The Development of the Sense of Self

I have presented an account of the development of the sense of self from infancy through early childhood. I approach the psychoanalytic concept of the "self" by maintaining a strict distinction between an experiential realm, in which the sense of self can be understood empathically, and the nonexperiential realm, which refers to functioning of the psychic structures id, ego, and superego. In this way, the sense of self can be seen as arising during the infantile stage as islands of experience that then, bit by bit, are formed into more ordered groupings of images. Bodily self-images, self-images in relation with objects seen as distinctly separate, and images of the grandiose self associated with idealized self-objects become blended experientially into a sense of self that has the quality of cohesion—of unity and continuity in time, space, and state. By tracing the way cohesion occurs and the effect cohesion of the sense of self has on development in both the experiential and nonexperiential realms, I hope to indicate the position the sense of self occupies as a significant basic concept in psychoanalysis.