[Value testing in psychoanalysis--reflections on an ego psychologic concept coined by Heinz Hartmann]

We have attempted to demonstrate the importance of the concept of value testing set forth by Hartmann in 1960 in terms of both clinical practice and the theory of psychoanalysis. We use a case study to illustrate the way in which this subfunction of the inner reality testing ties in with the subfunction of signal guilt (the function of affect differentiation as one of the subfunctions of the perception of internal reality) and with the anticipation of the interpersonal effect of one's own behavior and the appropriateness of this behavior as subfunctions of judgment. In conclusion we discuss the suitability of the concept of value testing as a way of relating the psychoanalytic idea of the moral organization of action to the ethics of utilitarianism.