THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ADEQUATE PSYCHOANALYTIC theory of affect is contingent upon a full understanding of the nature of emotional development during the earliest years of life. Beginning with Freud, almost every major theorist on the subject has relied on a developmental perspective. This dependence on knowledge of early development has no doubt contributed to the lack of consensus about affect theory in the psychoanalytic literature, given the inherent limitations of reconstructing the nature of affective development during the earliest months and years of life in the course of psychoanalytic work with adults (Abrams and Shengold, 1978). The direct observation of infants and young children has been a very necessary complement to retrospective reconstruction and has made invaluable contributions to our current knowledge. This