ABSTRACT
Over the past few decades investigators have used the notion of intersubjectivity
from a variety of perspectives (e.g. Goncu 1993, Kujiraoka 1999, Matusov 1996,
Rogoff 1990, Rommetveit 1979a-c, 1985, Smolka, De Goes and Pino 1995,
Stern 1985, Toma 1994, Trevarthen 1977, Trevarthen and Hubley 1978,
Wertsch 1985, 1998). Depending on the perspective employed and the topic
involved, quite different accounts of this term have emerged. In this chapter we
shall examine intersubjectivity from the perspective of two potentially competing
demands that must be met when a group carries out a task: namely the demand
to generate a good product on the one hand and to maintain a good relationship
among the members on the other.