ABSTRACT
Among the dynamic forces that shape organization in the developing infant and in the infant–caregiver system, a number of apparent paradoxes can be discerned. This brief chapter on early human development addresses only one of these paradoxes. The viewpoint is one that has emerged from nearly 40 years of experience with the subjects of the Boston University Longitudinal Study in Personality Development (Sander, 1984). As with a wide range of research on both the animal and human levels, this study has revealed the singularity, the uniqueness of each newborn, each family system, and each individual’s own particular pathway of development. The other side of the apparent paradox emerges from the extensive research on the minutiae of events within the flow of interaction between infant and caregiver: These studies have been carried out at the level of microsecond film and video analysis (Condon & Sander, 1974; Stern, 1974; Trevarthen, 1979). From this viewpoint, the now well-established concepts of intersubjectivity and attunement have been defined—that is, how infant and caregiver can function rhythmically and synchronously with each other.
