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This article is based on a document that Daniel N. Stern gave to the editor of Devenir during an interview – never published – for the journal. The document comprises a text written in English and translated into French, which was read in a plenary session in Cannes in 1983. With some minor corrections, the text presented here is the same as the one read then. The editorial team at Devenir have chosen to publish it because of its historical and conceptual importance. Stern’s conference on affect attunement had a tremendous impact, awakening interest among French professionals in infancy and the research done on development in infancy, during this second Waipad (which later became the World Association for Infant Mental Health [Waimh]) congress in France. The concept of affect attunement has maintained its importance and has opened a new, promising avenue for clinical research, particularly on the effects of increased or decreased attunement on the intersubjective relationship and personality formation, as well as on the possible causes of a lack or excess of affect attunement on the part of the caregiver.