INDIVIDUAL MEANING AND INCREASING COMPLEX ITY - CONTRIBUTIONS OF FREUD,SIGMUND AND SPITZ,RENE TO DEVELOPMENTAL-PSYCHOLOGY

Contributions of Sigmund Freud and Rene Spitz to developmental psychol ogy are presented in terms of today's research. The work of each of th ese pioneers draws our attention to the need for increasing our knowle dge about the meaning of individual experience and increasing complexi ty in the course of development. Freud's contribution to today's devel opmental thinking is reviewed in terms of his observations of play, hi s schematic perspectives on developmental processes, and his innovativ e theoretical approaches involving nonconscious mental activity in the context of constructivism, Spitz's contribution to today's thinking i s reviewed according to a similar array of topics. These include his o bservational assessments of infants, his schematic perspectives on dev elopmental processes, and his innovative theoretical approaches involv ing affective communications in the context of caregiving.