Adriana Ferreira Paes Ribas

Diferentes Perspectivas na Análise da Interação Pais-Bebê/Criança

The study of corresponding levels of analysis in the parent-infant/child interaction may lead us to a common language and shared concepts, that in turn will hopefully aid in the prolific exchanges among researchers from various theoretical and methodological backgrounds. The authors of this article represent some of the most prominent research teams of Brazil engaged in the study of parent-infant/child interaction. Their various perspectives are presented, as are their points of agreement and disagreement, with the purpose of demonstrating both the complexity and the diversity of approaches to the parent-infant/child interactions and their role in development. Although there is no consensual definition of interaction, there is a tendency of the authors to consider the question of reciprocal actions, co-construction, and bidirectionality. Granting that there is a trend to focus on manifested behavior and interaction, there is also a clear awareness that implicit transactions and social representations must be studied through rigorous methodological procedures, insofar as they influence interactions. It is hoped that, as these discussions progress, the ideas proposed herein will be both improved and better disseminated.

Responsividade materna e teoria do apego: uma discussão crítica do papel de estudos transculturais

Maternal responsiveness has been considered as an important concept for the understanding of different aspects of infant development, and this concept has been articulated with attachment theory. The objective of this article is to discuss critically the role of transcultural studies about maternal responsiveness, based on attachment theory, and to review of the recent literature about this subject. Considering attachment a valuable theoretical basis for investigations on mother-infant interactions and maternal responsiveness, the conclusions basically point to three issues: 1) the attachment theory needs to be investigated in different socio-cultural contexts, to be tested in its limits and to receive a transcultural validation; 2) research on maternal responsiveness should take into account the discussion on attachment theory and cultural differences; 3) the inclusion of the study of maternal responsiveness in a theoretical framework that takes into account socio-cultural variables is necessary.

Interações iniciais mãe-bebê

This study aimed at analyzing the characteristics of initial mother-baby interactions in a Brazilian urban environment; the relationship between the interaction characteristics, mothers activities and their conception about the babys competences; and the relationship between the characteristic of those activities and the babys awareness state. A sample of 30 mother-baby dyads was observed. The dyads consisted of mothers and her babies who were, on average, 29-days old. The dyads were videotaped for 20 minutes and the mothers were asked to answer a questionnaire. The data were analyzed in terms of the percentage of the occurrences of the dyads activities and interaction. The episodes of interaction observed were short-term, mainly face-to-face, having a specific context and mostly distinguished as social activities. The babies were evaluated as active and participant in the social exchange. The results contribute with important elements for the discussion of the nature of the first interactional processes.

Manifestaçöes iniciais de trocas interativas mäe-bebê e suas transformaçöes

Developmental changes in the patterns of mother-infant interaction This study aims at investigating developmental changes in the patterns of mother-infant...

Desenvolvimento e contexto sociocultural: a gênese da atividade mediada nas interações iniciais mãe-bebê

The present paper discusses issues related to development as embedded in its sociocultural context, using the notion of mediated activity as an unit of analysis of psychological processes which does not dissociate the individual and the social levels. The tendency of not fully analyzing the theoretical implications of a growing set of empirical evidences in the study of early mother-infant interactions is questioned. A sociocultural perspective and a model of sociocultural context of development are presented as alternatives for the interpretation of mother-infant interactions data. We argue that such interactions are the matrix of mediated activity and the genesis of psychological processes. The data from an observational study of 30 mother-infant dyads are interpreted using the proposed theoretical perspective. We believe that the attempt to relate a theoretical perspective and the interpretation of observational data can contribute to the comprehension of early child development.

Responsividade materna: levantamento bibliográfico e discussão conceitual

The present article had two main objectives: To supply an overview of the research on maternal responsivity and to present a discussion of the concept of maternal responsivity. A systematic search on an international bibliographic database (PsycInfo n APA) was conducted. Records of articles published between 1967 and 2001, that contained any of the five selected key phrases (e.g. maternal responsiveness), were systematically identified and analyzed. A total of 231 articles were identified. Systematic searches on two Brazilian databases were also conducted and five works were identified. The identified articles were analyzed taking into account different aspects (e.g. approaches, theoretical basis, level of analysis, investigation areas). The conclusions point to three issues: 1) the necessity to account for variables such as social support and cultural differences in researches on maternal responsivity; 2) the possible integration of this theme into the sociocultural approaches; 3) the necessity of more Brazilian research.

Imitação e desenvolvimento inicial: evidências empíricas, explicações e implicações teóricas

A imitacao em fases iniciais do desenvolvimento tem sido estudada sob diferentes perspectivas teoricas, que atribuem importância e interpretacao diferenciadas para seu papel no desenvolvimento infantil. Considera-se que a compreensao da imitacao inicial mostra-se extremamente relevante do ponto de vista epistemologico e teorico. Assim, neste trabalho e feito um breve historico dos estudos sobre imitacao, para apresentar uma revisao e discussao das principais evidencias empiricas sobre imitacao inicial. As explicacoes teoricas dessas evidencias e as hipoteses que foram sendo falseadas a partir das mesmas sao analisadas. Finalmente, a relacao dessas evidencias com o desenvolvimento da percepcao e da origem da representacao e as implicacoes para explicacoes do desenvolvimento inicial sao discutidas.

Abordagem sociocultural: algumas vertentes e autores

The need to approach sociocultural aspects in psychological investigations has been emphasized by different authors in different times, and the sociocultural approach represents a profitable conceptual source in this sense. The purpose of this article was to discuss some concepts of the sociocultural approach, changes by which this approach went through last decades, some of their perspectives and authors. The concepts here discussed can be useful in the attempts to articulate psychological investigations in a sociocultural approach. The conclusions point to the need of including the investigations in psychology into a conceptual approach that considers the culture and the social context as central elements, articulating the contributions of the cross-cultural psychology, and of the culture.