Data selected from the vast array of new information about the neonate period (the first weeks of life) is presented from the perspective of the confirmation it furnishes or the questions it raises about psychoanalytic theory. The specific areas of psychoanalytic theory that are discussed are drive theory, ego psychology, affect theory, and object relations theory. In addition, the neonate research data and theories that have been derived from them are used as the basis for a critical re-evaluation of four factors previously suggested to be significant in the development of the sense of self and object.