Concept
Conflict-free ego sphere
Heinz Hartmann's provisional name, proposed in 1939, for the whole set of ego functions that in fact develop and operate outside mental conflict, such as perception, intention, thinking, language, memory and motor development. Hartmann did not claim these functions are untouched by conflict; he argued that psychoanalysis must study how they grow and how they help or hinder the individual in mastering conflict, and not only the ego's defences.
- Broader concept
- Ego psychology
- Introduced by
- Heinz Hartmann
- Key works
- 2
- Related
- Ego autonomy
introduced by
- Heinz Hartmann 1939 Hartmann proposed the term, as a provisional name, in the paper he read to the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1937 and published in 1939.
gave rise to
- Ego autonomy 1939 Hartmann's idea of autonomous ego development grew out of his conflict-free ego sphere: both describe ego functions that cannot be derived from the drives or from conflict.