Four-month-olds Make Triangular Bids to Father and Mother During Trilogue Play with Still-face

A new observational procedure, Trilogue Play with Still‐face, revealed 4‐month‐olds’ capacities to address both their fathers and mothers, by rapidly shifting gaze and affect between them. Infants were observed in four interactive contexts: (1) ‘3‐together’ play with both parents; (2) ‘2 + 1’ play w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social development (Oxford, England) England), 2005-05, Vol.14 (2), p.361-378
Main Authors: Fivaz-Depeursinge, E., Favez, N., Lavanchy, S., De Noni, S., Frascarolo, F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Babies
Eye Movements
family process
Fathers
infant
Infants
Interaction
Intersubjectivity
Mothers
Observation
Parent Child Relationship
Parent-Child communication
still-face
Switzerland
Triadic interactions
triangular interactions
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Summary:A new observational procedure, Trilogue Play with Still‐face, revealed 4‐month‐olds’ capacities to address both their fathers and mothers, by rapidly shifting gaze and affect between them. Infants were observed in four interactive contexts: (1) ‘3‐together’ play with both parents; (2) ‘2 + 1’ play with one parent engaging and the other as third party; (3) the same, with one parent posing a still‐face; (4) ‘3‐together’ play. Infants were able to discriminate between the four contexts. They coordinated three social poles of attention in each one. Their affect configurations were context sensitive. These findings demonstrate the infant's social capacities for triangular, three‐person interactions, in addition to dyadic, two‐person, and triadic, two‐person plus object, ones. They support a view of intersubjectivity as primary and point to a promising field of investigation for the study of family process.
ISSN:0961-205X
1467-9507
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2005.00306.x