Using evidence culled from field and experimental studies of animals as well as observational materials from early human development, the existence of the turning-inward of aggression apart from or prior to significant superego development has been established. Some widely held notions about the nature and conditions of specific self-attacking behaviors or the general turning-inward of aggression in early childhood have been critically reviewed in the light of available data and current theory. The

concept of the early turning-inward of aggression occurring only where opportunity for outwardly directed aggression has been blocked is rejected; and some limited conceptualizations of the infant or young child's capacities for aggressive discharge are extended. A number of alternative theoretical approaches to early human autoaggression and self-aggression are presented, including the roles of stimulation and the complex involvements of the self—its localization, externalization, and its protective temporary fragmentation.