Latency and the Capacity to Reflect on Mental States

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Notes

Sarnoff (1976) points out the multiple definitions of the term “latency,” and suggests that the usage of the term would be clarified if combined with identifying qualifications. Following his suggestion, I will use the term “latency age period” to designate the chronological time period between six and twelve years of age, and the term “state of latency” to designate a psychological state characterized by a particular organization of defenses, behavior, and psychological capacities that may or may not coincide with the latency age period.

As outlined by Seligman (2002) reflective function can be thought of as comprising a number of related capacities, such as the awareness that one has a mind like other people have minds, the ability to distinguish between one’s own mind and the minds of others, appreciation of the distinction between intentions and effects, and the ability to imagine that one’s own experience of an external reality may be one among many. It is the last of these inter-related capacities that I am most concerned with in this paper.

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Notes on contributors

John M. Jemerin

Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, and Faculty Member, San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute.