ABSTRACT
Theories of intersubjectivity have become quite popular in recent psychological writing. By and large, it is possible to separate theories of intersubjectivity in two groups. First, intersubjectivity has become a dominant topic in the study of child development (e.g., Stern, 1985; Fonagy et al., 2002; Barr, this volume). In essence, these positions argue that the development of the infant's capacity for mind and self takes places in a constant process of back and forth interaction with caregivers (or with siblings, as Barr in this volume points out). The second dominant strain of intersubjective theorizing focuses more on the study and analysis of adult social interactions; both from socio-cultural approaches to psychology (e.g., Coelho and Figueiredo, 2003) as well as in the recent turn towards ‘relational’ (e.g., Benjamin, 2004) or ‘intersubjective’ (e.g., Stolorow and Atwood, 1992) approaches in psychoanalysis. This chapter will only be concerned with the latter; namely, the idea of intersubjectivity as an explanation for adult social interactions or relationships.
