What do mothers attune to during interactions with their infants?

Abstract

There has been considerable theoretical interest in the developmental importance of affect mirroring and attunement, but little empirical attention has been directed toward the topic. The present study systematically explored the sorts of infant behaviour that elicit affect attunement in mothers. Written descriptions of video-recorded sequences of interaction in 27 mother-infant dyads were used to examine 141 instances of affect attunement in samples from Sweden and the former Yugoslavia. Infants were aged between 2 and 12 months. Behaviour that elicited affect attunement from mothers was rated in terms of 10 behavioural themes, which were used to cluster episodes of affect attunement. Cluster analysis suggested that mothers attuned to six distinct forms of infant behaviour: pleasurable motoric behaviour, effect initiation, focusing, loss of balance, uncontrolled behaviour and displeasure. Incidents of affect attunement elicited by categorical affects comprised only 20% of the instances examined. Most importantly, affect attunement was often elicited by infant exploration and play in relation to the non-social world. Affect attunement may function to reinforce and regulate ongoing behaviour that is largely explorative in nature. How mothers respond to the infant's interaction with the external, non-social world may be more important for intrapsychic development than previously thought.

The nature of affect attunement used by disability support workers interacting with adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities

“…In line with Jonsson et al . (), Jonsson & Clinton () and Stern et al . (), the DSWs were instructed to interact ‘as usual’, in the context of their choice that would involve exclusively the DSW and target adult with PIMD.…”

“…and modified by Jonsson et al .) and the Behavioural Themes in Affect Attunement (BeTA) (developed by Jonsson & Clinton ). Each of these tools had been developed to examine affect attunement in mother–infant dyads.…”

El Entonamiento Afectivo en las Interacciones Tempranas Adulto-Bebé: una Revisión

“…Originalmente fue observado en el juego espontáneo madre-bebé alrededor de los 9 meses de edad del niño (Stern et al, 1985) y, recientemente, ha sido observado desde los 2 meses (Español, Bordoni, Carretero Pérez, Martínez, & Camarasa, en prensa;Jonsson & Clinton, 2006;Jonsson, Clinton, Fahrman, Mazzaglia, Novak, & Sörhus, 2001). Es una pauta de interacción que, a simple vista, podría ser confundida con la imitación, sin embargo, son fenómenos que aunque pertenezcan a un mismo continuo merecen ser tratados como diferentes (Stern et al, 1985).…”

Mothers who are securely attached in pregnancy show more attuned infant mirroring 7 months postpartum

“…The infant routinely directs a broad range of affectively nuanced expressions to the mother (Bennett, Bendersky, & Lewis, 2005; Colonnesi, Zijlstra, van der Zande, & Bogels, 2012; Messinger, 2002). The mother sequentially mirrors the infant's signals as she empathically delivers her finely tuned response (Jonsson & Clinton, 2006; Lavelli & Fogel, 2013; Papousek & Papousek, 1989; Stern, 1985). In turn, the infant attentively responds, organizing his 1 behavior with respect to the mother's input (Beebe, et al, 2010; Bigelow & Walden, 2009; Cohn & Tronick, 1987; Soussignan, Nadel, Canet, & Gerardin, 2006).…”

“…Maternal mirroring, or emotionally attuned responsiveness, has received extensive attention in the study of mother-infant behavior (Bigelow & Walden, 2009; Fraiberg, Adelson, & Shapiro, 1975; Gergely & Watson, 1996; Jonsson & Clinton, 2006; Lavelli & Fogel, 2013; Lyons-Ruth, 2000; Stern, 1985; Winnicott, 1967). Mirroring is a construct closely tied to that of secure attachment.…”