Levels of Infant-Caregiver Interactions and the DIR Model: Implications for the Development of Signal Affects, the Regulation of Mood and Behavior, the Formation of a Sense of Self, the Creation of Internal Representation, and the Construction of Defenses and Character Structure

Abstract

Understanding dyadic, affective interactions between infants and caregivers provides new insights into the formation of a number of basic capacities, including the capacity to regulate mood and behavior; organize a prerepresentational sense of self; integrate affective polarities; construct internal self and object representations; and develop signal anxiety, defenses, and coping strategies. Assessing and working with clinical and nonclinical groups of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers and their families has afforded a unique opportunity to delineate the Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship-Based (DIR) model, including the developmental pathways to these basic capacities, and different degrees of impairment and competency. While it's important to exercise caution in extrapolating from observations of infants, young children, and their families to the personality structures of older children and adults, understanding early developmental pathways provides insights into the earliest stages of important formative processes that contribute to the content and structure of intrapsychic experience.