Average expectable environment

Heinz Hartmann's term for the typical conditions, above all ordinary care, that a newborn can expect to meet. Hartmann held that a normal newborn is from the first day in a state of adaptedness to such an environment, though it could not survive under atypical conditions. A person's capacity for adaptation can therefore be judged only against typical or atypical situations, and development can proceed without each step being forced by conflict.