Emotions and Communication as a Dynamic Developmental System

This paper presents a qualitative case study of emotional development in the context of early mother-infant communication. Emotions and communication are conceptualized as an integral part of a dynamic developmental system. The fundamental design principle employed is to isolate a key developmental transition and then to closely examine micro- and macro-changes across that transition. In this study, the key developmental transition is the well-reported transition from a primary focus on direct, face-to-face communication between mother and infant to a primary focused on object communication. The mother-infant dyad analyzed herein visited a laboratory playroom three times a week for a period of four months, starting when the infant was 10 weeks old. Our microgenetic analysis indicated that elements of positive emotions self-organized into recurring patterns through communication routines, called frames , co-created by the mother and her infant and the infant emotions developed over time as part of this communication system.