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→Prematurity of Infant
The [[baby]] sees its own [[image]] as [[gestalt|whole]], and the [[dialectic|synthesis]] of this [[image]] produces a sense of contrast with the uncoordination of the body, which is experienced as a [[fragmented body]]; this contrast is first felt by the [[infant]] as a rivalry with its own [[image]], because the [[gestalt|wholeness]] of the [[image]] threatens the subject with [[fragmentation]], and the [[mirror stage]] thereby gives rise to an [[aggressivity|aggressive tension]] between the [[subject]] and the [[image]].
In order to resolve this [[aggressivity|aggressive tension]], the [[subject]] [[identifies]] with the [[image]]; this [[identification|primary identification]] with the [[ounterpartcounterpart]] is what forms the [[ego]].
The moment of [[identification]], when the [[subject]] assumes its [[image]] as its own, is described by [[Lacan]] as a moment of jubilation,<ref>{{E}} p. 1</ref> since it leads to an [[imaginary]] sense of [[mastery]]:
<blockquote>[the child's] joy is due to his imaginary triumph in anticipating a degree of muscular co-ordination which he has not yet actually achieved.<ref>{{L}} 1951b. "[[Works of Jacques Lacan|Some Reflections on the Ego]]," ''Int. J. Psycho-Anal.'', Vol. 34, 1953: 15; {{S1}} p. 79</ref></blockquote>
However, this jubilation may also be accompanied by a depressive reaction, when the [[child]] compares his own precarious sense of [[mastery]] with the omnipotence of the [[mother]].<ref>{{Ec}} p. 345; {{S4}} p. 186</ref>
===Ideal Ego===
