You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Analytic observation of the psychic development of the blind seems of interest and worthy of study, opening up certain problems of theoretical interest. We are aware that in instinctual life sight plays an important role. It has its place in sexual life as a component instinct, as exhibitionism, and as scoptophilia. As regards the mechanism of identification, it is usually the impressions observed which become the objects of identification. In ego-development, reality-testing is one of the most important functions of the ego, and this goes on mostly on the basis of sight.
Therefore when sight is lacking, certain elements which have a part in the development of the normal child must be lacking too. It is worth our while to follow the consequences of this lack of sight, on the one hand in sexual development and on the other in character formation. It is generally said of the blind that they are very cheerful, most friendly and show little aggression, but that they are very prone to lie. The deaf on the contrary are known to be disagreeable, unfriendly and to tend to paranoid ideas. Analytical investigation of character formation should make it possible to tell whether these general statements are correct or not.
The opinion generally held about the blind in literature and by laymen is that although the blind have one sense less than the normal person they compensate for this lack by having their other