In the last few years Aucouturier has pursued exactly this thought: the presence of another person during any behaviour. Nowadays he is talking about the concept of action and transformation. Action is defined by the effect it has on the inner self and the immediate environment. Through her actions she can create her inner and outer world.
How do actions give rise to change in self, how does »changing« influence the immediate environment and in turn changes it?

I we consider a crying infant : The mother assumes that the baby is crying because of hunger and feeds her. She gratifies the child's physiological needs. The child is fed and the hunger gone. The child's emotions and tonus was transformed on a sensorimotor level: she experiences a sensorimotor, tonic and psychological change (internal transformation). But at the same time also the mother changes. She has understood the needs of the child and now relaxes. Her feelings and psyche towards the child have been altered ( external transformation). Action is therefore a dialectical process, a reciprocal transformation of the inner and outer world, an inter-action: the infants transformation depends on the transformation of the mother and vice versa!
In the most recent psychoanalytic research about the infancy age, this reciprocal process of transformation within the communication of mother and child, has been thoroughly examined by Daniel Stern.

Aucouturier says that something can only be changed or transformed, if it had affective attributes, otherwise the dynamic to act is lost. The basis, for allowing a mutual transformation without much resistance, is a joyful relationship, in which the pleasure of the mutual transformation is predominate. The other person has to be available, yet stable. The child has to experience that the other person is changeable, but still stable and the same person -just as the child is changeable but nevertheless develops an own identity.

In everyday interaction, of mother and child or therapist and child, this aspect of mutuality is often not considered enough. The external world for the infant is represented by the parents. It is questionable, if this external world is willing to be available and adaptable to the child's needs. Furthermore, are the parents able to be transformed by the relationship with their child or is rather the child being adapted to their own needs and demands. If the immediate environment of the child is not willing to undergo transformation, the child's ability to act is greatly reduced. This inability to act is manifested in superficial movement, because the prerequisite for action is a reciprocal and transformative environment.

Aucouturier believes that this is exactly the problem of hypermotor children ( he is specifically talking about hypermotor instead of hyperactive children! Action requires interaction of two people): these children only show superficial movement, without taking control. They move around without the urge to connect with another person. They often fear change and resist heavily against any change. Therefore they also find it difficult to make changes in their immediate environment.

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