Systemic analysis of father‐mother‐baby interactions: The Lausanne triadic play

Abstract

Taking on the study of triadic interactions necessitates a dual perspective—one focusing on the triad as a whole and the other on the organization of its parts. Our method associates the framework of systems theory with the ethological-microanalytical approach. We use it both as a clinical tool and to analyze thoroughly visible interactions in single cases, leading to the comparison of problematic and nonproblematic families in order to explore and generate hypotheses. To introduce our methodology, we first present the Lausanne triadic play exercise, which we designed for the observation of the triad as a whole while systematically varying the individual contributions. We then describe our method for analyz ing the triadic interactions on the upper body, lower body, and gaze levels. We illustrate it through the analysis of two contrasting families with 17-week-old babies which, on clinical grounds, represent key aspects of interaction found in our population.