w i t h t h e r e s u l t i n g c h a n g e s of personality,
s o m e t h i n g of a v e r y different k i n d h a p p e n s , t h o u g h n o o n e h a s
d e s c r i b e d i t s p s y c h o l o g i c a l i m p l i c a t i o n s fully; b u t s o m e t h i n g
l i k e a slight ( s o m e t i m e s a graver) d e p e r s o n a l i z a t i o n of t h e i n
d i v i d u a l h a p p e n s : t h e anxieties, the guilt feelings, t h e w i s h e s ,
desires, the worries, w h i c h were present i n that abnormal
p e r s o n a l i t y before t h e s h o c k treatment, do p e r s i s t , b u t they
become s o m e h o w dimmed, they a r e less important, they are
l e s s k e e n l y felt. T h e c h a n g e s e e m s to b e a q u a n t i t a t i v e o n e , a n d
it affects n o t o n l y t h e s u p e r e g o , i t affects a l l p a r t s o f t h e p e r s o n
a l i t y . S o t h a t i s a different m a t t e r a l t o g e t h e r .
Someone a s k e d w h e t h e r self-love a n d o b j e c t love, which
m e a n s n a r c i s s i s m a n d o b j e c t love, a r e n e c e s s a r i l y c o n t r a s t i n g ;
do t h e y n o t c o - e x i s t a l w a y s ? T h i s w o r r i e d m e , r a t h e r , i n c a s e
I h a d p e r h a p s given y o u a wrong impression. O f course, they
co-exist. T h e r e i s n o s u c h thing a s a n individual with pure
self-love—except perhaps a severe schizophrenic who has
w i t h d r a w n a l l love f r o m t h e o u t s i d e w o r l d ; a n d t h e r e i s n o s u c h
1
t h i n g a s a p e r s o n a l t o g e t h e r e m p t i e d of s e l f - l o v e , of n a r c i s s i s m ,
^ h e schizophrenic is narcissistic in a descriptive sense. Although

he may have turned away from the outside world, the objects repre
sented in h i s fantasy life a n d in his delusions are highly invested.
w h o h a s placed h i s whole libidinal energy on the outside world.

T h e t w o a r e a l w a y s s i d e b y s i d e , a n d it i s o n l y t h e r e l a t i v e
p r o p o r t i o n s of t h e two t h a t c h a n g e . B u t t h e r e i s — a n d I h a d n o
t i m e to m e n t i o n i t e a r l i e r — o n e s t a t e i n life, a n d n o t a n a b n o r
m a l one, at least not a pathological one, w h i c h c o m e s very close
to a n e m p t y i n g of t h e p e r s o n a l i t y of a l l n a r c i s s i s m a n d c h a n g
i n g it a l l i n t o o b j e c t l o v e . Y o u p r o b a b l y k n o w w h a t s t a t e t h a t
i s — i t i s t h e s t a t e of b e i n g i n love, w h e n a l l t h e f e e l i n g s w h i c h a
n o r m a l i n d i v i d u a l u s e s for h i m s e l f flow over to a s p e c i f i c o b j e c t
i n the o u t s i d e w o r l d , the p a r t n e r w i t h w h o m one is i n love.
P e o p l e a t t h a t t i m e feel q u i t e d e v o i d of e g o i s m , of n a r c i s s i s m , of
c o n c e r n for t h e i r o w n p e r s o n a l i t y ; it a l l flows over to t h e o t h e r
p e r s o n . T h a t i s w h y t h e l o s s of s u c h a p a r t n e r i s s o e x t r e m e l y
p a i n f u l , b e c a u s e it l e a v e s t h e i n d i v i d u a l for t h e m o m e n t e m p t y ,
e m p t y of s e l f - r e g a r d , a n d h e h a s , t h r o u g h a v e r y p a i n f u l p r o
c e s s , to r e - c a t h e c t h i m s e l f w i t h love to feel a g a i n t h a t h e i s
somebody, even w h e n h i s partner h a s deserted h i m . So this is
a n a b n o r m a l state b u t not a pathological one.
A n d n o w for s o m e t h i n g e l s e . T h e r e w a s a n u n d e r t o n e i n
s o m e of t h e q u e s t i o n s w h i c h s o u n d e d to m e v a g u e l y r e s e n t f u l ,
b u t I m u s t c o n c l u d e that the r e s e n t m e n t is not directed a g a i n s t
me, s i n c e I a m only the p e r s o n who describes a n d p r e s e n t s
t h e s e m a t t e r s to y o u , b u t p e r h a p s a r e s e n t m e n t a b o u t t h e c o m
p l i c a t i o n s , t h e e n o r m o u s c o m p l i c a t i o n s of h u m a n life. W h e n w e
h e a r h o w e x t r e m e l y difficult It I s for a c h i l d to p a s s t h r o u g h t h e
s t a g e s of h i s d e v e l o p m e n t , to b y - p a s s a l l t h e d a n g e r s o n t h e
w a y , n o t to b e h e l d b a c k a n y w h e r e , n o t to b e t h r o w n b a c k to
e a r l i e r s t a g e s of d e v e l o p m e n t , to m a i n t a i n h i s m a s c u l i n i t y or to
e s t a b l i s h f e m i n i n i t y , to r e a c h a t l a s t t h a t d e s i r e d a i m of a d u l t
instinctual life, it is very understandable that people get
d i s c o u r a g e d . It i s a l s o v e r y u n d e r s t a n d a b l e t h a t m a n y raise
t h e q u e s t i o n i n t h e m s e l v e s of h o w it c o u l d e v e r b e possible
for p a r e n t s to g u i d e t h e i r c h i l d r e n t h r o u g h this wilderness
of d r i v e s , wishes, desires, and dangers. Such a task not
o n l y d e m a n d s a k n o w l e d g e of a l l t h e s e t h i n g s ; it d e m a n d s f r o m
the p a r e n t s a n objectivity w h i c h they c a n n o t p o s s e s s , b e c a u s e
t h e s e v e r y d r i v e s of t h e c h i l d a r e d i r e c t e d a g a i n s t t h e m . T h e
p a r e n t is the d e s i r e d p a r t n e r , the p a r e n t is at the s a m e time the
o b j e c t of t h e c h i l d ' s a g g r e s s i o n , t h e p a r e n t i s t h e o n e w h o h a s
s i m u l t a n e o u s l y o r i n v e r y q u i c k s u c c e s s i o n to s a t i s f y a n d f r u s
t r a t e t h e c h i l d . U n d e r t h e i m p a c t of t h e c h i l d ' s d e s i r e s a n d i n
h i s o w n i n s e c u r i t y , w h e r e i s t h e p a r e n t ' s c h a n c e of g u i d i n g t h e
c h i l d ? T h a t i s t h e f e e l i n g t h a t i s v e r y often c r e a t e d w h e n o n e
t a k e s a g o o d l o o k a t t h e s e m a t t e r s , b u t it i s a l s o w h y o n e s o m e
t i m e s feels i n c l i n e d , a s a l e c t u r e r , to p r e s e n t t h i n g s i n a m o r e
simplified a n d a more optimistic m a n n e r t h a n I have done. B u t
I do n o t t h i n k t h a t a n y s e r v i c e i s d o n e b y s u c h s i m p l i f i c a t i o n s
to t h o s e w h o l i s t e n . After a l l , y o u n e e d to k n o w t h e c o m p l i c a
t i o n s of life, b e c a u s e t h a t i s t h e o n l y c h a n c e to m a s t e r t h e m .
T h i s t a k e s u s to t h e n e x t q u e s t i o n . I f t h e p o s s i b i l i t y e x i s t s for
t h e o u t s i d e o b s e r v e r a n d t h e g u i d e of t h e c h i l d to l e a d the
u n f i n i s h e d h u m a n b e i n g to t h e i r a i m — w h i c h i s a d o u b l e o n e , a
quantitative a n d a qualitative o n e — t h e n w h a t are h i s tools?
W e l l , to r e t u r n to w h y t h e a i m i s a q u a n t i t a t i v e a n d a q u a l i t a t i v e
o n e , t h e a n s w e r i s t h a t b e c a u s e , o n the o n e h a n d , t h e u r g e n c y
of d r i v e a c t i v i t y a s a w h o l e h a s to b e r e d u c e d d u r i n g t h e p r o
c e s s of g r o w i n g u p a n d , o n t h e o t h e r , t h e q u a l i t a t i v e c h a n g e s ,
a c c o r d i n g to t h e l e v e l s of d e v e l o p m e n t , f r o m p r e g e n i t a l s e x u a l
ity t h r o u g h to a d u l t g e n i t a l s e x u a l i t y , h a v e to b e a c h i e v e d . B o t h
a i m s c a n only be r e a c h e d by introducing a great variety of
m o d i f i c a t i o n of d r i v e a c t i v i t y i n t o t h e c h i l d ' s life; a n d it i s w i t h
t h i s m o d i f i c a t i o n of d r i v e a c t i v i t y t h a t t h e p a r e n t i s c o n c e r n e d .
B u t w h a t m a k e s t h e c h i l d a m e n a b l e to t h e p a r e n t ' s i n f l u e n c e ? I
t h i n k t h a t I p r e p a r e d y o u for a v e r y t h o r o u g h u n d e r s t a n d i n g of
t h i s p a r t i c u l a r s u b j e c t w h e n I d e s c r i b e d t h e l o n g p e r i o d of d e
p e n d e n c y w h i c h t h e h u m a n b e i n g h a s to u n d e r g o , t h a t l o n g
p e r i o d w h e n s a t i s f a c t i o n for t h e d r i v e s , t h e g a i n i n g of w i s h
f u l f i l m e n t , t h e a c q u i s i t i o n of p l e a s u r e a n d t h e l o w e r i n g of t e n
s i o n n e e d s h e l p from the outside world. T h r o u g h very many
y e a r s of c h i l d h o o d , a n d i n t h e first y e a r e n t i r e l y , t h e c h i l d i s a n
i n s t i n c t u a l being, is completely dependent on the p a r e n t s , o n
t h e m o t h e r . A n d it i s t h i s k e y p o s i t i o n w i t h r e g a r d to d r i v e
s a t i s f a c t i o n w h i c h g i v e s t h e p a r e n t t h e c h a n c e to i n f l u e n c e t h e
child.
It i s o u r t a s k n o w to e n q u i r e i n d e t a i l a b o u t t h e s e c h a n c e s to
i n f l u e n c e t h e c h i l d . A n d I t h i n k y o u w i l l b e v e r y s u r p r i s e d to
h e a r w h a t t h e b e s t h e l p e r of t h e p a r e n t s i s i n t h i s r e s p e c t ; it i s
t h e c h i l d ' s a b i l i t y to d e v e l o p a n x i e t y . A n x i e t y h a s a l w a y s b e e n
110 ANNA FREUD* THE HARVARD LECTURES
c o n s i d e r e d t h e w o r s t e n e m y of m a n , a n d it h a s a l w a y s b e e n t h e
g r e a t e s t w i s h o f p a r e n t s to free t h e i r c h i l d r e n of a n x i e t y i n o n e
w a y o r a n o t h e r , to l o w e r t h e l e v e l of a n x i e t y i n t h e m . T h e y h a v e
n e v e r s u c c e e d e d , b u t t h e y h a v e a l w a y s w a n t e d to s u c c e e d . S o
h o w c a n I s a y t h a t a n x i e t y i s s o h e l p f u l i n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of
the child? Y o u know, w h e n we say that parents take so m u c h
t r o u b l e to t r y to free t h e i r c h i l d r e n of a n x i e t y , w e s a y s o m e t h i n g
w h i c h i s n o t t r u e i f w e e n q u i r e i n t o it m o r e c l o s e l y . W e only
n e e d to r e m e m b e r t h a t p a r e n t s t e a c h t h e i r c h i l d r e n to b e a f r a i d
of c e r t a i n t h i n g s , a n d t h a t t h i s t e a c h i n g i s v e r y s o l i d l y c o n t i n
u e d t h r o u g h t h e f i r s t t h r e e , f o u r , five y e a r s of t h e c h i l d ' s life. S o
t h e s a m e p a r e n t s w h o w a n t to free t h e i r c h i l d r e n of a n x i e t y
h a v e t h e t a s k of m a k i n g t h e m f e a r f u l w h e r e t h e r e a l d a n g e r s of
life a r e c o n c e r n e d . I s u p p o s e y o u r e a l i z e t h a t y o u n g c h i l d r e n ,
e v e n w h e n t h e y a r e a l r e a d y a b l e to m o v e , h a v e n o c o n c e p t i o n of
t h e r e a l d a n g e r s of t h e w o r l d . T h e y d o n ' t k n o w t h a t t h e y m i g h t
k i l l t h e m s e l v e s i f t h e y fall f r o m a g r e a t h e i g h t , t h a t t h e y c a n
w o u n d themselves dangerously if they u s e s h a r p i n s t r u m e n t s ,
t h a t t h e y c a n b u r n t h e m s e l v e s if t h e y c o m e too n e a r t h e fire,
t h a t t h e y c a n b e s e r i o u s l y h a r m e d if t h e y a p p r o a c h a b i g a n i
m a l . T h e y h a v e to b e t a u g h t a l l t h e s e t h i n g s . P a r e n t s a r e v e r y
p r o u d w h e n their y o u n g infants are fearless, b u t at the s a m e
time are very concerned about this b e c a u s e a s long a s they are
f e a r l e s s , t h e y a r e e x p o s e d to d a n g e r . I t I s a n i n t e g r a l p a r t of
every child's education that h e s h o u l d l e a r n s o m e t h i n g about
the real dangers w h i c h exist a r o u n d h i m . S o the p a r e n t s are
v e r y c a r e f u l to s h o w t h a t t h e fire c a n c a u s e a b u r n , t h a t j u m p
ing from a great height h u r t s , a n d so on. W h e n the c h i l d h a s
u n d e r s t o o d t h e d a n g e r a n d i s a f r a i d of t h e s e s i t u a t i o n s , h e h a s
m a d e a n i m p o r t a n t s t e p i n h i s ego d e v e l o p m e n t b e c a u s e h e i s
n o w a b l e to d o s o m e t h i n g a b o u t it. B u t i f h e i s n o t a f r a i d , h e
c a n ' t do a n y t h i n g a b o u t t h e d a n g e r s . S o t h e r e y o u w o u l d h a v e
o n e v e r y s i m p l e i n s t a n c e ( y o u w i l l g u e s s t h a t it i s n o t t h e o n e
w e r e a l l y h a v e i n m i n d ) w h e r e f e a r c a n b e b e n e f i c i a l . F e a r of
real danger protects the child, b e c a u s e the c h i l d a c t s o n the
b a s i s of t h a t fear.
B u t n o w l e t u s go a w a y f r o m t h i s v e r y s i m p l e f e a r of r e a l
d a n g e r to t h e m o r e c o m p l i c a t e d p s y c h o l o g i c a l d a n g e r s a n d t h e
anxieties w h i c h the c h i l d develops regarding t h e m . T h e r e is
a n o t h e r d a n g e r w h i c h d o e s n o t n e e d to b e t a u g h t to t h e c h i l d ,
w h i c h i s p r e s e n t i n h i m from the very beginning. T h i s i s the
d a n g e r of l o s i n g t o u c h w i t h t h e a d u l t s w h o p r o v i d e for a n d c a r e
for t h e c h i l d . T h e i n f a n t i n t h e first y e a r feels g r e a t a n x i e t y
w h e n h e does not see the mother, b e c a u s e he might need h e r at
a n y m o m e n t , a n d s h e w o u l d t h e n n o t b e t h e r e to fulfil h i s
w i s h e s . S o t h e s i t u a t i o n of t h e m o t h e r ' s a b s e n c e m a k e s h i m
v e r y a n x i o u s , A l i t t l e l a t e r t h e i n f a n t b e c o m e s e q u a l l y fearful,
t h a t h e m i g h t b y s o m e b e h a v i o u r of h i s e s t r a n g e t h e m o t h e r s o
t h a t s h e w o u l d b e c r o s s w i t h h i m a n d w i t h d r a w h e r love. A g a i n
t h i s w o u l d m e a n t h a t h e i s e x p o s e d to u n t o l d d e p r i v a t i o n . T h e
infant i s equally fearful that if h e d i s p l e a s e s these powerful
a d u l t s w h o , a c c o r d i n g to h i s c o n v i c t i o n , h o l d t h e k e y s to e v e r y
t h i n g i n t h e i r h a n d s , w h o w i l l do s o m e t h i n g to h i m , w h o w i l l
revenge themselves on h i m i n some way—that is what we call
p u n i s h m e n t . A n d t h e s e f e a r s , w h i c h a r e a l s o f e a r s of a n o u t s i d e
reality, b u t w h i c h are m a d e very m u c h bigger b y the fantasies
w h i c h c e n t r e a r o u n d t h e m i n t h e c h i l d ' s m i n d , do n o t n e e d to
b e taught. T h e y s p r i n g u p quite automatically i n the child's
m i n d o w i n g to t h e d e p e n d e n c y of t h e c h i l d o n t h e a d u l t w o r l d
for w i s h f u l f i l m e n t .
H e r e w e h a v e a g r o u p of f e a r s , t h e n , t h a t I w o u l d l i k e y o u to
c o n s i d e r m o r e or l e s s a s one. A l l the d a n g e r s w h i c h I h a v e
d e s c r i b e d , w h i c h t h r e a t e n the c h i l d , do exist i n reality. T h e
separation from the mother is actually possible a n d h a p p e n s
p e r i o d i c a l l y . T h e a n g e r of t h e m o t h e r i s a c t u a l l y p o s s i b l e a n d
a l s o h a p p e n s p e r i o d i c a l l y . A n d t h e w i t h d r a w a l of t h e m o t h e r ' s
i n t e r e s t f r o m t h e c h i l d i s a l s o w e l l w i t h i n t h e l i m i t s of p o s s i b i l
i t y a n d , to t h e c h i l d ' s m i n d , h a p p e n s often e n o u g h . E v e n if t h e
m o t h e r t u r n s a w a y , e v e n if t h e m o t h e r i s b u s y w i t h a n o t h e r
c h i l d , it s e e m s to t h e c h i l d t h a t h e h a s l o s t the m o t h e r ' s love
a n d interest. T h e s e are three big dangers w h i c h t h r e a t e n the
c h i l d f r o m o u t s i d e r e a l i t y , a n d w e c a n a d d to t h e m the; d a n g e r s
t h a t h a v e n o t h i n g to do w i t h t h e figures of f a t h e r a n d m o t h e r ,
b u t a b o u t w h i c h t h e c h i l d h a s to l e a r n g r a d u a l l y . After a l l ,
r e a l i t y for t h e c h i l d i s v e r y d a n g e r o u s , w i t h n u m e r o u s p o s s i b i l i
t i e s of c o m i n g to h a r m .
W h e n I s a y the c h i l d i s t h r e a t e n e d , I do not really m e a n
the whole o r g a n i s m , b e c a u s e , a s y o u k n o w from o u r earlier
d i s c u s s i o n s , t h e i d h a s n o p o s s i b i l i t y of t a k i n g n o t i c e of s u c h
t h i n g s ; y o u k n o w , too, t h a t t h e i d p u r s u e s w i s h f u l f i l m e n t w i t h
o u t b o t h e r i n g a b o u t t h e d a n g e r s t h a t c o m e from o u t s i d e . T h e
p a r t of t h e c h i l d w h i c h i s o r g a n i z e d a n d a d a p t e d to b e s e n s i t i v e
to d a n g e r i s t h e ego. T h a t i s w h y t h e ego h a s l e a r n e d e v e r y t h i n g
i t c a n a b o u t t h e e x t e r n a l w o r l d , a n d to s p y t h e d a n g e r s i n t h e
e n v i r o n m e n t a n d to g u i d e t h e w i s h f u l f i l m e n t of t h e i d u r g e s
a c c o r d i n g l y . S o d a n g e r , a n d t h e c h i l d ' s s e n s i t i v i t y to i t , i s a v e r y
i m p o r t a n t m a t t e r for h i m t h r o u g h o u t h i s life. T h e r e a c t i o n to
s e n s i n g d a n g e r i s a n x i e t y ; t h e c h i l d b e c o m e s a f r a i d . It d o e s n o t
m a t t e r w h e t h e r t h e c h i l d ' s fear i s a p p r o p r i a t e . U s u a l l y t h e f e a r
i s n o t a p p r o p r i a t e . T h e c h i l d f e a r s , for i n s t a n c e , a b u r n i n g
fire or a great height m u c h l e s s t h a n h e fears the anger
of t h e m o t h e r . T h e a n g e r of t h e m o t h e r s e e m s m u c h m o r e f u l l of
terrible p o s s i b i l i t i e s — a s if a t the next m o m e n t s h e w o u l d de
p r i v e h i m of s o m e t h i n g , p e r h a p s of p a r t s of h i s b o d y , o r w o u l d
castrate h i m ; this depends on w h i c h fantasies are present. So
t h e fear m a y n o t b e a p p r o p r i a t e to t h e d a n g e r p r e s e n t , b u t i t i s
a p p r o p r i a t e to t h e i m p o r t a n c e i n t h e m i n d of t h e c h i l d of t h a t
p e r s o n i n the outside world. We group these fears together
u n d e r t h e n a m e of T e a r s of r e a l i t y ' or T e a r s of t h e e n v i r o n m e n t ' .
T h e y are a normal occurrence, but you c a n see what a danger
o u s p o w e r i s p u t i n t o t h e h a n d s of t h e p a r e n t s . T h e d e s c r i p t i o n
I gave y o u last time c o u l d easily h a v e r a i s e d the expectation
t h a t t h e p a r e n t s h a v e n o power over the c h i l d , b u t t h a t i s
n o t t r u e . B e c a u s e t h e p a r e n t s r e p r e s e n t s u c h a d a n g e r for t h e
c h i l d , they h a v e e n o r m o u s power, a n d i n the p a s t the p a r e n t s
u s e d t h e c h i l d ' s fear of l o s i n g t h e i r love a n d of b e i n g p u n i s h e d ,
to g u i d e t h e c h i l d ' s a c t i o n s c o m p l e t e l y , w h i c h i s a dangerous
p r o c e d u r e . S o m e of it n e e d s to b e d o n e , b u t if p a r e n t s u s e t h e i r
p o w e r to t h e f u l l , t h e f e a r s get m u c h i n c r e a s e d , a n d t h e c h i l d ' s
a c t i o n s a r e t h e n n o t g u i d e d b y t h e ego a n y m o r e {even t h o u g h
t h e ego d e v e l o p s i n c r e a s i n g p o w e r a n d s e n s i t i v i t y ) b u t b y t h e
d i r e c t f e a r of t h e p a r e n t s . S o h e r e i s o n e of t h e s o u r c e s f r o m
w h i c h e d u c a t i o n g e t s i t s p o w e r . It i s v e r y w o r t h w h i l e for w h o
e v e r i s v e r y d e e p l y i n t e r e s t e d i n c h i l d r e n to w a t c h o u t for t h e s e
anxiety reactions in them. There is no doubt that u n d e r the
i m p a c t of t h e fear of t h e e n v i r o n m e n t c h i l d r e n w i l l m o d i f y t h e i r
b e h a v i o u r a n d w i l l e v e n go v e r y far i n m o d i f y i n g the drives
EIGHT: T H E E G O ' S ANXIETY AND ITS E F F E C T S 113
t h e m s e l v e s ; b u t i n t h i s c o n n e c t i o n t h e y m a y go v e r y m u c h too
far, w h i c h m e a n s , a s y o u w i l l u n d e r s t a n d l a t e r , t h a t t h e y w i l l
b e c o m e too i n h i b i t e d , too r e s t r a i n e d , a n d too r e s t r i c t e d i n t h e i r
activities.
Well, it w o u l d b e quite enough if there were no other
d a n g e r s for t h e c h i l d a p a r t f r o m t h o s e d e r i v e d from t h e p a r e n t
f i g u r e s i n t h e e n v i r o n m e n t ; b u t t h i s i s o n l y t h e b e g i n n i n g of i t .
N o w i t i s w o r t h r e m e m b e r i n g a n o t h e r p a r t of t h e l e c t u r e s —
n a m e l y , o u r d i s c u s s i o n of t h e b u i l d i n g u p of t h e s u p e r e g o a n d
t h e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i t h t h e p a r e n t s . W e n e e d to r e a l i z e t h a t f r o m
a c e r t a i n t i m e o n t h e p a r e n t f i g u r e s do n o t o n l y l e a d a n e x i s t
ence i n the outside world b u t are represented s i m u l t a n e o u s l y
s o m e w h e r e i n t h e ego, i n t h e p a r t t h a t i s t h e n to s o m e e x t e n t
s e p a r a t e d off from t h e e g o — t h a t p a r t w e c a l l t h e s u p e r e g o . A n d
the threat that the p a r e n t s outside represent is a l s o identified
w i t h ; s o t h a t n o w there i s a r a t h e r frightening figure w i t h i n the
child's ego—the superego—and t h e t h r e a t e n i n g p a r t of it w e
c a l l t h e ' c o n s c i e n c e * . I t i s t h e f u n c t i o n of t h i s c o n s c i e n c e i n t h e
c h i l d c o n t i n u a l l y to h o l d o v e r t h e c h i l d t h e t h r e a t of t h i s d i s
p l e a s u r e w h i c h t h e p a r e n t s h a d r e p r e s e n t e d a s a t h r e a t to t h e
c h i l d from o u t s i d e . O n l y t h e c o n s c i e n c e i s v e r y m u c h h a r d e r for
t h e c h i l d to b e a r t h a n t h e fear of t h e p a r e n t s ; b e c a u s e t h e r e i s
o n e s a v i n g f e a t u r e i n t h i s f e a r - r e l a t i o n of t h e c h i l d t o w a r d s t h e
p a r e n t s . I n t h e a b s e n c e of t h e p a r e n t s , t h e c h i l d feels c o m p a r a
t i v e l y free of t h a t fear. T h e f e a r of t h e p a r e n t s , o n c e i t i s t a k e n
over into the superego, is all the greater b e c a u s e it i s n o t
o n l y t h a t t h e s u p e r e g o c r i t i c i z e s a n d p u n i s h e s t h e c h i l d , b u t it
t h r e a t e n s t h e c h i l d for m e r e l y t h i n k i n g c e r t a i n t h o u g h t s . Let
u s t h i n k of a c h i l d w h o , a t t h e o e d i p a l s t a g e , d e v e l o p s death
w i s h e s against a parent. T h e parent will only react if these
death wishes are expressed i n hostile actions. If the c h i l d
carries t h e m a r o u n d quietly i n thought, the parent won't react,
b e c a u s e h e d o e s n ' t k n o w t h e m , b u t to t h e e x t e n t t h a t t h e c h i l d
at that time h a s a functioning superego a n d conscience, the
m e r e thought will b e s c r u t i n i z e d by the c o n s c i e n c e a n d criti
c i z e d . It i s a s i f t h e c h i l d h a d c a r r i e d o u t h i s d e a t h w i s h . H i s
c o n s c i e n c e m a k e s h i m feel b a d t h a t h e c a n e n t e r t a i n s u c h a
wish towards a parent. T h e child now develops a fear of
t h e s u p e r e g o , of t h e i n t e r n a l i z e d p a r e n t s , w h i c h i s v e r y m u c h
w o r s e t h a n t h e f e a r of t h e r e a l p a r e n t s a n d I s p r e s e n t a l l t h e
t i m e ; a n d for t h i s fear, for t h e c r i t i c i s m of t h e ego b y t h e s u p e r
ego, w e u s e t h e t e r m 'guilt'. W h e n y o u h e a r p s y c h o a n a l y s t s t a l k
a b o u t t h e g u i l t feelings of t h e c h i l d , w e m e a n e x a c t l y t h a t — t h a t
the c h i l d h a s c e r t a i n w i s h e s s t e m m i n g from the drives w h i c h h e
m a y n o t h a v e c a r r i e d o u t a t a l l , b u t w h i c h a r e n o t i c e a b l e to t h e
s u p e r e g o a n d c r i t i c i z e d b y it, s o t h a t t h e ego of t h e c h i l d e x p e r i
e n c e s t h e fear w h i c h w e c a l l g u i l t . S o n o w w e h a v e a c h i l d w h o
n o t o n l y h a s b e c o m e fearful of t h e p a r e n t s b u t g u i l t y w i t h i n
himself.
T h e d e v e l o p m e n t of g u i l t , w h i c h c o m e s d i r e c t l y f r o m the
b u i l d i n g u p of t h e s u p e r e g o ( a n d t h e r e f o r e f r o m t h e r e l a t i o n
s h i p to t h e p a r e n t s ) , follows t h e r u l e w e d i s c u s s e d l a s t t i m e . I t s
s t r e n g t h i s d e t e r m i n e d o n t h e o n e h a n d b y t h e e a r l i e r l o v e for
t h e p a r e n t s , a n d o n t h e o t h e r b y t h e a m o u n t of a g g r e s s i o n n o t
u s e d a g a i n s t t h e p a r e n t s . S o g u i l t feelings c a n b e e n o r m o u s l y
strong a n d tormenting, even where the parents have been
r a t h e r t o l e r a n t a n d p e r m i s s i v e i n c o m p a r i s o n . T h e c o n t r o l of
t h e c h i l d ' s a c t i o n h a s , w i t h t h e f o r m a t i o n of t h e s u p e r e g o , t a k e n
a n e n o r m o u s step forward, b e c a u s e the child's actions a r e n o w
c o n t r o l l e d b y t h e ego i n t h e s e r v i c e of t h e s e g u i l t feelings,
w h e t h e r t h e p a r e n t s a r e p r e s e n t or n o t , o r w h e t h e r e n v i r o n
m e n t a l r u l e s a r e l e n i e n t or h a r s h . O n c e a c o n s c i e n c e h a s b e e n
established, it is the guilt feelings which urge the child
towards r e n u n c i a t i o n or modification of d r i v e satisfaction.
The child experiences this alone now, and the parents
c a n take a step back. O f course, m a n y parents m a k e the m i s
t a k e of n o t n o t i c i n g t h i s c h a n g e i n t h e i r c h i l d r e n a n d c o n t i n u e
to c o n t r o l t h e m , to t h r e a t e n t h e m , a n d to g u i d e t h e m w h e n t h e
g u i d a n c e s h o u l d h a v e b e e n left l o n g s i n c e to t h e c h i l d ' s c o n
science.
W e h a v e h a d o n e a n x i e t y , t h e s o - c a l l e d fear of r e a l i t y , a n d
n o w w e h a v e t h e f e a r of t h e s u p e r e g o — n a m e l y , g u i l t . O n e m i g h t
think that there w a s now not m u c h further possibility for
d r i v e s a t i s f a c t i o n — o r a t l e a s t for free d r i v e satisfaction—but
t h e s t o r y goes o n . T h e ego i s i n a c e n t r a l p l a c e i n t h e m i n d , w i t h
a n o r i e n t a t i o n t o w a r d s t h r e e s i d e s . It b e c o m e s e x t r e m e l y s e n s i
tive to t h e p r e s e n c e of d a n g e r — d a n g e r f r o m t h e o u t s i d e w o r l d ,
danger from the superego, a n d d a n g e r f r o m a t h i r d s i d e to
E I G H T : T H E E G O ' S ANXIETY AND ITS E F F E C T S 115
w h i c h w e n o w h a v e to t u r n — n a m e l y , d a n g e r from the drives

t h e m s e l v e s . T h e ego i s e x t r e m e l y a t t e n t i v e to t h e r e p r e s e n t a
t i o n s of i n s t i n c t u a l life w h i c h r e a c h t h e m i n d ; a n d t h e ego i s , o f
c o u r s e , v e r y s u s p i c i o u s of t h e drives. T h e r e a r e , of c o u r s e ,
c e r t a i n d r i v e a c t i v i t i e s o f w h i c h t h e ego a p p r o v e s a n d w h i c h a r e
t h e n c a r r i e d t h r o u g h to s a t i s f a c t i o n w i t h o u t r a i s i n g a n x i e t y — i n
s u c h c a s e s t h e ego fulfils t h e o r i g i n a l f u n c t i o n for w h i c h i t h a d
b e e n s e t u p a s h e l p m a t e o f t h e i d . B u t t h e n w e c o m e to a l l t h o s e
o c c a s i o n s w h e n t h e ego c e a s e s , o n a c c o u n t of i t s a n x i e t i e s ,
to b e a h e l p m a t e to t h e i d . W h i l e s e n s i n g t h e d r i v e a c t i v i t i e s ,
at the same t i m e t h e ego s e n s e s what troubles m a y arise
from t h e m . T h e r e a r e c e r t a i n d r i v e s w h i c h , a s t h e ego k n o w s ,
a r e f o r b i d d e n b y t h e o u t s i d e w o r l d . I f t h e y w e r e to b e c a r r i e d
through to s a t i s f a c t i o n , the fear of t h e e n v i r o n m e n t would
immediately arise, because the child would endanger himself,
would displease somebody, would call down o n himself p u n i s h
m e n t of s o m e k i n d . S o these drive activities represent dangers
for t h e e g o . I n t h e p r e g e n i t a l s t a g e s t h e d a n g e r s u s u a l l y a r i s e
from t h e a c t i v i t i e s w h i c h a r e left over f r o m a n e a r l i e r s t a g e ; i n
t h e o e d i p a l s t a g e it i s t h e f o r b i d d e n o e d i p a l s t r i v i n g s w h i c h
w o u l d b r i n g t h e c h i l d into conflict w i t h father or m o t h e r , a s well
as the death wishes which would deprive the child of h i s
f a v o u r i t e o b j e c t s i f s u c h w i s h e s w e r e p e r m i t t e d to go o v e r i n t o
action.
D u e to t h e f e a r o f t h e i d d r i v e s t h e ego t a k e s t h e p o s i t i o n — a
r a t h e r hostile position—towards drive activity w i t h i n the per
s o n a l i t y a n d develops a v e r y definite fear of t h e d r i v e s , a fear of
t h e i d , a fear of t h e w i s h e s a n d f a n t a s i e s (that i s , t h e i m a g e s )
w h i c h a r e p r e s e n t i n t h e i d . I t i s t h i s fear w h i c h y o u c o m m o n l y
h e a r r e f e r r e d to a s ' n e u r o t i c a n x i e t y ' . F o r i n s t a n c e , t a k e a p a r
ticular child—for example, a s described i n a case history y o u
m a y k n o w of: L i t t l e H a n s , w h o h a d s u c h a f e a r o f h o r s e s t h a t
2
h e d i d n o t d a r e to go o u t i n t o t h e s t r e e t b e c a u s e h e f e a r e d t h a t
a h o r s e w o u l d bite h i m . Y o u might t h i n k , if y o u were given that
c a s e to a s s e s s , ' O h w e l l , t h a t ' s a c h i l d w h o h a s l e a r n e d s o m e
d e s c r i b e d by F r e u d in 1909 in his 'Analysis of a Phobia in a Five

Year-Old Boy' (1909b, Standard Edition, 10),
t h i n g a b o u t outside reality. He k n o w s that big a n i m a l s c a n be

d a n g e r o u s / B y n o m e a n s ! H e i s n o t r e a l l y a f r a i d of t h e h o r s e s .
T h e h o r s e s r e p r e s e n t to h i m s o m e t h i n g a b o u t h i s o w n f a t h e r ,
a n d b e c a u s e h i s oedipal w i s h e s m a k e h i m so angry w i t h h i s
father, h e t h i n k s the father m u s t k n o w a l l a b o u t h i s a n g e r
(that's h i s c o n s c i e n c e s a y i n g that one s h o u l d n ' t h a v e such
w i s h e s a g a i n s t the father), a n d that h i s father will p u n i s h h i m
for i t . S o h e i s p a r t l y i n f l u e n c e d b y fear of t h e f a t h e r a n d p a r t l y
b y g u i l t f e e l i n g s — n a m e l y , b y fear of h i s c o n s c i e n c e . T h e s e two
d a n g e r s m a k e h i m v e r y m u c h a f r a i d of h i s o w n w i s h to h a v e t h e
m o t h e r for h i s o w n . A n d t h e n t h e w h o l e t h i n g m a y e x p r e s s i t s e l f
i n a s y m p t o m , i n a p h o b i a w h i c h prevents h i m from going out
i n t o t h e s t r e e t ; i n s h o r t , i n t h e f o r m of w h a t w e c a l l *an i n f a n t i l e
n e u r o s i s ' . A n d w h e n e v e r a c h i l d d e v e l o p s n e u r o t i c s y m p t o m s of
t h i s k i n d , t h i s i s a l w a y s d e t e r m i n e d b y s u c h a f e a r of t h e i n
stinctual drives, by w h a t we call 'neurotic anxiety'.
W e o u g h t b y n o w to h a v e r e a c h e d t h e e n d of o u r s t o r y — I
t h i n k t h a t o u r c h i l d i s fearful e n o u g h . B u t t h e r e i s o n e m o r e
r e a s o n for t h e c h i l d ' s a n x i e t y . I h a v e d e s c r i b e d h o w powerful
the i d is a n d h o w very small a n d powerless i n c o m p a r i s o n the
ego i s . It b o r r o w s i t s s t r e n g t h f r o m t h e i d d r i v e s ; a n d s o m e
t i m e s w h e n t h e r e i s a s u d d e n i n c r e a s e i n i d w i s h e s , t h e ego
feels i t s p o s i t i o n i s p r e c a r i o u s . It b e c o m e s a f r a i d of t h e q u a n t i t y
of t h e i d w i s h e s , of b e i n g o v e r w h e l m e d f r o m i n s i d e — i n s p i t e of
i t s o r g a n i z a t i o n , i n s p i t e of i t s c o n s c i e n c e — i t s g u i l t f e e l i n g s —
a n d i t s s e n s i n g t h e r e a l i t y of t h e o u t s i d e w o r l d . It i s a f r a i d of
b e i n g d r i v e n i n t o s o m e k i n d of e m o t i o n a l o u t b u r s t , of b e i n g
o v e r r u n f r o m w i t h i n , of p r o d u c i n g a t e m p e r t a n t r u m , w h a t w e
m i g h t c a l l i n t h e o l d e r p e r s o n a n ' o u t b u r s t of r a g e ' , a n d s o m e
t h i n g w h i c h m i g h t r e s u l t , i n t h e a d u l t , i n a c r i m e of v i o l e n c e .
T h e fear i s that s u c h o u t b u r s t s m i g h t r e s u l t from a s u d d e n b i g
i n c r e a s e i n forbidden drive activity b u r s t i n g t h r o u g h a n d over
w h e l m i n g t h e ego. S o t h e r e i s a c e r t a i n t y p e of a n x i e t y i n t h e
h u m a n b e i n g w h i c h i s r e l a t e d to t h e s t r e n g t h of t h e d r i v e s a n d
b e c o m e s m a n i f e s t i n t h o s e t i m e s of life w h e n t h e s t r e n g t h of t h e
i d w i s h e s i n c r e a s e s for s o m e r e a s o n : for e x a m p l e , a t t h e h e i g h t
of t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x , a t t h e h e i g h t of a d o l e s c e n c e , a n d l a t e r
i n life o n c e m o r e , d u r i n g t h e m a l e a n d f e m a l e c l i m a c t e r i c . T h e
a n x i e t y p r o d u c e d i s t h e m o s t s i n i s t e r k i n d of a n x i e t y . T h o s e
EIGHT: T H E E G O ' S ANXIETY AND ITS E F F E C T S 117
w h o a r e i n t e r e s t e d c a n s t u d y it i n patients w h o a r e o n the verge

of developing a p s y c h o t i c i l l n e s s , w h i c h r e p r e s e n t s another
f o r m o f b e i n g o v e r w h e l m e d f r o m w i t h i n . Y o u w i l l t h e n find s u c h
p a t i e n t s t r e m b l i n g o n t h e v e r g e of l o s i n g t h e i n t a c t n e s s of t h e i r
ego a n d of b e i n g o v e r w h e l m e d b y t h e i r i d c o n t e n t .
If y o u n o w review the whole position, I t h i n k y o u will alter
y o u r o p i n i o n t h a t t h e r e i s r e a l l y n o w a y of i n f l u e n c i n g t h e c h i l d ,
t h a t d r i v e a c t i v i t i e s go t h e i r o w n w a y w i t h v e r y l i t t l e c h a n c e
of b e i n g i n f l u e n c e d f r o m o u t s i d e . R a t h e r , y o u w i l l l o o k a t t h e
w h o l e p i c t u r e , w i t h the opposite p i c t u r e i n y o u r m i n d — n a m e l y ,
that these drive activities are e n o r m o u s l y threatened a n d c a n
b a r e l y s u r v i v e i n t h e f a c e of t h e ego's a n x i e t i e s . A n d n o w y o u
will u n d e r s t a n d p e r h a p s w h y p a r e n t s — a t least, w e l l - m e a n i n g
p a r e n t s — h a v e a l w a y s t r i e d to m a k e t h e i r c h i l d r e n l e s s f e a r f u l ,
w h y i t i s o n e of t h e m a i n i d e a l s of h u m a n b e i n g s to b e w i t h o u t
a n x i e t y . I d o n ' t k n o w a b o u t A m e r i c a n folklore, b u t i n E u r o p e a n
f o l k l o r e a n d m y t h w e h a v e s e v e r a l f a i r y t a l e s of h e r o e s w h o d i d
n o t k n o w w h a t a n x i e t y w a s , a n d w h o b r a v e d every d a n g e r w i t h
out feeling it. W e l l t h i s is a n ideal s t a t e w h i c h n o one c a n r e a c h ,
a n d , of c o u r s e , t h e p e r s o n w h o w o u l d r e a c h it w o u l d h a v e u n
controlled i d activity. S o it is a t r i c k y b u s i n e s s . Y o u k n o w that
s o m e p a r e n t s h a v e m a d e e n o r m o u s a t t e m p t s to d e c r e a s e the
f e a r of r e a l i t y i n t h e c h i l d b y r e a s s u r i n g c h i l d r e n t h a t t h e y w i l l
n e v e r w i t h d r a w t h e i r l o v e f r o m t h e m . T h e y do t h i s i r r e s p e c t i v e
of w h e t h e r t h e c h i l d i s g o o d o r n a u g h t y ; a n d t h e y w i l l n e v e r
p u n i s h t h e c h i l d i n a n y w a y t h a t i s h a r m f u l to t h e c h i l d . T h e y
s u c c e e d e d i n t h i s w a y i n m a k i n g t h e c h i l d l e s s fearful of p a r e n t
figures a n d of t h e o u t s i d e e n v i r o n m e n t . B u t do y o u k n o w w h a t
h a s h a p p e n e d i n s t e a d ? T h e c h i l d r e n b e g a n to l a c k t h e g u i d a n c e
w h i c h t h e f e a r of t h e p a r e n t s g a v e to t h e i r i d a n d felt m o r e
d i r e c t l y e x p o s e d to t h e i r i d u r g e s . S o t h e y m a d e u p for t h e
d e c r e a s e i n t h e i r f e a r of r e a l i t y b y a n i n c r e a s e i n i d a n x i e t y , of
t h e i r fear of t h e i d ; a n d t h e n t h e y w e r e j u s t a s fearful a s b e f o r e .
If y o u l o o k a t t h o s e c h i l d r e n w h o a r e b r o u g h t u p v e r y p e r m i s
sively a n d progressively, y o u will notice t h a t they develop j u s t
a s m u c h a n x i e t y , p e r h a p s a t s l i g h t l y different t i m e s a n d o n
s l i g h t l y different o c c a s i o n s . B u t s o far w e h a v e n o t r e a l l y s u c
c e e d e d i n r e d u c i n g t h e o v e r a l l a m o u n t of a n x i e t y i n t h e life of
the child.
Well all this is a rough picture of w h a t the dangers

p e r c e i v e d a n d t h e a n x i e t i e s e x p e r i e n c e d b y t h e ego do i n r e g a r d
to m o d i f i c a t i o n of t h e d r i v e s . N e x t t i m e I w a n t to d e s c r i b e t h e
m e t h o d s a t t h e d i s p o s a l of t h a t i n d i v i d u a l i n d a n g e r s i t u a t i o n s ,
to c o n s i d e r h o w t h e c h i l d , u n d e r t h e i m p a c t of t h e s e fears,
c o m e to g r i p s w i t h h i s d r i v e s .
LECTURE NINE
Prohibitions
and permissiveness
I s h o u l d h a v e l i k e d to h a v e g o n e f u r t h e r i n t o t h e
a p p r o p r i a t e q u e s t i o n s I h a v e r e c e i v e d o n t h e s u b j e c t of
d e f e n c e . I w i s h w e h a d a few m o r e h o u r s . It i s C o l u m b u s
w h o d e p r i v e d u s of t h a t p o s s i b i l i t y .
very
I k n o w a l s o t h a t I s u m m a r i z e d too m u c h a n d t h a t p e r h a p s I
d i d n o t c o n v e y to y o u s u f f i c i e n t l y t h e a l l - i m p o r t a n t f a c t t h a t , i n
s p i t e of t h e e n o r m o u s p o w e r a n d r e l e n t l e s s n e s s of t h e d r i v e s ,
there is a saving quality—namely, that the drives are so emi
n e n t l y m o d i f i a b l e . T h e m e t h o d s w h i c h a r e a t t h e d i s p o s a l of t h e
p e r s o n a l i t y for s u c h m o d i f i a b i l i t y b r i n g a b o u t t h e necessary
a d a p t a t i o n s to c u l t u r a l a i m s , to t h e d e m a n d s of s o c i e t y , e v e n
t h o u g h a t t h e s a m e t i m e t h e y m a y e n d a n g e r t h e e f f i c i e n c y of
t h e p e r s o n a l i t y . I w o u l d h a v e l i k e d to s a y v e r y m u c h more
a b o u t t h e f a c t t h a t t h e m o d i f i c a t i o n of d r i v e s i s , o n t h e o n e
h a n d , r e s p o n s i b l e for s o c i a l h e a l t h a n d , o n t h e o t h e r , it t h r e a t
ens individual mental health.
S t i l l , t h e r e a r e a few q u e s t i o n s w h i c h I h a v e to answer.
S o m e b o d y a s k e d w h e t h e r a c h a n g e of s u p e r e g o i s p o s s i b l e i n
l a t e r life, for a f t e r a l l t h i s i s s o i m p o r t a n t i n r e g a r d to t h e w h o l e
119
q u e s t i o n of d e f e n c e , s i n c e t h e ego s o often u n d e r t a k e s d e f e n c e
u n d e r t h e c o m m a n d of t h e s u p e r e g o . T h a t i s a g o o d q u e s t i o n
for y o u to follow t h r o u g h t h e l i t e r a t u r e . I f y o u do s o , y o u w i l l
find t h a t after t h e p e r i o d of e a r l y c h i l d h o o d , a f t e r t h e p a s s i n g of
t h e O e d i p u s c o m p l e x , t h e r e i s a c o m p a r a t i v e c l o s i n g u p of t h e
s u p e r e g o . T h i s m e a n s t h e g a i n i n g of a c e r t a i n a m o u n t — o r a
l a r g e a m o u n t — o f i n d e p e n d e n c e of t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p to t h e o b j e c t
from w h i c h the superego w a s derived. O f course, this inde
p e n d e n c e i s n e v e r c o m p l e t e l y g a i n e d , a n d t h e d e g r e e to w h i c h
t h e s u p e r e g o r e m a i n s u n d e r t h e i n f l u e n c e of t h e o u t s i d e w o r l d
i s a t t h e s a m e t i m e t h e d e g r e e to w h i c h t h e m a t u r e i n d i v i d u a l i s
s t i l l u n d e r t h e i n f l u e n c e of t h e s o c i a l e n v i r o n m e n t . T h i s c a n
t a k e t h e f o r m of a f e a r — w h i c h i s t h e n d i r e c t e d n o t t o w a r d s t h e
superego, b u t towards the c o m m u n i t y — n a m e l y , ' a m I acting
r i g h t ? ' *what w i l l t h e o t h e r s s a y i f I a c t t h a t w a y ? ' T h i s i s c a l l e d
'social anxiety'.
S o m e o n e a s k e d w h e r e the i d gets a l l the p o w e r w h i c h i s
u s e d for m o d i f y i n g t h e d r i v e s . T h e a n s w e r i s t h a t t h e r e i s o n l y
o n e s o u r c e of p o w e r — n a m e l y , t h e i d — a n d t h a t e v e n t h e p o w e r
u s e d b y t h e ego a g a i n s t t h e i d d r i v e s c o m e s (by a c o m p l i c a t e d
p r o c e s s ) from t h e d r i v e s t h e m s e l v e s .
I w a s a s k e d : w h a t a b o u t p r o j e c t i o n ? D o e s it o n l y t a k e p l a c e
after a superego h a s b e e n formed? T h i s i s a q u e s t i o n a b o u t
w h i c h people are not yet quite i n agreement; which merely
m e a n s that not enough clinical observations have been made.
B u t I t h i n k that all these defence m e c h a n i s m s a r e operated b y
t h e ego, a n d s o t h e y o p e r a t e b e f o r e a s u p e r e g o h a s become
i n d e p e n d e n t ; t h e y o p e r a t e n a m e l y u n d e r t h e i n f l u e n c e of f e a r
of t h e e n v i r o n m e n t . T h i s i s 'fear of r e a l i t y ' , a s w e c a l l i t , r e a l l y
f e a r of t h e love o b j e c t s : or t h e y o p e r a t e u n d e r t h e i n f l u e n c e of
i n t e r n a l a n x i e t y . A n ego h a s to b e f o r m e d , b u t t h e superego
d o e s n o t n e e d to b e f o r m e d s o s o o n .
S o m e o n e w a n t s to k n o w w h e t h e r a l l t h e d e f e n c e mecha
n i s m s p r e s u p p o s e t h e a c t i o n of r e p r e s s i o n f i r s t , w h e t h e r it i s
w h a t r e p r e s s i o n h a s n o t b e e n a b l e to a c c o m p l i s h t h a t i s t h e n
a c c o m p l i s h e d b y the other defensive m e t h o d s . T h a t is not quite
so. F o r instance, a reaction formation will always wait until
repression h a s t a k e n place a n d will then come i n afterwards.
S u b l i m a t i o n will u s u a l l y be b a s e d on a certain a m o u n t of
NINE: PROHIBITIONS AND PERMISSIVENESS 121
repression having taken place first. B u t identification and

p r o j e c t i o n , for i n s t a n c e , do n o t p r e s u p p o s e t h e m e t h o d of r e
p r e s s i o n . T h e y c a n attack the drive or defend a g a i n s t it b y
direct action.
A n d t h e n t h e r e i s o n e f u r t h e r q u e s t i o n : s o m e b o d y w a n t s to
k n o w w h a t r e a l l y h a p p e n s i n the p r o c e s s of s u b l i m a t i o n . I s the
object c h a n g e d , or i s the activity c h a n g e d ? Well, i n a n a l y t i c
t e r m s w e w o u l d s a y w h a t h a s r e a l l y c h a n g e d i s t h e a i m of t h e
d r i v e . T h i s s o m e t i m e s i n v o l v e s a c h a n g e of o b j e c t a n d s o m e
times involves the modification of t h e a c t i v i t y a n d usually
involves both. F o r i n s t a n c e , if y o u take the aggressive a i m s
of h u r t i n g o t h e r p e o p l e , i f t h i s a g g r e s s i v e a i m b e c o m e s subli
m a t e d , t h e a c t i v i t y — t h e d o i n g of s o m e t h i n g h u r t f u l to t h e o t h e r
p e r s o n — r e m a i n s , b u t the p e r s o n is u s u a l l y c h a n g e d from a n
a l l - i m p o r t a n t p e r s o n i n t h e f a m i l y to a l e s s i m p o r t a n t p e r s o n
o u t s i d e ; a n d t h e n t h e a c t i v i t y i s m o d i f i e d f r o m h u r t i n g to h e l p
ing. T h e a i m is changed, b u t the activity r e m a i n s sufficiently
the s a m e s o t h a t it p r o v i d e s the i n d i v i d u a l w i t h a s i m i l a r k i n d
of p l e a s u r e . W e s e e t h i s , for i n s t a n c e , i n t h e s m e a r i n g a c t i v i t i e s
of t h e l i t t l e t o d d l e r , w h i c h a r e s u b l i m a t e d i n t h e f o r m of m o d e l
ling a n d painting.
I k n o w that these a n s w e r s are insufficient i n themselves,
b u t I w a n t e d to s h o w y o u t h e d i r e c t i o n t h e t h o u g h t s of p e o p l e
w e n t i n after the last lecture. T h e direction is a n excellent
o n e , for i t r e f l e c t s t h e w i s h for m o r e i n t i m a t e a n d detailed
k n o w l e d g e a b o u t t h e s e a l l - i m p o r t a n t p r o c e s s e s . I f w e w a n t to
a p p l y t h a t k n o w l e d g e , w e h a v e to h a v e m u c h m o r e t h a n a n
overall picture.
A n d t h a t b r i n g s u s n o w to t h e q u e s t i o n of a p p l i c a t i o n . I h o p e
t h a t the motive that w e n t into m u l t i p l y i n g the a u d i e n c e today
w a s n o t t h a t y o u e x p e c t e d m e to tell y o u e x a c t l y h o w p a r e n t s
s h o u l d t r e a t t h e i r c h i l d r e n , o n t h e b a s i s of w h a t w e k n o w a b o u t
c h i l d h o o d d e v e l o p m e n t . I h o p e t h a t y o u do n o t e x p e c t m e to
give p r e s c r i p t i o n s : i f a c h i l d m i s b e h a v e s , do t h i s ; i f a child
b e c o m e s d e p r e s s e d or s h o w s n e u r o t i c s y m p t o m s , do t h a t ; love
y o u r c h i l d r e n , or d o n ' t love t h e m too m u c h . W e l l , I c a n give y o u
n o t h i n g of t h a t k i n d . W h a t I w a n t to s h o w y o u t o d a y i s a t r e n d ,
to s h o w y o u h o w t h e p s y c h o a n a l y t i c k n o w l e d g e a b o u t child
h o o d d e v e l o p m e n t i n t h e l a s t t h i r t y o r forty y e a r s h a s b e e n a b l e
to i n f l u e n c e t h e h a n d l i n g of c h i l d r e n , w h e r e t h e s e w a y s h a v e
gone wrong, w h y they h a v e gone wrong, w h e r e they h a v e gone
r i g j i t ; a n d h o w y o u c a n h e l p to i m p r o v e t h e m e t h o d s of a p p l i c a
t i o n of p s y c h o a n a l y t i c k n o w l e d g e for t h e f u t u r e . T h i s i s a t a l l
o r d e r for t h r e e q u a r t e r s of a n h o u r .
L e t u s t a k e t h e h i s t o r i c a l p o i n t of v i e w first. P s y c h o a n a l y s i s ,
a s a s c i e n c e , h a s n e v e r s e t o u t to b e a p s y c h o l o g y of c h i l d h o o d .
T h a t c a m e a b o u t b y c h a n c e . W h i l e d i g g i n g d o w n i n t o t h e p a s t of
a d u l t n e u r o t i c patients, the discovery w a s m a d e that the origin
of a l l m e n t a l i l l n e s s e s l a y i n t h e e a r l y y e a r s of c h i l d h o o d , a n d
t h a t w h e n e v e r o n e followed a n e u r o s i s o r a n o t h e r k i n d of m e n
t a l d i s t u r b a n c e b a c k to i t s b e g i n n i n g , t h e k n o w l e d g e t h a t w a s
b r o u g h t f o r t h w a s k n o w l e d g e a b o u t t h e e a r l y y e a r s of t h e p e r
sonality. T h i s knowledge w a s collected slowly, a n d the sum
t o t a l of i t g r a d u a l l y c r e a t e d a p s y c h o l o g y of c h i l d h o o d . E v e n
n o w y o u w i l l n o t find t h i s k n o w l e d g e i n t h e t e x t b o o k s under
t h a t title, b u t y o u w i l l find t h e p s y c h o a n a l y t i c t h e o r y of p e r
s o n a l i t y o r i n t r o d u c t i o n s to p s y c h o a n a l y t i c t h e o r y . T h i s m e a n s
t h a t w e i n t e n d to d e s c r i b e a d u l t b e h a v i o u r a n d m o t i v a t i o n , b u t
t h i s i n v a r i a b l y t u r n s i n t o a p s y c h o l o g y of c h i l d h o o d , s i m p l y o n
t h e b a s i s of t h e fact t h a t it i s t h e e a r l y d e v e l o p m e n t of t h e a d u l t
i n d i v i d u a l w h i c h i s d e c i s i v e for h i s l a t e r p e r s o n a l i t y . A n d i n t h e
s a m e m a n n e r , p s y c h o a n a l y s t s n e v e r m e a n t to c o n t r i b u t e a n y
t h i n g to e d u c a t i o n i n t h e b e g i n n i n g . It took a v e r y l o n g t i m e
before anybody began to b r i n g the systematic application
of p s y c h o a n a l y s i s to t h e u p b r i n g i n g of c h i l d r e n . T h e s o - c a l l e d
• p s y c h o a n a l y t i c ' e d u c a t i o n a l s y s t e m (or w h a t e v e r y o u w a n t to
c a l l i t — i t i s c e r t a i n l y n o s y s t e m yet) i s a b y - p r o d u c t of p s y
choanalysis, a by-product which came about i n a most u n
systematic—and you might say unscientific—manner. T h e first
p e o p l e w h o l e a r n e d a b o u t t h e f a c t s I h a v e p r e s e n t e d to y o u first
were the early a n a l y s t s a n d their patients. T h e n gradually there
c a m e t h e s t u d e n t s w h o h a d b e e n i n t r o d u c e d to t h e s a m e d i s c i
pline a n d therapeutic method; a n d all these people h a d c h i l
d r e n of t h e i r o w n . S o w h e n t h e s e p e o p l e s a w a n d u n d e r s t o o d
h o w t h e h a n d l i n g of c h i l d r e n i n t h e e a r l y y e a r s c a n produce
c o n s i d e r a b l e d a m a g e for a l l of l a t e r life, t h e y b e c a m e a f r a i d t h a t
t h e y c o u l d p e r h a p s , i n a d v e r t e n t l y , do t h e s a m e d a m a g e to t h e i r
own children. As a result, whenever they learned about some
n e w f a c t o r i n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of t h e p e r s o n a l i t y a n d h o w i t w a s
influenced b y h a n d l i n g b y the parents, they q u i c k l y translated
it into actions towards their own c h i l d r e n . T h i s m e a n s that the
first p s y c h o a n a l y t i c e d u c a t o r s were the a n a l y s t s a n d t h e i r p a
t i e n t s , a n d i t t o o k s o m e t w e n t y y e a r s o r m o r e u n t i l t h e w o r l d of
t e a c h e r s b e c a m e i n t e r e s t e d i n the s a m e m a t t e r s . If y o u t h i n k
over the material w h i c h we discussed in these last meet
ings, you might be struck by those points which seem
of s p e c i a l i m p o r t a n c e for t h e h a n d l i n g of c h i l d r e n . I w o n d e r
whether, a s parents, you might have picked u p these points on
your own.
I s h a l l t r y to give y o u s o m e t h i n g of t h e h i s t o r y of t h e w a y
t h i s k n o w l e d g e slowly filtered t h r o u g h into the n u r s e r i e s . B e
fore p s y c h o a n a l y s i s , p e o p l e h a d n o t k n o w n t h a t c h i l d r e n h a d a
s e x u a l life, a n d t h e y h a d t a k e n a s c o m p l e t e l y h a r m l e s s the
e m o t i o n a l life t h a t g o e s o n b e t w e e n p a r e n t s a n d c h i l d — I m e a n
t h e f o n d l i n g , t h e e x p r e s s i o n s of affection c h i l d r e n s h o w to t h e i r
p a r e n t s a n d p a r e n t s to t h e i r c h i l d r e n . S o w h e n t h e r e w a s the
d i s c o v e r y t h a t t h e r e i s s o m e t h i n g l i k e a n i n f a n t i l e s e x u a l life
w h i c h c a n b e s t i m u l a t e d f r o m t h e s i d e of t h e p a r e n t s a n d w h i c h
t h e c h i l d t r i e s to l i v e o u t o n t h e p a r e n t s , t h e e x p r e s s i o n s of t h e
c h i l d ' s l o v e a n d a f f e c t i o n s u d d e n l y took o n a v e r y different
c h a r a c t e r . M a n y p e o p l e b e g a n to b e a f r a i d t h a t b y k i s s i n g a n d
f o n d l i n g t h e i r c h i l d r e n , b y r e s p o n d i n g to t h e a d v a n c e s w h i c h
they now recognized a s sexual advances, they were p e r h a p s
s e d u c i n g their own children. T h e y were especially afraid i n view
of t h e f a c t t h a t i n t h e a n a l y s i s of a d u l t p a t i e n t s t h e f a n t a s y o f
b e i n g s e d u c e d b y o n e of t h e p a r e n t s a l w a y s u s e d to p l a y a p a r t .
S i n c e c h i l d r e n h a v e t h e s e f a n t a s i e s — I r e c a l l to y o u r m i n d t h o s e
of t h e o e d i p a l p h a s e t h a t I p r e s e n t e d to y o u i n s o m e d e t a i l — i t
w o u l d , of c o u r s e , b e e a s y for p a r e n t s to p l a y i n to it, r a i s i n g
hopes i n the c h i l d (namely, s e d u c i n g the child)—hopes that
c a n n o t t h e n b e fulfilled; a n d t h i s w o u l d m e a n f r u s t r a t i n g t h e
c h i l d a l l t h e m o r e . It w a s a l s o e a s y to d o w h a t i n f a c t p a r e n t s
u s e d to d o — n a m e l y , to m a k e l i g h t of t h e s e a d v a n c e s of t h e
c h i l d , to f i n d t h e m a m u s i n g , c u t e , to l a u g h a b o u t t h e m , t h e r e b y
h u r t i n g t h e c h i l d ' s feelings very m u c h . S o the first i m p r e s s i o n
gained by parents from p s y c h o a n a l y s i s was that here was
dangerous material in the child—infantile s e x u a l life—which
124 ANNA F R E U D : T H E HARVARD LECTURES
needed more careful h a n d l i n g t h a n they h a d thought n e c e s s a r y

before.
N o w a f u r t h e r p o i n t . I n t h e a n a l y s i s of m a n y a d u l t s i t w a s
s h o w n t h a t o b s e r v a t i o n s b y t h e c h i l d m a d e of t h e p a r e n t s a t
n i g h t w a s a p o w e r f u l i n c e n t i v e to t h e c h i l d ' s s e x u a l f a n t a s i e s ,
b e c a u s e i n t h o s e t i m e s i t w a s t h e h a b i t to h a v e y o u n g c h i l d r e n
sleep i n the s a m e room w i t h their parents. Parents thought,
'well, c h i l d r e n don't notice, they don't see a n y t h i n g , a n d if they
do n o t i c e t h e y d o n ' t u n d e r s t a n d ' . It b e c a m e a p p a r e n t t h r o u g h
p s y c h o a n a l y t i c i n v e s t i g a t i o n t h a t c h i l d r e n do a c t u a l l y u n d e r
s t a n d , a n d t h a t w i t n e s s i n g t h e p a r e n t s ' s e x u a l life c a n be
h a r m f u l to t h e m b y p r o v o k i n g r e s p o n s e s a n d r e a c t i o n s f r o m
t h e m w h i c h a r e too p o w e r f u l for t h e i r y o u n g a g e . S o a n i m p o r
t a n t a p p l i c a t i o n of p s y c h o a n a l y t i c k n o w l e d g e to t h e h a n d l i n g o f
c h i l d r e n b e c a m e the rule that c h i l d r e n s h o u l d not s h a r e their
parents' bedroom a n d s h o u l d not witness their parents* inter
course. All this c a m e about very gradually.
T h e s t a g e s of s e x u a l d e v e l o p m e n t , w h i c h p e o p l e b e g a n to
t a k e n o t i c e of n e x t , c h a n g e d t h e h a n d l i n g of c h i l d r e n e n o r
mously. Y o u know, thumb-sucking, dirtiness, masturbation,
c h i l d i s h c u r i o s i t y , c h i l d i s h e x h i b i t i o n i s m — s h o w i n g off i n f r o n t
of t h e p a r e n t s — h a d a l l b e e n k n o w n before, b u t t h e y h a d b e e n
r e g a r d e d a s ' n a u g h t i n e s s * of c h i l d r e n , t h e ' b a d h a b i t s ' of c h i l
dren. Parents h a d always wondered where these bad habits
c a m e from. T h e y a l w a y s complained that no sooner h a d one
b a d h a b i t disappeared t h a n another one b e g a n — w h i c h is a very
n i c e d e s c r i p t i o n of t h e o r d e r l y s e q u e n c e of i n f a n t i l e s e x u a l d e
velopment. T h e n they realized that these were not b a d h a b i t s
w h i c h could be held in c h e c k by watching the child more
c l o s e l y , p e r h a p s b y e x c l u d i n g h i m f r o m t h e c o m p a n y of o t h e r
children who h a d similar bad habits. T h e y realized that they
were faced w i t h something b a s i c i n the child's n a t u r e , s o m e
t h i n g i n e v i t a b l e , a n d t h a t t h e y h a d to r e s p e c t t h e s e q u e n c e .
T h i s c r e a t e d a n e n o r m o u s u n c e r t a i n t y , for p a r e n t s h a d p r e v i
o u s l y b e e n c e r t a i n t h e y w e r e a c t i n g c o r r e c t l y if t h e y o p p o s e d a l l
these trends i n the children. T h i s point w a s e x p r e s s e d quite
d i r e c t l y i n r e l a t i o n to t h e s u b j e c t of p h a l l i c m a s t u r b a t i o n i n
c h i l d r e n , s o m e t h i n g w h i c h h a d b e e n o n e of t h e m a i n p o i n t s of
battle between a d u l t s a n d children i n former y e a r s . T h e child's
u r g e to m a s t u r b a t e a n d t h e r e b y to find a b o d i l y o u t l e t for t h e
libido dammed up i n h i s fantasies had been fought and
opposed b y adults through the centuries. Now it suddenly
s e e m e d , a s a r e s u l t of p s y c h o a n a l y t i c t e a c h i n g , t h a t t h i s w a s
p e r h a p s m u c h m o r e n o r m a l a n d h e a l t h y for t h e c h i l d t h a n t h e
d a m m i n g u p of t h e l i b i d o w i t h o u t o u t l e t ; s o m e t h i n g w h i c h , i n
t h e k n o w l e d g e of a n a l y t i c p r a c t i t i o n e r s , l e d to s o m u c h s y m p
t o m f o r m a t i o n . S o t h i s a g a i n l e d to d o u b t s a n d i n s e c u r i t y o n
t h e p a r t of t h e p a r e n t s . W a s p h a l l i c m a s t u r b a t i o n a h e a l t h y , a
n o r m a l p r o c e s s i n the c h i l d ? O n the other h a n d , if they did not
oppose it i n their c h i l d r e n , if auto-erotic h a b i t s w e r e p e r m i t t e d ,
w o u l d t h e c h i l d n o t w i t h d r a w too m u c h w i t h i n h i m s e l f ? A n d
would t h i s d e g r e e of s a t i s f y i n g himself not m a k e h i m less
a m e n a b l e to i n f l u e n c e f r o m t h e p a r e n t s ? T h e r e a r e e v i d e n t l y
two t r e n d s going a g a i n s t e a c h other h e r e , a n d b o t h c a n be
s u p p o r t e d b y a n a l y t i c evidence. O n the one h a n d , w e c a n see
the difficulties w h i c h a r i s e w h e n a n i n d i v i d u a l w i t h d r a w s from
the environment a n d supplies h i s own n e e d s — i n this case
satisfies h i s o w n s e x u a l n e e d s o n h i s own body. O n the other
h a n d , p r o b l e m s a r i s e w h e n a n i n d i v i d u a l s a t i s f i e s h i m s e l f too
e a s i l y a n d i s t h e r e f o r e n o t f o r c e d to c o m e to t e r m s w i t h t h e
forces i n the e n v i r o n m e n t , w i t h the objects i n the e n v i r o n m e n t
from w h o m h e s h o u l d c l a i m satisfaction.
Now this is where the very tricky problems begin. Great

h o p e s w e r e r a i s e d i n t h e p a r e n t s a t t h i s t i m e (I a m s p e a k i n g of
p e r h a p s thirty y e a r s i n the past). S e x u a l curiosity w a s recog
n i z e d a s a n e c e s s a r y a n d n o r m a l i t e m i n a c h i l d ' s life, a n d t h e
p a r e n t s n o w f o u n d t h e m s e l v e s q u i t e r e a d y to s a t i s f y t h e c h i l d ' s
c u r i o s i t y after k n o w i n g t h i s (I a m s t i l l s p e a k i n g of t h e a n a l y t i c
p a r e n t s or t h e i r p a t i e n t s ) . T h e w i t h h o l d i n g of s e x u a l k n o w l
e d g e , t h e i n s i n c e r i t y of t h e p a r e n t s i n t h a t r e s p e c t , t h e c h i l d ' s
u n s a t i s f i e d w i s h to k n o w h a d a l w a y s c r e a t e d b a d feelings b e
t w e e n p a r e n t s a n d c h i l d r e n . C h i l d r e n h a d s o often r e t a l i a t e d b y
l y i n g to t h e p a r e n t s , s i n c e t h e p a r e n t s l i e d to t h e m a b o u t s e x .
S o t h a t w a s t h e e r a w h e n t h e i m p o r t a n t q u e s t i o n of s e x u a l
e n l i g h t e n m e n t b e g a n to p l a y a r o l e . Y o u w i l l find a n e n o r m o u s
l i t e r a t u r e d e a l i n g w i t h h o w to e n l i g h t e n c h i l d r e n , w i t h how
m u c h to tell t h e m a b o u t t h e s o - c a l l e d f a c t s of life, w i t h w h e t h e r
to w a i t for t h e i r q u e s t i o n s o r to m e e t t h e q u e s t i o n s half-way,
w h e t h e r to w a i t for t h e b i r t h of a n e w b a b y b e f o r e t h e p r o c e s s of
b i r t h i s e x p l a i n e d , w h e n to e x p l a i n t h e difference b e t w e e n t h e
sexes, a n d so on. I n n u m e r a b l e attempts were m a d e at that time
to give a d v i c e to p a r e n t s i n r e g a r d to a l l t h e s e q u e s t i o n s , a n d
v e r y m u c h w a s h o p e d from t h e s e m e a s u r e s . I t h a d b e e n s e e n s o
often t h a t t h e r e p r e s s i o n of c h i l d h o o d s e x u a l c u r i o s i t y l e d to a
g e n e r a l r e p r e s s i o n a n d i n h i b i t i o n of c u r i o s i t y ; s o t h a t t h e c h i l
dren who were refused sexual information sometimes became
stupid a n d uninterested children, as if t h e y expressed by
t h e i r a t t i t u d e : ' W e l l , if y o u d o n ' t w a n t m e to k n o w t h a t , t h e n I
d o n ' t n e e d to k n o w a n y t h i n g . ' T h e i n h i b i t i o n s of m a n y s c h o o l
c h i l d r e n c o u l d b e s h o w n to h a v e a r i s e n f r o m j u s t t h i s c o n f l i c t
with infantile sexual curiosity.
A f t e r t h e s e a t t e m p t s a t s e x u a l e n l i g h t e n m e n t of c h i l d r e n
h a d l a s t e d t e n or fifteen y e a r s , p e r h a p s e v e n a little l o n g e r , t h e
first d i s a p p o i n t m e n t s b e g a n to s h o w u p . It w a s p e r f e c t l y t r u e
t h a t o n t h e b a s i s of s e x u a l e n l i g h t e n m e n t m u c h misunder
s t a n d i n g between parents a n d children, a s well a s m u c h inhibi
t i o n of i n t e l l i g e n c e , w e r e a v o i d e d . B e f o r e t h a t , o n e a l w a y s u s e d
to w o n d e r w h y c h i l d r e n u n d e r five w e r e s o c l e v e r a n d s c h o o l
c h i l d r e n were comparatively so s t u p i d . O f c o u r s e , the c r u c i a l
point w a s t h e r e p r e s s i o n of t h e i r s e x u a l curiosity. But a
t r e m e n d o u s d i s a p p o i n t m e n t w a s w a i t i n g for p a r e n t s i n c o n n e c
tion w i t h t h i s — n a m e l y , that the c h i l d r e n did not really expect
t h e e n l i g h t e n m e n t t h a t t h e y w e r e g i v e n . M o s t of t h e m l i s t e n
q u i t e r e s p e c t f u l l y i f t h e y a r e told w h e r e b a b i e s c o m e from, w h a t
the differences between the sexes a r e , h o w b a b i e s a r e b o r n , a n d
e v e n h o w b a b i e s a r e p r o d u c e d — h o w t h e y get i n t o t h e m o t h e r .
B u t a f t e r a s h o r t t i m e — s o m e t i m e s after a few h o u r s , some
t i m e s a f t e r a few d a y s — t h i s p i e c e of g o o d s e x u a l i n f o r m a t i o n
c h a n g e s i n t h e m i n d of t h e c h i l d , a n d if t h e c h i l d g i v e s e v i d e n c e
of h i s k n o w l e d g e a f t e r w a r d s , h e g i v e s e v i d e n c e of c u r i o u s d i s
t o r t i o n s of i t . H e c o n t i n u e s to i n s i s t , for i n s t a n c e , t h a t b a b i e s
are conceived through the m o u t h and that they are born
l i k e e x c r e m e n t ; or t h r o u g h t h e m o t h e r ' s s t o m a c h , w h i c h i s c u t
o p e n ; o r t h a t r e a l l y a l l c h i l d r e n a r e b o r n a s b o y s , b u t s o m e of
t h e m t h e n h a v e s o m e t h i n g c u t off. a n d t h e s e p o o r b o y s b e c o m e
g i r l s ; a n d t h e y h a v e s i m i l a r d i s t o r t e d p i c t u r e s of s e x u a l p r o
c e s s e s . Above all, they have the picture that w h a t father a n d
m o t h e r do w i t h e a c h other a t n i g h t i s a violent q u a r r e l i n w h i c h
either the father h u r t s the m o t h e r or the other w a y a r o u n d . A n d
i t w a s s e e n t h a t n o s e x u a l e n l i g h t e n m e n t c o u l d do a w a y w i t h
these distortions i n the child's m i n d .
W h e n t h i s experience w a s r e - e x a m i n e d a n d a n a l y s e d , it led
to m o r e i n t e r e s t i n g k n o w l e d g e — n a m e l y , t h a t t h e s e d i s t o r t i o n s
b y t h e c h i l d a r e n o t a r b i t r a r y o n e s a n d h a v e n o t h i n g to d o w i t h
t h e c h i l d ' s l e v e l of i n t e l l e c t n o t y e t b e i n g a p p r o p r i a t e to r e c e i v e
s e x u a l i n f o r m a t i o n . R a t h e r , it w a s f o u n d t h a t t h e d i s t o r t i o n s
a r e f a n t a s i e s of g r e a t i m p o r t a n c e to t h e c h i l d a n d c l o s e l y c o n
n e c t e d w i t h t h e l e v e l s of s e x u a l d e v e l o p m e n t . S o t h e c h i l d for
w h o m t h e o r a l s t a g e of d e v e l o p m e n t i s t h e m o s t important
will h a v e the f a n t a s y that b a b i e s a r e either c o n c e i v e d or b o r n
t h r o u g h the m o u t h . I n the violent a n a l stage c h i l d r e n will b e
quite c o n v i n c e d that it i s the violence, the q u a r r e l s , the h u r t i n g
w h i c h p r o d u c e s the baby, a n d the cutting open w h i c h is the
p r o c e s s of b i r t h . T h i s m e a n s t h a t t h e s e b i r t h f a n t a s i e s , t h e s e
s e x u a l f a n t a s i e s of c h i l d r e n , r e f l e c t t h e l e v e l of s e x u a l i n t e r e s t
w h i c h t h e y h a v e a t a c e r t a i n s t a g e , a n d a l l t h e y c a n do i s to
t r a n s l a t e the objective knowledge they receive from their p a r
e n t s i n t o t h e l a n g u a g e of t h e i r o w n s t a g e of s e x u a l develop
ment.
S o d o n o t b e d i s a p p o i n t e d i f t h i s e n l i g h t e n m e n t of c h i l d r e n
d o e s n o t l e a d to t h e i r h a v i n g good i n t e l l e c t u a l I n f o r m a t i o n . P a r
e n t s h a v e to give t h i s e n l i g h t e n m e n t to t h e i r c h i l d r e n , a n d i t i s
i n t e r e s t i n g for t h e m to w a t c h w h a t t h e c h i l d d o e s w i t h i t . N e v e r
t h e l e s s , t h e r e a d i n e s s of t h e p a r e n t s to b e s i n c e r e a n d o p e n i n
t h i s r e s p e c t d o e s s o m e t h i n g f a v o u r a b l e to t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e
t w e e n a d u l t a n d c h i l d . It m a y b e i n t e r e s t i n g for y o u to r e m e m
b e r t h a t i n a l l t h e f a i r y t a l e s w h i c h r e f l e c t t h e c h i l d ' s s t a t e of
m i n d , t h e b i r t h p r o c e s s e s a r e r e p r e s e n t e d , for i n s t a n c e , b y t h e
q u e e n w h o w a n t s a b a b y a l w a y s e a t i n g s o m e t h i n g to p r o d u c e
that baby. Many o t h e r d e t a i l s of c h i l d h o o d s e x u a l theories
a p p e a r i n t h e f a i r y s t o r i e s too.
I d i d n o t h a v e t i m e l a s t t i m e to d w e l l o n t h e d e f e n c e m e c h a
n i s m w h i c h t h e c h i l d u s e s i n r e g a r d to h i s a n a l u r g e s , to h i s
love for d i r t a n d h i s i n t e r e s t i n e x c r e m e n t . T h e a t t i t u d e s of
the p a r e n t s w i t h w h i c h the c h i l d identifies b r i n g a b o u t c e r t a i n
q u a l i t i e s i n t h e c h i l d w h i c h a r e b e n e f i c i a l , for i n s t a n c e , g r e a t
128 ANNA F R E U D : THE HARVARD L E C T U R E S
c l e a n l i n e s s a n d d i s g u s t w i t h d i r t y m a t t e r — n e c e s s a r y for s o c i a l
p u r p o s e s to a c e r t a i n e x t e n t . B u t t h e a t t i t u d e s o f t h e p a r e n t s
also a c t a s very restrictive influences o n the personality of the
child; a n d w h e r e they are overdone, they produce w h a t we
call the 'compulsive* features i n a child's n a t u r e . T h e k n o w l
edge of t h o s e c h a n g e s i n t h e c h i l d ' s p e r s o n a l i t y d u e to s t r i c t
toilet t r a i n i n g , r e s u l t i n g i n a s h o c k - l i k e r e p r e s s i o n of t h e a n a l
u r g e s , h a s b r o u g h t a b o u t t h e c h a n g e s i n a t t i t u d e s to toilet
t r a i n i n g , of w h i c h y o u h a v e c e r t a i n l y h e a r d . P a r e n t s n o w t r a i n
t h e i r c h i l d r e n for c l e a n l i n e s s v e r y m u c h l a t e r t h a n t h e y u s e d to
d o , s o a s to give t h e c h i l d i s h p e r s o n a l i t y m o r e s c o p e for d e v e l
o p m e n t b e f o r e t h e r e s t r i c t i v e t e n d e n c i e s s e t i n a s a r e s u l t of t h e
p r o h i b i t i o n s p u t o n t h e s a t i s f a c t i o n of t h e a n a l d r i v e s . Y o u h a v e
probably h e a r d people s p e a k a b o u t the d i s a p p o i n t m e n t the i n
f a n t e x p e r i e n c e s w h e n h e i s n o t fed j u s t w h e n h e w a n t s to b e ,
w h e n h e h a s to suffer s t a t e s of h u n g e r i n h i s first y e a r b e c a u s e
h e l i v e s a c c o r d i n g to a s t r i c t f e e d i n g s c h e d u l e , a n d y o u w i l l
have h e a r d that these states are rather dangerous i n that they
m a y l a t e r p r o d u c e l o s s of a p p e t i t e a n d f e e d i n g d i s t u r b a n c e s .
W e l l w h e n t h i s a n a l y t i c k n o w l e d g e p e r c o l a t e d t h r o u g h , it l e d to
t h e f e e d i n g of i n f a n t s ' o n d e m a n d ' i n t h e fear t h a t f e e d i n g o n a
s t r i c t s c h e d u l e m i g h t b r i n g a b o u t a l l s o r t s of u n f a v o u r a b l e r e
s u l t s . I w o n ' t go i n t o f u r t h e r d e t a i l , a s I t h i n k y o u m u s t h a v e
s e e n the t r e n d . P e r h a p s y o u h a v e s e e n a little m o r e t h a n the
t r e n d — n a m e l y , h o w , p o i n t b y p o i n t , t h e k n o w l e d g e of b a d o u t
c o m e s , of n e u r o t i c o u t c o m e s i n t h e a d u l t p e r s o n a l i t y , l e d to a
l o o s e n i n g u p of t h e d e m a n d s , t h e r e s t r i c t i o n s , t h e p r o h i b i t i o n s
w h i c h p a r e n t s h a d f o r m e r l y m a d e i n r e l a t i o n to t h e i r c h i l d r e n .
W h a t I h a v e d e s c r i b e d w a s t h e first s t a g e of t h e s o - c a l l e d
'analytic c h i l d upbringing', a n d this stage suffered from several
big defects. I t h i n k y o u c a n see that its orientation a n d m o t i v a
t i o n w a s a v e r y n a r r o w o n e — t h a t i s , t h e fear of p r o d u c i n g n e u
r o t i c a d u l t s . T h e i d e a w a s t h a t b y p l a c i n g too m a n y r e s t r i c t i o n s
o n the infantile drives y o u produce neurotic a d u l t s . W h e n p a r
e n t s b e c a m e a w a r e of t h a t , t h e y s a i d , ' a l l r i g h t , t h e n w e ' l l p u t
n o r e s t r i c t i o n s o n o u r c h i l d r e n ' . B u t they disregarded the fact
t h a t n e u r o s e s a r e n o t t h e o n l y f o r m of m e n t a l d i s t u r b a n c e i n
a d u l t life, a n d t h a t t h e r e a r e o t h e r d i s t u r b a n c e s w h i c h a r e q u i t e
d e f i n i t e l y c o n n e c t e d w i t h too little m o d i f i c a t i o n of t h e d r i v e s .
r a t h e r t h a n w i t h too m u c h . M a n y children grow u p i n an

e n v i r o n m e n t w h e r e , o w i n g to t h e n a t u r e of t h e p a r e n t s o r to
t h e a b s e n c e o f p a r e n t s , t h e y a r e n o t f o r c e d to m o d i f y their
p r e g e n i t a l d r i v e s to a n y g r e a t e x t e n t , a n d a s a r e s u l t v e r y often
g r o w u p i n t o d i s s o c i a l o r a s o c i a l h u m a n b e i n g s . S o w e h a v e two
e x t r e m e s h e r e , a n d i t i s n o g o o d to b e l e d i n o n e ' s a c t i o n s b y
o n e e x t r e m e o n l y . S o I w o u l d n o t t h i n k t h a t i t i s r i g h t to h a v e ,
a s a n o r i e n t a t i o n for t h e a p p l i c a t i o n of p s y c h o a n a l y t i c k n o w l
e d g e to t h e u p b r i n g i n g of c h i l d r e n , t h e fear of e i t h e r n e u r o s i s o r
of s o m e o t h e r k i n d of m e n t a l d i s t u r b a n c e s u c h a s c r i m i n a l i t y o r
anti-social tendencies.
A very m u c h better motivation w o u l d be provided b y look
ing at the personality a s a whole a n d by aiming at something
w h i c h we might call a n 'equilibrium* between the different
p a r t s of t h e p e r s o n a l i t y , h e l p i n g t h e c h i l d to c r e a t e a state
of i n n e r h a r m o n y . T h e first s h o c k b r o u g h t a b o u t b y psycho
analytic insights certainly did not create a n i n n e r h a r m o n i o u s
s t a t e . I a m s u r e t h a t m a n y of y o u m i g h t s a y y o u k n o w why
t h i s f i r s t s t a g e of a n a l y t i c e d u c a t i o n d i d n o t w o r k : b e c a u s e t h e
p i e c e s of k n o w l e d g e w h i c h w e r e a p p l i e d to c h i l d h o o d u p b r i n g
i n g w e r e a l l of one sort. T h e y were a l l knowledge a b o u t the
i n s t i n c t i v e s i d e of t h e c h i l d ' s life. B u t w h a t a b o u t t h e k n o w l
e d g e , w h i c h c a m e a l i t t l e l a t e r , of t h e o t h e r s i d e — o f ego d e v e l
o p m e n t , for i n s t a n c e ? I t c a n n o t b e t h e t a s k of t h e p a r e n t s to
l o o k after t h e d r i v e s o f t h e c h i l d o n l y , a n d to s e e to it t h a t n o t
too m u c h d r i v e a c t i v i t y i s l o s t d u r i n g t h e p r o c e s s of u p b r i n g
i n g . T h e t a s k of t h e p a r e n t s i s e q u a l l y to c a r e for t h e c h i l d ' s
ego a n d to s e e t h a t d u r i n g t h e p r o c e s s of d e v e l o p m e n t t h e ego
g a i n s s u f f i c i e n t p o w e r i t s e l f to d e a l w i t h t h e d r i v e s . I c a n give
y o u e x a m p l e s of w h e r e t h e u n d e r s t a n d i n g of t h e p a r e n t s h a d
great g a p s — i n favouring their children's drives by giving s a t i s
faction i n the oral stage t h r o u g h feeding on d e m a n d ; b y not
t r a i n i n g t h e c h i l d e a r l y for c l e a n l i n e s s ( w h i c h m e a n t l e t t i n g
h i m b e d i r t y a n d w e t u n t i l two a n d a h a l f o r e v e n l o n g e r ) ;
b y p e r m i t t i n g m a s t u r b a t i o n , so that the libido w o u l d n o t b e
d a m m e d u p ; b y p e r m i t t i n g t h e c h i l d to b e a g g r e s s i v e , s o t h a t
t h e s u p e r e g o w o u l d n o t b e c o m e too h a r s h . T h e s a m e p a r e n t s
forgot t h a t w h i l e t h e c h i l d g o e s t h r o u g h t h e different stages
of h i s i n s t i n c t development, he h a s also to m a k e the a l l
130 ANNA FREUD: THE HARVARD L E C T U R E S
i m p o r t a n t s t e p from t h e p l e a s u r e p r i n c i p l e to t h e d o m i n a t i o n
of a c t i o n b y t h e ego i n r e g a r d to r e a l i t y — t o w h a t w e c a l l ' t h e
reality principle*. C h i l d r e n who are brought u p i n a very per
m i s s i v e m a n n e r w i t h first c o n s i d e r a t i o n b e i n g g i v e n to t h e i r
d r i v e a c t i v i t y l e a r n to l i v e a c c o r d i n g to t h e p l e a s u r e p r i n c i p l e —
t h e s e a r c h for p l e a s u r e a n d t h e a v o i d a n c e of p a i n a n d f r u s t r a
t i o n — m u c h l o n g e r t h a n t h e y h a v e a n y r i g h t to d o . B e t w e e n t h e
a g e s of t w o a n d five t h e c o n t r o l of a c t i o n s h o u l d go o v e r from
t h e i d , w h i c h o n l y t h i n k s of w i s h f u l f i l m e n t , to t h e ego, w h i c h
a c t s a c c o r d i n g to c o n s i d e r a t i o n s of r e a l i t y . D u r i n g t h a t t i m e , a s
y o u k n o w , t h e c h i l d h a s to l e a r n to w a i t for s a t i s f a c t i o n , to
c o n t r o l h i s o w n d r i v e a c t i v i t y , to i n t e r p o s e t h o u g h t b e t w e e n t h e
w i s h a n d i t s f u l f i l m e n t , a n d c a n n o t l e a r n t h a t o n t h e b a s i s of
unrestricted drive satisfaction.
S o n o w w e h a v e t h e s e c o n d i m p o r t a n t p i e c e of i n f o r m a t i o n
t h a t h a s to b e a d d e d to t h e f i r s t s t e p i n e x p l a i n i n g to the
p a r e n t s h o w i m p o r t a n t t h e i n s t i n c t u a l life of t h e c h i l d i s for h i s
f u t u r e . N o w o n e h a s , i n a d d i t i o n , to e x p l a i n to t h e p a r e n t s h o w
i m p o r t a n t for t h e c h i l d ' s f u t u r e w i l l b e ego c o n t r o l of h i s d r i v e s .
A n d if p a r e n t s do n o t w a n t to b r i n g u p n e u r o t i c s a n d i n c o n s i d
e r a t e p r i m i t i v e s , t h e y h a v e to c o n s i d e r b o t h s i d e s , w h i c h m e a n s
t h e y h a v e to t a k e t h e r i s k of f r u s t r a t i n g t h e c h i l d o n e v e r s o
m a n y o c c a s i o n s for t h e s a k e of b u i l d i n g u p h i s ego s t r e n g t h ;
b e c a u s e ego s t r e n g t h i s a c q u i r e d w h e n t h e ego h a s to d e a l w i t h
f r u s t r a t i o n s . M a n y p a r e n t s h e s i t a t e to d o t h a t b e c a u s e they
f e a r t h a t t h e c h i l d w i l l c e a s e to love t h e m if t h e y f r u s t r a t e h i s
all-important w i s h e s . O r they m a y hesitate i n c a s e the c h i l d will
c e a s e to identify w i t h t h e m — a f t e r a l l , p a r e n t s n o w k n o w t h a t
ego c o n t e n t i s m a d e of i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s ( a l t h o u g h t h e y d o n ' t k n o w
it i n q u i t e t h a t w a y ) a n d t h a t t h e s u p e r e g o i s b u i l t u p o n t h e
b a s i s of i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i t h t h e p a r e n t s . B u t t h e p a r e n t s s h o u l d
k n o w t h a t u n r e s t r i c t e d w i s h fulfilment is not the b e s t a t m o s
p h e r e i n w h i c h i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s a r e m a d e , a n d t h a t m a n y of t h e
m o s t important identifications w i t h the p a r e n t s are m a d e at
m o m e n t s w h e n the c h i l d is frustrated, w h e n the c h i l d w i t h
d r a w s l i b i d o f r o m t h e p a r e n t s a n d b u i l d s u p h i s o w n ego a n d
s u p e r e g o o n t h e s e e x p e r i e n c e s of f r u s t r a t i o n . I f p a r e n t s l e a r n to
c o n s i d e r b o t h s i d e s of t h e h u m a n p e r s o n a l i t y , a n d if t h e y l e a r n
to w o r k for a n e q u i l i b r i u m b e t w e e n t h e different p a r t s of t h e
NINE: PROHIBITIONS AND P E R M I S S I V E N E S S 131
p e r s o n a l i t y , t h e i r b e h a v i o u r w i l l , w e h o p e , t a k e o n a v e r y differ
ent n a t u r e . T h e y will n o longer be content w i t h a n overall atti
t u d e of, for i n s t a n c e , p e r m i s s i v e n e s s to t h e d r i v e s i n s t e a d of
t h e o v e r a l l a t t i t u d e of i n t o l e r a n c e t o w a r d s t h e c h i l d ' s d r i v e s .
B o t h a t t i t u d e s a r e e q u a l l y d e t r i m e n t a l to t h e c h i l d .
E v e n from t h e s e v e r y s u m m a r y l e c t u r e s , y o u w i l l , I h o p e ,
h a v e g a i n e d t h e i m p r e s s i o n t h a t t h e fate of t h e v a r i o u s s e p a r a t e
c o m p o n e n t s of t h e d r i v e s i s s o v e r y different for e a c h c o m p o
n e n t i n l a t e r life. T h i s m e a n s t h a t e a c h d r i v e s h o u l d b e l o o k e d
a t a n d t r e a t e d o n i t s m e r i t s . A s a c o n c r e t e e x a m p l e , t h i n k of t h e
c h i l d ' s o r a l d e s i r e s . I s t h e r e r e a l l y a n e e d for t h e c h i l d to r e
p r e s s h i s oral desires fully? Well, there is not. T h e r e is so m u c h
o p p o r t u n i t y i n l a t e r life to s a t i s f y t h e s e d e s i r e s i n a s u b l i m a t e d
form, i n a d i s p l a c e d form. It is not only that these oral drives
c o n t r i b u t e q u i t e l e g i t i m a t e l y to a d u l t s e x u a l i t y : i n d i s p l a c e d
f o r m t h e y c a n find f u r t h e r s a t i s f a c t i o n i n t h e p l e a s u r e s of e a t
i n g , i n t h e p l e a s u r e of s m o k i n g , i n t h e p l e a s u r e of d r i n k i n g (to a
l i m i t e d extent!}. T h i s m e a n s that a s t a n d m a d e a g a i n s t these
o r a l p l e a s u r e s ( a s , for i n s t a n c e , w h e n p a r e n t s u s e d to fight
against the child's t h u m b - s u c k i n g ) s e e m s quite u n n e c e s s a r y ,
b e c a u s e even w h e n these drives are treated very leniently, they
n e e d n o t b e a s e r i o u s h i n d r a n c e l a t e r i n life. It i s q u i t e different
w i t h t h e a n a l d r i v e s . T h e r e i s v e r y l i t t l e r o o m , i f a n y , for t h e
a n a l d r i v e s i n a d u l t life. S o t h e y d e m a n d a g r e a t a m o u n t of
modification from the individual a n d consequently require a
different a t t i t u d e f r o m t h e p a r e n t s to l e a d t h e c h i l d ' s ego to
m o d i f y t h e m . T h e r e i s n o r o o m i n a d u l t life for t h e p l e a s u r e i n
d i r t , for t h e i n t e r e s t i n e x c r e m e n t , i n t h e a n u s . T h i s m e a n s t h a t
t h e s e d r i v e s r e a l l y b e l o n g to t h o s e p a r t i a l d r i v e s w h i c h , i n t h e i r
m o d i f i c a t i o n s , c o n t r i b u t e l a r g e l y to t h e b u i l d i n g u p o f p e r s o n a l
i t y . O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , w o u l d n ' t i t b e a g r e a t p i t y to i n d u c e t h e
c h i l d i n t h e p h a l l i c p h a s e to r e p r e s s h i s c u r i o s i t y , a s p a r e n t s
u s e d to d o ? A g r o w n i n d i v i d u a l w i t h o u t c u r i o s i t y i s s u c h a v e r y
sad figure. C u r i o s i t y , if deflected from the s e x u a l p r o b l e m s ,
becomes o n e of t h e g r e a t e s t a s s e t s of t h e c h i l d a l l t h r o u g h
c h i l d h o o d . S i m i l a r l y , t h e s e v e r e r e p r e s s i o n of e x h i b i t i o n i s m i n a
c h i l d ' s life i s s u c h a p i t y . It i s t h e s e c h i l d r e n w h o c a n ' t p e r f o r m
i n school afterwards, who become s h y whenever they have
to m a k e a p u b l i c a p p e a r a n c e , w h o h a v e n o p l e a s u r e i n s h i n i n g
132 ANNA F R E U D : THE HARVARD L E C T U R E S
i n a n y w a y b e f o r e o t h e r s , w h o v e r y often l o s e e v e r y p l e a s u r e i n
their bodily appearance. So parents s h o u l d be careful h o w they
h a n d l e that p a r t i c u l a r drive, b e c a u s e if it i s d i s p l a c e d r a t h e r
t h a n r e p r e s s e d , it c a n c o n t r i b u t e s o m u c h to t h e h a p p i n e s s of
the personality.
O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , w h a t a b o u t a g g r e s s i o n ? T h e h a n d l i n g of
a g g r e s s i o n i n t h e c h i l d o n t h e p a r t of t h e p a r e n t w i l l l a r g e l y
d e p e n d o n t h e c o m m u n i t y i n t o w h i c h t h e c h i l d i s m e a n t to go. I f
y o u w a n t to i n d u c e a c h i l d to g r o w i n t o a c o n s i d e r a t e , g e n t l e ,
accommodating, a p p e a s i n g m e m b e r of t h e c o m m u n i t y , don't
l e t h i m b e too free i n h i s a g g r e s s i o n i n c h i l d h o o d ; b u t if y o u
w a n t h i m to b e c o u r a g e o u s a n d hearty a n d outgoing, don't
e x p e c t h i m to do a w a y w i t h t h e a g g r e s s i v e d r i v e e a r l y i n life.
W h i c h m e a n s , w h e n y o u a r e faced w i t h e a c h drive activity
s e p a r a t e l y , d o n ' t t h i n k of it m e r e l y a s g e n e r a l d r i v e a c t i v i t y , b u t
t h i n k , r a t h e r , of e a c h i n d i v i d u a l c o m p o n e n t a n d i t s l a t e r fate i n
life. A s a r e s u l t y o u c a n e s t a b l i s h t h r o u g h y o u r h a n d l i n g a
r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n t h e c h i l d ' s a t t i t u d e t o w a r d s it a n d the
l a t e r p r e s e n c e or a b s e n c e of t h a t p a r t i c u l a r q u a l i t y , a c t i v i t y , o r
a t t i t u d e i n a d u l t life.
T h e a d v i c e w e c a n give to p a r e n t s i s t h e r e f o r e n o t to t r e a t
the drives i n a quantitative m a n n e r , w i t h a n overall attitude
towards t h e m (T'm very p e r m i s s i v e towards m y c h i l d r e n ' ) , b u t
i n a qualitative m a n n e r , looking at the v a r i o u s t r e n d s s h o w n b y
t h e c h i l d a n d t r y i n g to fit t h e m i n t o t h e p i c t u r e of a n a d u l t ;
w h i c h i s a c o m p l e t e l y different a t t i t u d e . W h y t e a c h n a k e d n e s s
to c h i l d r e n w h o a r e l a t e r s u p p o s e d to b e d e c e n t l y c l o t h e d ? P e r
h a p s t h e r e s u l t i s t h a t y o u r a i s e t h e c h i l d ' s e x p e c t a t i o n s of a
l a t e r free e x h i b i t i o n i s m w h i c h c a n n o t b e fulfilled. B u t , o n t h e
other h a n d , w h y take a w a y the p l e a s u r e i n that trend alto
gether?
I t h i n k y o u r e a l i z e b y n o w t h a t i f y o u w a n t to h a n d l e t h e s e
situations intelligently, the way will depend not on vague
k n o w l e d g e of t h e s e m a t t e r s b u t o n y o u r d e t a i l e d knowledge.
T h i s w a s r e a l l y o n e of m y m i s g i v i n g s a b o u t t h i s c o u r s e — t h a t I
w o u l d n o t b e a b l e to e q u i p y o u w i t h t h e k n o w l e d g e w h i c h y o u
a s f u t u r e p a r e n t s w i l l n e e d . A l l I c o u l d d o w o u l d b e to s h o w y o u
t h e d i r e c t i o n I n w h i c h y o u c a n find t h e k n o w l e d g e . I would
s u m it u p a s follows: what you should have learned from
this overall, shortened, abbreviated, s u m m a r i z e d , a m p u t a t e d
p i c t u r e of analytic c h i l d p s y c h o l o g y s h o u l d give y o u a t l e a s t o n e
i m p r e s s i o n — n a m e l y , that conflicts i n the h u m a n b e i n g a n d i n
t h e c h i l d a r e i n e v i t a b l e : t h e y a r e e x p r e s s i o n s of t h e s t r u c t u r e of
the personality. D o not a i m at h a v i n g a c h i l d w i t h o u t conflict,
do n o t a i m to s p a r e t h e c h i l d c o n f l i c t . E q u a l l y , f r u s t r a t i o n s a r e
i n e v i t a b l e . W i s h f u l f i l m e n t o n d e m a n d d o e s n o t l e a d to a d e v e l
o p m e n t f r o m t h e p l e a s u r e p r i n c i p l e to t h e r e a l i t y p r i n c i p l e ,
s o m e t h i n g w h i c h distinguishes h u m a n beings from a n i m a l s .
W h a t a s t u d y of t h e d e f e n c e m e c h a n i s m s s h o u l d s h o w y o u i s
t h a t i t i s n o t t h e a b s e n c e a n d p r e s e n c e of c o n f l i c t , b u t , r a t h e r ,
t h e w a y s a n d m e a n s u s e d to s o l v e t h e c o n f l i c t b e t w e e n t h e ego
p a r t s of t h e p e r s o n a l i t y a n d t h e i d p a r t s — t h e d r i v e s ; a n d t h a t it
i s t h e c h o i c e of s o l u t i o n s w h i c h d e c i d e s t h e n o r m a l i t y o r t h e
a b n o r m a l i t y of t h e f u t u r e a d u l t .
A n d t h a t i s t h e e n d of o u r c o u r s e .
INDEX
abnormal, study of, 52-53 towards parents, 75-77, 80,

adolescence, 48 87
anxiety in, 116-17 anal drives, modification of,
ego and superego in, 68 131
aggression, 129 anal stage of sexual
in boys and girls, 97 development, 45-46, 88
defecation as, 53-54 89
as ego reaction, 56-57 toilet training in, 89
and frustration, 91-92 anal urges and defence
handling of, 132 mechanism, 127-28
towards parents, 86, 87, 114 analytic instinct theory, 56
and sexuality, 61-63, 73-74 anatomy
stages of development of, of human personality, 24
65-66 and psychoanalysis, 6
aggressive energy, 69 Anna Freud Centre, ix
aim anxiety
displacement of, 60 in adolescence, 116-17
inhibition of, 60 in climacteric, 116-17
ambivalence and cruel superego, 86
towards mother, 89 id, 117
135
136 INDEX
neurotic, 115 conflict i n p e r s o n a l i t y , role of,

i n Oedipus complex, 1 1 6 133
17 conscience, 116
role o f i n ego d e v e l o p m e n t , threatening part of
109-18 superego, 113-14
social, 120 c o n s c i o u s n e s s , l i m i t s of, 1 0
c o n s t a n c y , object, 7 3 , 7 5 , 7 7
Berezin, Martin, vii, ix constructive drives, 13
Besetzung [ c a t h e x i s , c u r i o s i t y , i m p o r t a n c e of, 1 3 1
investment], 7 0 32
biology v s . psychology, 5 8
bisexuality, 9 9 - 1 0 0 , 101-2 dangers
normal, 103 from d r i v e s , 1 1 5
body faced b y c h i l d , 1 1 1 - 1 2
ego, 2 8 death
role of, 5 8 - 6 0 drive, 5 7 - 5 8
-self, 2 8 instinct, 61, 6 3
boy wish, 86, 115
a g g r e s s i v e n e s s of, 9 7 against parent, 113
p h a l l i c d e v e l o p m e n t of, 9 3 defecation, a s aggression, 5 3
97 54
r e l a t i o n s h i p of, to m o t h e r , defence, 1 1 9
98 against a n a l urges, 127-28
British Psycho-Analytical mechanism, 133
S o c i e t y , viii a n d a n a l urges, 127-28
d e m a n d feeding, 1 2 8
c a s t r a t i o n , fear of, 9 5 d e s i r e s , i d , l e s s e n i n g of, 1 0 2
c a t h e x i s [Besetzung], 7 0 destructive drives, 13
libidinal, 5 9 development
c h i l d , passim of a g g r e s s i o n , 6 5 - 6 6
aggression i n , 9 7 child's, 2, 6
d a n g e r s faced b y , 1 1 1 - 1 2 f a t h e r ' s role i n , 6 8 , 7 6 - 7 7 ,
development 122-33
from p s y c h o a n a l y t i c m o t h e r ' s role i n , 6 8 , 7 4
standpoint, 2, 6 76, 54-55, 122-33
p a r e n t s ' role i n , 1 0 8 - 9 ego, 3 7 - 5 0 , 1 0 9 - 1 8
role o f i n c o m m u n i t y , 6 role o f fear i n , 1 0 9 - 1 8
s a d i s m of, 6 6 id, 3 7
c h i l d h o o d , p s y c h o l o g y of, 1 2 2 libidinal, 8 8
C l a r k University, 1 motivational. 2 . 6
climacteric, anxiety i n , 116-17 of object r e l a t i o n s h i p s , 6 8
compulsiveness, 128 78
INDEX 137
personality, mother's role in, economic point of view, 52

2 education, sex, 125-27
phallic, 105-6 ego, 6-7, 22, 37, 71
of boy, 93-97 in adolescence, 68
father's role in, 93-95, 97 body, 28
100, 103-4 content and identifications,
of girl, 97-99 130
mother's role in, 93-95, control, of drives, 130
97-100, 103-4 dangers faced by, 111-12
parents' role in, 105-6 development, 37-50
of sex instinct, 39-50 role of anxiety in, 109-18
sex, stages of, 42 role of fear in, 109-18
sexual, 45-46, 88-89 role of parents in, 38-39
father's role in, 49, 54-55 function of, 8, 25-27, 30
mother's role in, 49 35
anal stage of, 45-46, 88 growth of, through
89 identifications, 82
oral stage of, 42, 43-45, as I , 28
88 and id, 25-35
phallic stage of, 46-47, distinction between, 17
54, 88, 89-90 instinct, 56-57
speech, 30-31 integration, 17
mother's role in, 30-31 parents in, 100
structural, of personality, 88 reaction, aggression as, 56
displacement of aim, 60 57
dreams synthesis vs29
id revealed through, 15, 16 unconscious roots of, 15
and reality, 26 and wish fulfilment, 13
drive electric shock treatment,
activity, modification of, change in superego
parents' role in, 109 following, 107
death, 57-58 energy
drives aggressive, 69
anal, modification of, 131 libidinal, 69
constructive and environment
destructive, 13 fear of, 112, 115, 120
dangers from, 115 influence of, 24
ego control of, 130 eroticism, skin, 59
instinctual [Trieb], 8 exhibitionism, 124
modifiability of, 119 role of, 131
oral, modification of, 131 experience vs. inheritance,
pressure of, 13 92
138 INDEX
f a m i l y s i t u a t i o n , role o f i n frustration
phallic development, a n d aggression, 9 1 - 9 2
105-6 role of, 1 3 3
fantasies, sexual, importance in identification, 1 0 2 - 3
of, 126-27
father girl
ambivalence towards, 7 6 aggressiveness i n , 9 7
77, 80, 8 7 p h a l l i c d e v e l o p m e n t of, 9 7
conflict w i t h , 1 1 5 99
identification with, 8 2 - 8 3 r e l a t i o n s h i p of, to m o t h e r ,
origin of superego a s , 8 5 98-99
influence of on id, 1 9 gratification, s u b s t i t u t e , 6 0
rivalry of child with, 7 6 - 7 8 greed, i n o r a l p h a s e , 8 8
role of, i n c h i l d ' s guilt
development, 3 8 - 3 9 , 4 9 , a n d cruel superego, 8 6 , 1 1 4
54-55, 68, 76-77, 9 3 feelings, 1 0 7 , 1 1 6
95, 97-100, 103-4, 122
33 hallucinations, 2 6
fear harmony, inner, 1 2 9
of e n v i r o n m e n t , 1 1 2 , 1 1 5 , H a r v a r d U n i v e r s i t y , 1, 9 7
120 hate, 6 3
of loss of penis, 9 5 -love relationship, i n a n a l
o f o b j e c t love, 1 2 0 stage, 8 9
and punishment, 1 1 5 h o m o s e x u a l i t y , o r i g i n of, 1 0 0
of r e a l i t y , 1 1 2 , 1 1 4 . 1 1 7 1
r o l e of, I n ego d e v e l o p m e n t , hunger, 5 6
109-18
feeding, d e m a n d , 1 2 8 Ich, das, 28
F r e u d , A n n a , passim id
Freud, Sigmund, 1 anxiety, 1 1 7
'Analysis of a Phobia i n a d e s i r e s , l e s s e n i n g of, 1 0 2
F i v e - Y e a r - O l d Boy', 1 1 5 development, 3 7
Ego and the Id, The 22, a n d ego, 17. 25-35
28 distinction between, 1 7
Inhibitions, Symptoms and f u n c t i o n of, 8 - 1 9
Anxiety, 2 2 parents' influence on, 1 9
Interpretation of Dreams, The power, 1 2 0
22 revealed through d r e a m s ,
a n d LITTLE HANS, 115-16 15, 16
Three Essays on the Theory and unconscious, 2 1 - 2 3
of Sexuality, 5 5 difference b e t w e e n , 2 1 - 2 3
frigidity, 4 0 urges a n d superego, 8 5
INDEX 139
identification, 7 9 - 9 0 , 121 libido, 5 2 , 69-74

i m p o r t a n c e of, 8 4 d e v e l o p m e n t of, 8 8
role of frustrations i n , 1 0 2 - 3 d i s t r i b u t i o n , t h e o r y of, 7 1 ,
a n d superego, 1 3 0 81
identifications narcissistic, 8 1
early, 1 0 7 a n d object, 7 1
a n d ego c o n t e n t , 1 3 0 object. 7 1 , 81
with parents, 1 3 0 life
a n d superego, 1 3 0 c o m p l i c a t i o n s of, 1 0 8 - 9
i m a g i n i n g , p r o c e s s of, 1 7 instinct, 5 7 - 5 8 , 6 1 , 63
impotence, 4 0 LITTLE HANS, 115-16
i m p u l s e s , e r u p t i o n s of, 3 2 lobotomy, 7
infantile sexuality, 4 1 love, 5 6 , 6 3 , 79-90
a n d perversions, 5 0 being in, 1 0 8
inheritance vs. experience, 9 2 -hate relationship, in a n a l
inhibition of a i m , 6 0 stage, 8 9
instinct, 1 3 object, 7 0 , 7 2
aggression, 6 1 - 6 3 fear of, 1 2 0
death. 6 1 , 6 3 a n d self-love, 107-8
ego, 56-57 self-, a n d object, 7 1 , 107-8
life a n d d e a t h , 5 7 - 5 8
sex, 39-50, 56-57 masturbation, 1 2 4 - 2 5 , 129
and ego, 56-57 in phallic phase, 6 8
instinctive vs. instinctual, 6 memory, 2 7
instincts m i n d , t o p o g r a p h i c a l m o d e l of,
aim of, 59-60 22
d e v e l o p m e n t of, 8 8 M o r a n , George, ix
p s y c h o a n a l y t i c t h e o r y of, mother
39 ambivalence towards, 8 0 ,
i n s t i n c t u a l d r i v e s [Trieb], 8 87, 83-89
i n t e g r a t i o n , w i t h i n ego, 2 9 - c h i l d relationship, 8 9
inverted O e d i p u s complex, conflict w i t h , 1 1 5
100, 103 greed towards, i n oral
phase, 8 8
jealousy, 7 7 - 7 8 identification w i t h , 8 2 - 8 3
o r i g i n of s u p e r e g o a s , 8 5
Klein, Melanie, 6 3 i n f l u e n c e of o n i d , 1 9
object r e l a t i o n of c h i l d to,
latency phase, 4 7 , 5 4 59
leucotomy, prefrontal, 7 relationship
libidinal development, 8 8 w i t h boy, 9 8
libidinal energy, 6 9 with girl, 9 8 - 9 9
140 INDEX
role of greed in, 88

in child's development, 2, parents
49, 54-55, 68, 74-76, aggression towards, 86, 87,
122-33 114
in development of speech, ambivalence towards, 75
30-31 77, 80, 87
in ego development, 38 in ego, 100
39, 111 identification with, 130
in phallic development, and superego, 113
93-95, 97-100, 103-4 influence of on id, 19
permissiveness of, 69, 84
nail biting, 69 87, 114, 117, 130, 131.
narcissism, 71, 92 132
and object-love, 107-8 power of over child, 112-13
of schizophrenic, 107 in development of child,
narcissistic libido, 71, 81 108-9
negative Oedipus complex, in modification of drive
100, 103 activity, 109
neuroses, 128-29 in phallic development,
neurotic anxiety, 115 105-6
strictness of, 45-46, 86
object in superego, 100
constancy, 73, 77 see also father, mother
lack of, 75 Parsons, Talcott, vii, 1-3
libido, 71 penis, fear of loss of, 95
love, 70, 72 permissiveness of parents, 69,
fear of, 120 84-87, 114, 117, 130,
and self-love, 107-8 131, 132
relationship, 59, 80 personality
stages of development of, aspects of, 6-7
68-78 and environment,
oedipal phase, 115, 123 distinction between, 27
Oedipus complex, 78, 90, 93 splitting within, 30
104, 106, 120 structural development of,
anxiety in, 116-17 88
inverted, 100, 103 structure of, 85
negative, 100, 103 perversions
oral drives, modification of, and infantile sexuality, 50
131 sexual, 40
oral phase of sexual phallic phase of sexual
development, 42, 43-45, development, 46-47, 54,
88 88, 89-90
INDEX 141
of boy, 93-97 Sandler, Joseph, vii-ix

father's role in, 93-95, 97 schizophrenic, narcissism of,
100, 103-4 107
of girl, 97-99 Sears, Robert, 2, 84
masturbation in, 68 secondary process, 34
pleasure self-love and object love, 107
-pain principle, 14, 15, 57 8
principle, 133 sex
pregenital stages, 115 education, role of, 125-27
pregenital sexuality, 41, 50 instinct, 56-57
primary process, 34 development of, 39-50
principle, reality, 130, 133 sexual development
process, primary and anal stage of, 45-46, 88-89
secondary, 34 oral stage of, 42, 43-45, 88
projection, 87, 121 phallic stage of, 46-47
and superego, 120 sexuality
psychoanalysis and anatomy, and aggression, 61-63, 73
7 74
psychoanalytic theory, infantile, 41, 50
dualistic, 56 infantile, and perversions,
psychoanalytic treatment and 50
change in superego, 107 siblings
psychology vs. biology, 58 identification with, 83
punishment, 111, 112 relationship towards, 77-78,
and fear, 115 80-81
rivalry with, 97
RadclifTe College, 1, 97 skin, eroticism, 59
rationalization, 11 social anxiety, 120
reality speech, development of, 30-31
and dreams, 26 splitting, within
fear of, 112, 114, 117 personality,30
principle, 130, 133 stammering, 31
testing, 26, 27 strictness of parents, 45-46,
relationship, object, 80 86
repression, 120-21 sublimation, 120-21
resistance and unconscious, substitute gratification, 60
12 sucking, 43-45
rivalry Sullivan, Barbara, ix
with father, 76-78 superego, 6-7, 22, 23, 37, 71,
sibling, 97 85-90
in adolescence, 68
sadism of child, 66 change in, 106-7
142 INDEX
and psychoanalysis, 107 toilet training, 89, 128

closing up of, 120 role of, in anal stage, 89
completion of, 102-3 topographical model of mind,
and conscience, 113-14 22
cruel Trieb vs. instinct, 8
and anxiety, 86
and guilt, 86, 114 unconscious
function of, 8 displacement in, 18
and id urges, 85 force of, 10
and identification with and id, 21-23
parents, 113 language of, 17-18
and identifications, 130 not accessible to
origin of, 85 consciousness, 9
parents in, 100 psychology of, 6-19
and projection, 120 and resistance, 12
synthesis, within ego, 29 scope of, 14-15
system, Unconscious, 22
temper, tantrums, 32 wish fulfilment, 13-14, 57,

thinking 111, 133
process of, 17 and action, 32
and speech, 31 and ego, 13
thumb-sucking, 43-45, 53,
68, 69, 124, 131 Yoga, 58
THE HARVARD LECTURES
A N N A FREUD
Edited and annotated by Joseph Sandler
T h i s remarkable series of introductory lectures on psychoanalysis is, in fact, a lucid,

elegant and profound overview of classic psychoanalytic theory, in which Anna
Freud spells out the main aspects of psychoanalytic psychology. The simple and
clear language characteristic of her lecturing, the precision of her concepts and their
mutual relationships, and the very liveliness of this comprehensive synthesis make
for a thought-provoking, exciting reading experience, even after forty years.'
—Otto Kernberg, M.D.
'In these nine lectures we have the privileged opportunity of rediscovering Anna
Freud. Though the lectures were given forty years ago they are fresh, original, playful
and useful psychoanalytic verities. These classical, jargon-free lectures have a
breathtaking capacity to go from direct observation to theory-building propositions
with a lucidity in which simplifying never becomes simplistic and which features in
a dogma-free fashion the practical aspects of child development and child care.'
—Albert J . Solnit, M.D.
These nine lectures given by Anna Freud at Harvard University in 1 9 5 2 . . . vividly

convey the spontaneity, clarity, and engaging quality of her didactic talks, prepared,
if at all, only in her head. Forty years is a long time in psychoanalysis, b u t . . . they
still provide, for the newcomer, a telling bird's eye view of the field, while the
informed reader will recognise them as an important contribution to teaching
technique in psychoanalysis.'
—Clifford Yorke, F.R.C.P., D.P.M.,
Psychiatrist-in-Charge,
The Anna Freud Centre,
London
Karnac Books,
58, Gloucester Road, Cover Illustration:
London SW7 4QY 'Composition' by Krajcberg
Distributed in the U.S.A. by Cover designed by

Brunner/Mazel, Inc. Malcolm Smith
19 Union Square West
New York, NY 1003 ISBN 1 85575 030 9

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edited and annotated by

THE INSTITUTE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS

Edited and annotated by

The Institute of Psycho-Analysis

Copyright © 1 9 9 2 T h e Anna Freud Centre

All rights reserved. No part of this book m a y b e reproduced,

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data*

ISBN 978 1 85575 030 2

Printed in Great Britain by BPCC Wheatons Ltd, Exeter

PREFACE by Joseph Sandler vii

Introduction by Talcott Parsons 1

T hese lectures were given by Anna Freud at Harvard

out to you where these theories are of Immediate concern to

application to child care, as well as giving us a most valuable

I n 1950, Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud,

Human Development in the Faculty of Education. The course

This introductory lecture was designed by Miss Freud to

I am looking for remarks, queries, or criticisms in the

^ h r o u g h out these Lectures, Anna Freud uses the term 'instinctive*

fortable with these three terms or concepts, I would like to

performed on very ill psychotic patients in the attempt to put

give you an example, that part of the personality which

and even further removed from the cultural aims—namely, the

stance, a course of lectures of this kind (the audience would not

you can be quite certain that he is motivated not for reasons

recorder and played it back to the person, then he would know

drive as it arises. That's a tall order, of course, for what the id

enormous misunderstanding, a misconception of the relative

ourselves, when we say T , we mean the conscious part? I sup­

SThere is increasing realization that the ego, regarded as a structure,

a few examples that may Interest you. For instance, we feel in

There is another possibility of seeing how the id operates,

D r e a m s do, of course, show a substantial degree of integration a n d

compromise formation. What is meant here is that the opposing im­

meant is there is no integration within the id, it is a mass, a

in the id there are no words; instincts have no words, they

other hand, I wanted you to understand that due to that

word 'unconscious' in various senses, and in what sense I have

*Here Anna Freud rectifies a simplification she had made in the

model of the mind, put forward by Freud in 1900 in The Interpretation of

theory (you have no idea how many complications I spare you as

all its needs automatically fulfilled through the agency of the

child has learned to "test reality*. It takes several months be­

and experiences in the outside world. These hallucinatory pro­

because the distinction, after all, has nothing to do with the

what we know of our personality, which means our body and

then, the basis of the future conscious personality that collects

meanings given by Freud to das Ich and is to be distinguished from the

A further, highly important acquisition of that young ego is

opment, which means the division, the splitting up, which

the environment. From the analytic side we know little about

drives. Action is meant to bring about wish fulfilment, and

of id impulses. Temper tantrums, for example, while often expressions

I t h i n k it w o u l d b e a great m i s t a k e , o n the other h a n d , if y o u

formed, any wish of a certain strength can overpower it; and

the id and the ego is a framework only^the bare bones of each,

Sexuality and development

assignment here is two-sided: on the one hand, it is to make

become so resentful towards your own parents, when they try

ourselves, when we say T , we mean the conscious part? I sup

compromise formation. What is meant here is that the opposing im

child has learned to "test reality*. It takes several months be

and experiences in the outside world. These hallucinatory pro

pacifier? Because it pacifies the child's desire for oral pleas

Another questioner asked why conflict in the human per

mother i n a very curious way only—namely, b y erecting some

d e s c r i b e d by F r e u d in 1909 in his 'Analysis of a Phobia in a Five