The following work provides a psychoanalytic exploration of the contribution of images to the psychological development of children, and their consequent impact on adult communication with both the self and the other. To begin, Jean Piaget's stage theory regarding the cognitive and perceptual development of infants is studied. Its consideration and critique allow me to establish the tenets which I wish to guide my work. For instance, while Piaget proposed the importance of sight in the development of children, he did not effectively distinguish vision, and its product visual imagery, from the conceptual framework of the written and spoken word. Thus, much like classical sociologists more generally, he was unable to assess imagery as a distinct form of communication and as a result subjected its character, role, and importance to misinterpretation. Its strong connection to the unconscious was at once underestimated and used as a means to undermine the intellectual complexity and significance of imagery. / To further highlight the importance of visual imagery in the life of both child and adult in chapter 3 I examine the dominant manners in which imagery, primarily through the unconscious, influences and stabilizes our psyche. I have distinguished three forms of psychic activity through visual imagery; (1) simple fantasy, (2) complex fantasy, and (3) dreams. These processes are used at different times and for different reasons as demanded by the need to maintain a healthy balance within the id and the ego, between the two, and with others in one's social sphere. Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, D. W. Winnicott and Charles Rycroft are among those theorists used to develop these thoughts. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.22562 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Bell, S. Caroline (Sarah Caroline) |
| Contributors | Levin, Charles (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Graduate Communications Program.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001448990, proquestno: MM05359, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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