What is mind? How is it shaped by experience in the first three years of life

by

Humanities

1900 ~ 2100 words

this module is called Psychoanalytic Perspectives of Infancy and Early Childhood.

Please use Harvard style for the referencing (need around 15 references in total). And thanks in advance!!!

Students are expected to use the content covered in the module in a critically reflexive way to respond to What is mind? And this question which explores student capacity to apply what they have learned from a general appreciation of the module content, will enable the successful achievement of all aims and learning outcomes.

A working definition for this essay

Mind refers to the part of a person that enables them to think, feel emotions and be aware of things.

A clarification

Your brain is part of the visible, tangible world of the body. Your mind is part of the invisible, transcendent world of thought, feeling, attitude, belief and imagination. The brain is the physical organ most associated with mind and consciousness, but the mind is not confined to the brain.

This essay requires students to apply their learning in a less proscribed way. It invites students to return to a theory (and theorist) that they found interesting to think in further detail and then to write about how that theorist and theory understands how an infant’s mind is shaped by experience within their early years.

The psychoanalytic theories presented offer a complex description of the human mind and how it develops. Students are encouraged to draw on psychoanalytic perspectives that have been presented throughout the module to critically explore how mind is shaped by experiences in the early years of life. To do this, students will need to identify which theories presented throughout the module have been most impactful on their thinking and read around those theories to critically investigate what those theories assume about how the mind of a child develops through the early years.

Points that could be addressed in this essay (you can choose three points to critically discuss in this essay)

  • How does the theory understand links between early experience and the development of an infant’s mind (or their capacity to think, feel emotions and be aware of things)?
    • What does the theory of your choice assume is conducive to healthy development?
    • How does it see early development being disrupted?
    • What key terms are introduced to describe important aspects of early experience and how they are experienced?
    • To what degree does the theory (or theorist) offer a unique contribution or unique insight?
    • How can the theory help parents and practitioners appreciate aspects of early experience?
    • What are the limitations inherent in the theory presented

And I have uploaded some useful powerpoint below:

1: What is Psychoanalysis?

2: Freud1: The 3 Phases of Freud Theories

3: Freud 2: Psychosexual Development

4: Lacan: Mirror Stage and the Influence of the Symbolic

5: Klein: Early Psychic Development

6: Winnicott: The Facilitating Environment

7: Attachment and Mentalisation

8: Also, I have attached an reading called ‘The Paranoid Schizoid Position by Betty Joseph’ which is taken from the book introducing Psychoanalysis edited by Budd and Rusbridger, and it will be a helpful reference if focusing on the Klein’s theory.

Thank you!!!