Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-15T09:21:32.805Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Problem of “Orality” and of its Origin in Early Childhood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

Frieda Goldman-Eisler
Frieda Goldman-Eisler*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry (Maudsley Hospital)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The concept of “orality” as used in this paper indicates a certain constellation of traits or habitual reactions which are, or are assumed to be, derivatives, whether direct or modified, of behaviour patterns characteristic of early childhood. The importance of the mouth as the first erotogenic zone and as the organ generating fundamental attitudes of giving or receiving, waiting or being impatient, and hoping or despairing, has been stressed by psychoanalysis. According to psycho-analytic theory, the oral phase, that is, the first period of libidinal development, plays a most important part for later character development in as far as gratification, or frustration, of the oral impulses is assumed to have a determining influence on character-formation in later life.

Type
Part I.—Original Articles
Information
Journal of Mental Science , Volume 97 , Issue 409 , October 1951 , pp. 765 - 782
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1951 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

(1) Abraham, K., “The Influence of Oral Eroticism on Character-formation,” in Selected Papers, 1942. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
(1a) Bergler, E., “Zur Problematik des Oralen Pessimisten,” Imago, 1934, 20, 330–376.Google Scholar
(2) Glover, E., “Notes on Oral Character-formation,” Int. J. Psychoanal., 1925, 6, 131–153.Google Scholar
(3) Goldman, , Frieda, , “Breast-feeding and Character-formation,” J. Personality, 1948, 17, 83–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
(4) Idem, “The Etiology of the Oral Character in Psycho-analytic Theory,” ibid., 1950, 19, 189–196.Google Scholar
(5) Ribble, Margaret M., “Infantile Experience in Relation to Personality Development,” in Hunt, J. McV. (Ed.), Personality and the Behavior Disorders, 1950, Vol. 2, 621–651. New York: Ronald Press Co.Google Scholar
(6) Sharpe, , Ella, “Hamlet”, in Collected Papers on Psycho-analysis, 1950. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.