ISOLATION: CENTER AND PERIPHERY

Preliminary data from an investigation of children growing up in geographically isolated Norwegian farm families indicate a strong preoccupation with the theme of center vs. periphery, or inside vs. outside, in projective fantasies. What lies outside the circle of home and family seems to provoke anxiety, and return to the farm is a frequent theme. This 'centripetal' tendency may be a basic feature of the perceptual organization as well as general life orientation of such children.