Affects, Attunements and the Intersubjective Self: Perspectives from Early Development

This paper conceptualizes the self and related concepts so as to emphasize interrelatedness rather than autonomy. From this view of a subject embedded in relationships as a point of departure, it then critiques and restates certain analyticallyoriented concepts so as to render them in a more fully intersubjective frame: “affect attunement” (Stern, 1985), “mirroring” (Kohut, 1977), empathy, and projective identification. This approach draws on drawing on the infant observation research that has emerged in recent decades.