Anna Freud: Observation and Development

Anna Freud taught the importance of observation, suggesting that students jot down their observations in a systematic manner. She urged observers to amplify their notes, which were later discussed in meetings. Observations made in the nursery school, for example, were discussed afterwards and classified in a file under appropriate headings somewhat similar to the technique used at the Anna Freud Centre. In this paper I describe my observations of a subject as an infant and a toddler with special reference to the way she looked intensely at the world around her. To some degree, the way she herself looked-i.e., her appearance-was also interesting. The relationship between the child's looking in infancy and the oedipal child's sexual curiosity, exhibitionism, and scoptophilia is suggested by these observations.