ABSTRACT
Our research is focused on how the child-parent interaction serves the development of mental functions and regulatory structures in the child. Mental functions and structures result from the experience of the biologically maturing individual in interaction with the surrounding familial, sociocultural, and physical environment. Those elements of mental make-up that are not biologically-rooted are developed through human interaction and developmental process involving internalization and identification (Hartmann, 1939/1958; Hartmann & Kris, 1945; Settlage, 1980/1989).
