Identification : Psychoanalytic and Biological

In the recent attempt to bring psychoanalysis into contact and shared understanding with other sciences, there have been a number of works explicating neural science concepts and phenomena – affect, memory, consciousness for the psychoanalyst. These have enriched our field and helped to build a scientific foundation for our theory and practice. The present paper tries to accomplish another related task, namely to take a psychoanalytic concept and see how it relates to other sciences. Identification has a long history in psychoanalytic theory. We see it in parent-child interactions, in teaching and mentoring relationships, and in psychoanalysis and therapy. We may find information about this phenomenon by looking into other sciences. In neuro-psychology and evolutionary biology, we may gain some information about the phylogenetic precursors of identification. In genetics and infant research we may gain insight into individual identification processes. And in 1 . Paper presented at the Neuroscience, Psychopharmacology and Psychoanalysis Study Group, New York, 11/1/03. In press, (2006) J. American Psychoanalytic Assn. 54:17-46. .