Development of Recording and Analyzing Methods of the Process of Mutual Monitoring in Caregiver-Child Interactions
Goffman (1964) referred to people in a social situation (which he defines “as an environment of mutual monitoring possibilities, anywhere within which an individual will find himself accessible to the naked senses of all others who are ‘present,’ and similarly find them accessible to him[m2]”) as a “gathering.” The people in a gathering are thought to recognize one another as participants sharing the focus of attention, and refer to cultural rules while monitoring each other as they decide how they should behave. One important area in growing studies on the characteristics of these “gatherings” is the socialization of infants (Duranti et al. 2012). An infant becomes able to refer to cultural rules while engaging in mutual monitoring during interactions with the caregiver, and become socialized to the particular culture by carrying out appropriate acts within that context (Trevarthen 1977, 1990, 1999).
Based on the findings above, we are attempting to develop a method for accurately recording the process of interactions between the infant and caregiver from the point of view of both persons involved as they engage in mutual monitoring. In pursuing this research, we aim to obtain high-quality data while placing as little burden as possible on the interaction participants, especially the infant. Furthermore, based on the data obtained, we will also study analytical methods for elucidating how multimodal interactions between the infant and caregiver are organized in time and space. By doing so, we aspire to reveal the mechanisms of the formation of culture, which is being inherited and created, while clarifying the processes by which the infant gradually becomes a social being. Further, we seek to construct a new paradigm in communication research.
Joint Research of the National Institute of Informatics, “Development of recording and analyzing methods of the process of mutual monitoring in caregiver-child interactions”
Principal Investigator: Akira TAKADA (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University)
