Roland describes Indian child-rearing practices and subsequent character development from a perspective of developmental object relations. He concludes that because of an emphasis on symbiotic modes of relating and inhibition of separation-individuation, that Indian culture—the personality of its people—is characterized by empathy, high inner self-regard, ego ideal dominance, etc.

The author of the present paper disagrees on several significant points. First, Roland's emphasis is on manifest behaviour. He ignores those inner processes central to Freud's theory of psychic conflict. Second, he has neglected to consider that the progress of object relations occurs within the framework of psychosexual development, and is dependent especially on the resolution of oral sadistic and anal sadistic impulses.