Infancy: Incorporative Bonding versus Withdrawal

During the first stage of the life cycle, the dual themes of agency and communion are already in evidence. Birth brings the first experience of separation and the emergence of agentic, instrumental behavior directed toward fulfilling the infant's needs. This soon leads to the need for environmental mastery [White, 1959] and the need to differentiate and discriminate stimuli [Piaget, 1952]. Simultaneously, infants are in need of continued symbiotic connection with caretakers and are involved in maintaining, strengthening and developing this communal relationship. Within this context, infants develop a variety of behaviors, including smiling, vocalizations and imitation, which bring caretakers closer in shared experiences of excitement and satisfaction [Packer, 1983]. Thus, along with emerging agentic development, infancy also involves sustaining and deepening the primary communal, interpersonal bond.

In the present effort to conceptualize a theory of communion, this initial relationship development is termed ‘incorporative bonding’, which captures the essence of the infant's interpersonal connection at this stage. Infants have been characterized as incorporative [Erikson, 1968; Kegan, 1982] based on their involvement in taking in experience through their mouth, eyes and other senses. According to Fraiberg [1959], in the context of nursing and along with experiences of satisfaction and pleasure, the infant takes in the presence of the caretaker. Thus, within the primary symbiotic relationship, the infant develops an initially undifferentiated, ‘incorporative bonding’, which is then strengthened by dynamic interaction, expressive, imitative communication and joyful, interactive play. The term bonding is used here in an effort to distinguish this early form of connection from the more differentiated attachment of the next stage.

The infant's basic, vital need at this stage of life is the communal need for responsiveness. Adequate sensitivity and 'responsiveness' is essential for infant development [Ainsworth et al., 1974], both in terms of promoting agentic environmental curiosity and in terms of facilitating interpersonal bonding. Without positive interpersonal experiences and adequate mutual 'responsiveness', the infant's connectedness is likely to be seriously weakened, leading to withdrawal, reactive rejection and/or a failure to thrive.

Hence, the term 'withdrawal', in counterpoint to 'incorporative bonding', describes the form of estrangement which may occur in infancy due to inadequate 'responsiveness'. 'Withdrawal' not only hampers and weakens the infant's communal development, but also inhibits the infant's agentic development. When 'withdrawal' occurs, the infant may simultaneously fail to develop an adequate interest in the environment as well as an adequate sense of interpersonal connectedness [Fraiberg, 1959]. This clearly illuminates the close interaction and interdependence of the two strands of development.

In addition, as the infant matures and the agentic capacity to discriminate stimuli evolves, the infant gradually develops a more differentiated [Kagan, 1978], selective communal bond with primary caretakers as marked by the emergence of separation anxiety [Bowlby, 1969]. This product of combined agentic and communal development provides a critical test in the infant's interpersonal connectedness. Once again, adequate and consistent 'responsiveness' by the caretaker strengthens interpersonal bonding while lack of responsiveness intensifies anxiety, weakens bonding and contributes to estrangement and 'withdrawal'.

Finally, it is in the context of the primary, 'incorporative bonding' relationship and based on the adequacy of interpersonal 'responsiveness' within that relationship that the infant develops the communal capacity for Erikson's [1950, 1968] 'basic trust versus mistrust'. Although Erikson has captured an important aspect of what occurs interpersonally in this stage, 'trust versus mistrust' is but one component of what evolves within the primary relationship and hence is limited in conveying the overall nature of communion development at this stage. Consequently, in explicating a model of communion development, the development of the primary interpersonal relationship and its nature, namely 'incorporative bonding', has been emphasized. It is only within the context of this relationship that the development of trust based on adequate mutual regulation and 'responsiveness' can emerge. Moreover, other interpersonal communal capacities, including expressive, interactive communication, emerge and strengthen interpersonal bonding. It is also within the context of this nurturing relationship that an agentic orientation toward environmental exploration is promoted, and spontaneous communication is modified to serve deliberate, instrumental purposes [Packer, 1983]. Thus, the agentic and communal strands interact to reinforce each other's development.

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