Phylogenic Endowment

In Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the term phylogenetic endowment describes a set of images and experiences that one inherits from preceding generations. Our ancestor’s repeated encounters and life experiences originated valuable information passed on through time in the form of a phylogenetic endowment. When passed on, the inherited information gifts the descendants with instinctual knowledge that goes beyond what they had personally experienced and learned. Therefore, Freud believed that the phylogenetic endowment is one of the sources of unconscious processes, as it interacts with an individual’s personal experiences to drive behavior.

Freud used phylogenetic endowment to explain other concepts, such as castration anxiety. The famous psychiatrist considered castration anxiety a universal source of anxiety to all boys due to the inheritance of the ancient man’s fear of castration. Because men of several generations were repeatedly castrated, castration anxiety became part of man’s phylogenetic endowment.