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The theoretical conclusions presented in the previous chapter are derived from psycho-analytic work with young children.1 We should expect such conclusions to be substantiated by observations of infants' behaviour during the first year of life. This corroborative evidence, however, has its limitations, for, as we know unconscious processes are only partly revealed in behaviour, whether of infants or adults. Keeping this reservation in mind, we are able to gain some confirmation of psycho-analytic findings in our study of babies.
Many details of infants' behaviour which formerly escaped attention or remained enigmatic, have become more understandable and significant through our increased knowledge of early unconscious processes; in other words, our faculty for observation in this particular field has been sharpened. We are, no doubt, hampered in our study of young infants by their inability to talk, but there are many details of early emotional development which we can gather by means other than language. If we are to understand the young infant, though, we need not only greater knowledge but also a full sympathy with him, based on our unconscious being in close touch with his unconscious.
I now propose to consider a few details of infant behaviour in the light of the theoretical conclusions put forward in various recent papers. Since I shall take little account here of the many variations which exist within the range of fundamental attitudes, my description is bound to be rather over-simplified. Also, all inferences which I shall draw as to further development must be qualified by the following consideration. From the beginning of postnatal life and at every stage of development, external factors affect the outcome. Even with adults, as we know, attitudes and character may be favourably or unfavourably influenced by environment and circumstances,