Lap and Finger Play in Infancy, Implications for Ego Development1

In this paper an attempt has been made to make some common sense knowledge of good enough mothering more explicit and to spell out in somewhat laborious detail how specific aspects of the infant's relationship with the mother are influenced by changes in his own internal state and by the non-nutritive aspects of the mother's interaction with him, particularly the playful aspects of that interaction. Four specific orientation and anchorage systems have been defined—holding, rooting and head orienting activities, hand-mouth functions, and the visual system. These behavioural systems are comprised of interdependent components from both mother and infant. Various aspects of this interaction have been subjected to interpretation and this has led to a consideration of some developmental aspects of the apparatuses of primary autonomy, synthetic functions of the ego, fixation, and the capacity for aim-inhibited object relations. Although some longitudinal case studies are cited, no attempt has been made to delineate a particular time at which the particular functions develop. More systematic observational data, both cross-sectional and longitudinal, is called for.