The Ambivalence of the Newborn According to G.H. Graber

1. Summary of “The Ambivalence of the Child” (Graber, 1924)

Gustav Hans Graber (1893–1982), a Swiss psychologist and psychoanalyst, in his doctoral dissertation Die Ambivalenz des Kindes (Graber, 1924), explores the internal conflict of the child — the duality of desires: the urge for union with the mother and the desire for autonomy. He describes ambivalence as a fundamental psychic structure that forms already during the prenatal and early perinatal stages.

2. Perinatal Context: How It Works

2.1 Ambivalent Experience of Pregnancy

Recent studies in perinatal psychology describe an “ambivalent” type of pregnant person, characterized by emotional fluctuations between anxiety and joy, especially when perceiving fetal movements (Dau, Snegur, Ermolova, & Ioffe, 2019). According to Graber, these maternal emotional shifts are mirrored in the developing embryo’s perception of the world, laying the foundation for a dual attitude toward the self and the environment.

2.2 Formation of the Mother–Infant Bond

Psychoanalysts and modern researchers emphasize that psychological bonding begins already during pregnancy and is influenced by the mother’s imagined representation of the baby (Ermolova, Ioffe, & Filatova, 2019). When expectations and reality diverge, an ambivalent disposition may emerge, potentially affecting postnatal behavior and attachment.

2.3 Impact on Emotional Development

Empirical evidence shows that maternal anxiety and emotional instability during pregnancy are associated with an increased risk of developing anxious-ambivalent attachment patterns and neurophysiological changes in the infant’s stress response system (Ermolova et al., 2019).

3. Analysis from the Perspective of Modern Perinatal Psychology

1. Graber’s hypothesis finds confirmation in current data: ambivalence may indeed be rooted in the prenatal environment, where the mother’s emotional state becomes the first “container” for the child’s experience (Graber, 1924; Dau et al., 2019).
2. Integration of psychoanalysis and empirical research — Graber’s approach is complemented by current biopsychosocial models, encompassing psychoemotional, hormonal, and physiological markers (Ermolova et al., 2019).
3. Preventive potential — ambivalent feelings about pregnancy and the child can serve as indicators of potential difficulties and should be addressed during prenatal counseling (Shkurotenko & Dobryakov, 2011).

4. References (APA 7)

• Graber, G. H. (1924). Die Ambivalenz des Kindes [The ambivalence of the child]. Zürich: Universität Zürich.
• Ermolova, V. M., Ioffe, A. V., & Filatova, I. S. (2019). Vliyanie sostoyaniya i otnosheniya k rebenku materi v period beremennosti na posleduyushchee psikhicheskoe razvitie rebenka: analiz literatury [Influence of the maternal condition and attitude to the child during pregnancy on subsequent mental development: Literature review]. Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology, 8(4), 87–96. https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp.2019080408
• Dau, A. L., Snegur, E. A., Ermolova, V. M., & Ioffe, A. V. (2019). Prenatal maternal attitudes and postnatal attachment: Comparative longitudinal study. Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology, 8(4), 71–86. https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp.2019080407
• Shkurotenko, I. V., & Dobryakov, I. V. (2011). Aktual’nye problemy perinatal’noi psikhologii: obzor issledovanii [Current problems of perinatal psychology: A review of studies]. Nauchnyi rezultat. Seriya “Sotsial’nye i gumanitarnye issledovaniya”, 2(1), 55–61.