The Interpersonal World of the Infant
Encyclopedia
The Interpersonal World of the Infant (1985) is one of the most prominent works of psychoanalyst
Daniel N. Stern
, in which he describes the development
of four interrelated senses of self. These senses of self develop over the lifespan, but make significant developmental strides during sensitive periods in the first two years of life. The mother or other primary attachment
figure plays a critical role in helping the infant with this developmental process.
sense of self, continues until about two months. It serves as "the basis for the child's ability to learn and create," and is what Stern believes is the sense of self that is disrupted in the negative symptoms of schizophrenia
and other psychotic disorders.
The child also develops generalized representations of its interactions with its primary caregiver during this time, a concept related to and informed by attachment theory
. The child learns whether it can depend on its caregiver to provide for its needs and the types of affective and behavioral responses it can expect in specific situations, which serve as the basis for its future attachment style. An important role of the caregiver during this time is to assist the child in regulating its affect
. Eventually, if all goes well, the child will internalize these experiences with the primary attachment figure and be able to invoke these memories to help herself self-regulate her affect . Stern believes that ruptures during this phase of development result in borderline
pathology .
, can deprive the child of sufficient intersubjective experiences, leaving the child unable to connect to other people in any meaningful way, which Stern believes may underlie Narcissistic Personality Disorder
and Antisocial Personality Disorder
.
will manifest itself in a domain related to the sensitive period in which the insult took place.
Regarding therapy
, Stern highlights the importance of “now moments” as a potential for change and growth in the client as well as the therapist, but also in the therapeutic relationship. These can be described as moments of intersubjective emotional relatedness and are, in Stern’s opinion, necessary for positive therapeutic outcome.
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
Daniel N. Stern
Daniel Stern (psychologist)
Daniel N. Stern is a prominent psychiatrist and psychoanalytic theorist, specializing in infant development, on which he has written a number of books - most notably The Interpersonal World of the Infant ....
, in which he describes the development
Personality Development
An individual's personality is an aggregate conglomeration of decisions we've made throughout our lives . There are inherent natural, genetic, and environmental factors that contribute to the development of our personality. According to process of socialization, "personality also colors our values,...
of four interrelated senses of self. These senses of self develop over the lifespan, but make significant developmental strides during sensitive periods in the first two years of life. The mother or other primary attachment
Attachment theory
Attachment theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. Attachment theory is an interdisciplinary study...
figure plays a critical role in helping the infant with this developmental process.
Emergent self
At birth, the infant experiences the world as a barrage of seemingly unrelated sensory stimuli, which s/he gradually learns to "yoke" together using cues such as "hedonic tone" (emotional quality), and temporal and intensity patterns shared between stimuli. This process of integrating and organizing experience, called the emergentEmergence
In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theories of integrative levels and of complex systems....
sense of self, continues until about two months. It serves as "the basis for the child's ability to learn and create," and is what Stern believes is the sense of self that is disrupted in the negative symptoms of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
and other psychotic disorders.
Core self
Around two months, the child's organization of sensory experience reaches a point where s/he is able to sufficiently organize experience to have integrated episodic memories. This enables a higher level of sophistication organizing future experiences, as the child is able to discern discrete invariant objects from cross-modal sensory stimuli and to use these to arrive at generalizations about what s/he can expect in the future from his/her environment. In this process, the infant also becomes aware of its own features ("self-invariants"), which give the child its sense of core self as an entity distinct from other objects in its environment.The child also develops generalized representations of its interactions with its primary caregiver during this time, a concept related to and informed by attachment theory
Attachment theory
Attachment theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. Attachment theory is an interdisciplinary study...
. The child learns whether it can depend on its caregiver to provide for its needs and the types of affective and behavioral responses it can expect in specific situations, which serve as the basis for its future attachment style. An important role of the caregiver during this time is to assist the child in regulating its affect
Affect (psychology)
Affect refers to the experience of feeling or emotion. Affect is a key part of the process of an organism's interaction with stimuli. The word also refers sometimes to affect display, which is "a facial, vocal, or gestural behavior that serves as an indicator of affect" .The affective domain...
. Eventually, if all goes well, the child will internalize these experiences with the primary attachment figure and be able to invoke these memories to help herself self-regulate her affect . Stern believes that ruptures during this phase of development result in borderline
Borderline personality disorder
Borderline personality disorder is a personality disorder described as a prolonged disturbance of personality function in a person , characterized by depth and variability of moods.The disorder typically involves unusual levels of instability in mood; black and white thinking, or splitting; the...
pathology .
Subjective self
Around seven months, the child begins to be aware that her thoughts and experiences are distinct from those of other people, that there is a gap between her subjective reality and that of other people. However, with proper attunement by the primary attachment figure, the child also becomes aware that this gap can be bridged through intersubjective experiences, such as sharing affect and focus of attention. A lack of such attunement, as could happen, for example, if the mother suffers from depressionDepression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
, can deprive the child of sufficient intersubjective experiences, leaving the child unable to connect to other people in any meaningful way, which Stern believes may underlie Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder is a personality disorder in which the individual is described as being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity...
and Antisocial Personality Disorder
Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...
.
Verbal self
Around 15 months, the child develops the capacity for symbolic representation and language, and becomes capable of creating complex abstract mental representations of experiences, facilitating intersubjectivity but shifting the child's focus towards those things that can be represented and communicated in language.Clinical implications
Disturbances (e.g. abuse, trauma) that occur during sensitive periods and thereby interfere with important developmental processes may have more severe consequences than "insults" later in life. According to Stern, these disturbances may become overt any point in time and the nature rather than the time of the insult will determine the resulting conflict. Additionally, later psychopathologyPsychopathology
Psychopathology is the study of mental illness, mental distress, and abnormal/maladaptive behavior. The term is most commonly used within psychiatry where pathology refers to disease processes...
will manifest itself in a domain related to the sensitive period in which the insult took place.
Regarding therapy
Therapy
This is a list of types of therapy .* Adventure therapy* Animal-assisted therapy* Aquatic therapy* Aromatherapy* Art and dementia* Art therapy* Authentic Movement* Behavioral therapy* Bibliotherapy* Buteyko Method* Chemotherapy...
, Stern highlights the importance of “now moments” as a potential for change and growth in the client as well as the therapist, but also in the therapeutic relationship. These can be described as moments of intersubjective emotional relatedness and are, in Stern’s opinion, necessary for positive therapeutic outcome.