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In this first of several articles, the authors outline the theoretical framework upon which their future articles will be based. It is an overview of the development of the superego from its earliest precursor through the vicissitudes of the separation-individuation process and the oedipal period. The authors follow Margaret Mahler's stages of separation-individuation, meticulously depicting the components in each stage relating to superego formation. The earliest primordia of the superego become established during the symbiotic phase. Motor prohibitions and preverbal communications from the parent become internalized in memory traces which establish the basis for the first patterns of impulse control. An important component in this process is the angry look of the parental eye which may contribute to the later development of the sense of shame. In the differentiation, practicing, and rapprochement subphases, the task of integrating the images of "good" and "bad" mother as well as "good" and "bad" self is to be accomplished. The ego ideal, originating from the blissful state of union of the symbiotic phase, undergoes successive stages of development parallel to those of the superego precursors. At the time of the oedipal resolution, the ego ideal and the superego precursor fuse to form the superego proper with its functions of positive and negative sanctions.