Abstract
In this study, the uniqueness of reflective man expressed
in a variety of separate persons, each with his own expanding
system of relationships the separate elements of which overlap
and form parts of the systems of others provides our
definition of personality which is that specially human
quality by which a person manifests his individuality in
relationships with objects. The person who forms the unit
is the product of processes of biological evolution and the
force which is activating these processes is taken to be
ultimately the same as that which energises systems of physical
matter. The study of interchange of energy between physical
structures and the psychic apparatus of individuals is within
the field of metapsychology in which the unit is a mental
process. Metapsychologically, persons are themselves systems.
Recent developments in ego psychology indicate that the time
has now come to attempt a synthesis of Freudian and later
theoretical contributions to personality study, clinical findings in both adult and child analysis, philosophical
considerations of the nature of reality and consciousness and
some recent advances in the natural sciences. Such a large
aim is beyond the scope of this work which is confined to an
attempt to reformulate the Freudian theory of latency and
adolescence within a comprehensive theory of transition.
