VIII. Early Stages of the Oedipus Conflict and of Super-Ego Formation

IN the following chapters I shall attempt to add something to our knowledge of the origin and structure of the super-ego. The theoretical conclusions I am going to put forward have been obtained from a direct acquaintance with the earliest processes of mental development, since they are based on actual analyses of small children. These analyses have shown that the oral frustrations which children undergo release the Oedipus impulses in them and that the super-ego begins to be formed at the same time. The genital impulses remain out of sight at first since they do not as a rule assert themselves against the pregenital impulses until the third year of life. At that period they begin to emerge into clear view and the child enters a phase in which its early sexual life comes to a climax and its Oedipus conflict attains full development.

In the following pages I shall outline the developmental processes which precede this early expansion of sexuality and try to show that the early stages of the Oedipus conflict and of the formation of the super-ego extend, roughly, from the middle of the first year to the third year of the child's life.1

Normally the infant's pleasure in sucking is succeeded by pleasure in biting. Lack of gratification at the oral-sucking stage increases its need for gratification at the