Читать книгу The Handbook of Solitude - Группа авторов - Страница 72

As described in the section on the solitary self, Stern (1985/2000) introduced a theory for the interpersonal world of the infant. In this theory he characterized ages two to six months as the most social period of life. During this time, the infant experiences a sense of core self and core relatedness, and organizes his/her experience of being‐with‐an‐other. This being‐with‐a‐self‐regulating‐other is the source of the representations of interactions that have been generalized (RIGs), which are mental representations of generalized episodes of lived encounter with other people. Episodic memory plays a central role here. Every time such a representation is activated, the infant has in mind an evoked companion, which may be regarded as a protection against loneliness. Evoked companions can be activated all throughout life. Stern (1985/2000) wrote: “[…] because of memory we are rarely alone, even (perhaps especially) during the first half‐year of life. The infant engages with real external partners some of the time and with evoked companions almost all the time. Development requires a constant, usually silent, dialogue between the two” (p. 118).

In this sense, solitude is often populated. The infant is alone for a while, playing with a toy which the mother has previously animated or personified. This toy has become a self‐regulating person‐thing, a real companion in aloneness. The self is solitary and simultaneously social, as the infant’s experience is “an I‐experience with an other” (Stern, 1985/2000, p. 115), and not a we or merger experience, whether the other is a real other or an evoked companion.²