ABSTRACT
A good deal of confusion is due to the fact that perceptual consciousness and the instruments of projection are at the service of the most primitive ego formations. The analysis of obsessional neurotics has shown that it is possible for the ego to achieve a high degree of differentiation under the primacy of the anal-sadistic phase, and the presence of distinct obsessional traits in a large number of so-called 'normal' individuals suggests that this early differentiation is a common occurrence. Nevertheless, it is curious to note how little attention has been paid to a discrepancy between anthropological views and the customary teachings of a temporal relation between ego and super-ego. If we had no evidence to consider other than the evidence of anthropological data, one would have presumed from the sequence animism and magic, religion and objective science, that the super-ego was a decisive factor in Real ego formation and real object formation.
