Comparing emotional coordination in early spontaneous mother–infant and father–infant interactions
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Vassilis G. S. Vasdekis; Theano Kokkinaki
- Source
- European Journal of Developmental Psychology. 12:69-84
- Subject
- Facial expression
Emotional support
Social Psychology
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Mother infant
Emotional intensity
Psychology
Social psychology
Attunement
Intersubjectivity
Developmental psychology
- Language
- ISSN
- 1740-5610
1740-5629
We compare matching of facial expressions and attunement of emotional intensity in spontaneous communication of mothers with infants and of fathers with infants, in families in Crete. Eleven infant–mother and 11 infant–father dyads were video-recorded at home in familiar interactions from the 2nd to the 6th month. Microanalysis of infant, maternal and paternal facial expressions of emotion provided evidence of quantitative differences that favour father–infant interaction as more playful, but the infants' behaviours with mothers and fathers show similar developmental curves. These results are discussed in the frame of the theory of innate intersubjectivity and of the emotional support parents give to developing motives of infants.