The First Relationship

"Daniel N. Stern is a consummate baby watcher. His path-breaking video-based research into the intimate complexities of mother-infant interactions has had an enormous impact on psychotherapy and developmental psychology. His minute analyses of the give and take between mothers and babies have offered empirical support and correction for many theories of development. In the complex and unconscious choreography of "conversations" of smiles, gestures, and mutual gazing. Stern has discerned patterns of both emotional attunement and emotional "mismatching" that help predict the nature of…