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The Congenital Activity Type, a descriptive term referring to the amount of activity a new-born infant shows in response to certain stimuli, is a concept covering neuromuscular excitability due in part to inherited, intra-uterine, and birth factors, and in part to temporary body changes and emotional states as well as to emotional attitudes of the parents. Grouping is into five types, ranging from pathological extremes of hyper- and hypo-activity through active, and moderately active, to quiet types. The impact of environmental experiences occurring before the differentiation of the ego from the id gains importance because the effect is as lifelong as though they were constitutional factors. The Congenital Activity Type therefore ranks in the authors' view as one of the primal ego variations to which Freud referred in 'Analysis Terminable and Interminable.'
On the basis of extensive observation of cases in analytic treatment and direct observation of some two hundred newborn babies, the authors have explored the role of the Congenital Activity Type in determining the set of the parent-child relationship; as a factor in psychosexual development, e.g. in the choice of areas of libidinization; in its influence on the child's ways of testing reality and his form of mastery over his environment; in the choice of defence mechanisms; and finally in the choice of symptom and the predisposition to pathology. While every condition is overdetermined, the conclusion is reached that the Congenital Activity Type is one of the many aetiological factors in personality development.