The Development of Social Engagement: Neurobiological Perspectives

by Peter J. Marshall (Editor), Nathan A. Fox (Editor)

Overview

The Development of Social Engagement, edited by Peter J. Marshall and Nathan A. Fox, brings together some of the latest research on social engagement processes across a range of life stages and species. The opening chapters provide overviews of cutting-edge research on social engagement in areas such as temperament, face processing, joint attention, language development, and early social cognition in humans. Subsequent chapters address questions related to biological determinants of social systems, play, and maternal behavior across a variety of species, as well as evolutionary issues associated with social engagement. Finally, a number of chapters examine the application of rigorous biologically focused research paradigms to the study of atypical social engagement in children. Atypical social engagement is framed in terms of disorders such as autism and Williams Syndrome, as well as in the effects of adverse early rearing environments such as institutions. This volume will be a valuable guide for those interested in a neurobiological approach to the study of social development. It provides an introduction to current research directions in this rapidly expanding field for both student and professional researchers in developmental psychology, comparative psychology, and developmental psychopathology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198037736
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/29/2005
Series:	Series in Affective Science
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Peter J. Marshall is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Temple University. His research interests include temperament, attachment, and the utility of electrophysical measures of nervous system functioning in research on social, emotional, and cognitive development in infancy and early childhood.LNathan A. Fox is Professor of Human Development at the University of Maryland, College Park. His interests mainly concern the biological bases of individual differences in infant temperament and the role of early experience as it affects brain and behavior in the realm of social and emotional competencies.

Table of Contents

1. Biological Approaches to the Study of Social Engagement,Peter J. Marshall & Nathan A. Fox2. Temperamental Exuberance: Correlates and Consequences, Cindy P. Polak-Toste & Megan R. Gunnar3. Neural Bases of Infants' Processing of Social Information in Faces, Michelle de Haan & Margriet Groen4. Joint Attention, Social Engagement and the Development of Social Competence,Peter Mundy & C. Francoise Acra5. The Social Dimension in Language Development: A Rich History and a New Frontier, Shannon M. Pruden, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek & Roberta Michnick Golinkoff;6. Neuro-cognitive bases of preschoolers' theory-of-mind development: Integrating cognitive neuroscience and cognitive development, Mark A. Sabbagh7. The Neurobiology of Social Bonds and Affiliation, Miranda M. Lim & Larry J. Young8. The Neurobiology of Maternal Behavior in Mammals, Frédéric Lévy & Alison S. Fleming9. Play and the development of social engagement.,Sergio M. Pellis & Vivien C. Pellis10. Evolutionary Perspectives on Social Engagement, Heidi Keller & Athanasios Chasiotis11. Understanding impairments in social engagement in autismRaphael Bernier, Sara Jane Webb, and Geraldine Dawson12. Social Engagement in Williams Syndrome,Helen Tager-Flusberg & Daniela Plesa-Skwerer13. The psychological effects of early institutional rearing, Michael Rutter

Editorial Reviews

"This fine collection of contemporary studies of social phenomena in animals and children—healthy and biologically compromised—brings emotions and social concepts out of the shadows, and into the positions of prominence they must have for satisfying explanations of psychological events."—Jerome Kagan, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University

"The concept of 'social engagement' is transforming how science studies the development of affective and cognitive processes. This volume provides a collection of papers by international experts focused on how social engagement drives processes that cross the classic boundary between the development of affect and cognition."—Stephen W. Porges, Director, Brain-Body Center and Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago

"...covers a significant breadth of information; the pertinent literature is reviewed, new research presented, and hypotheses suggested to explain many aspects of developing social competence. Although this book focuses primarily on social and emotional development, it also presents an intriguing perspective on cognitive development, particularly with regard to the interaction between cognition, emotion, and social engagement."—PsycCRITIQUES

From the Publisher