1-064 - The Role of Attachment on Children’s Social Cognitive Processes and Social Behaviors

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Research consistently suggests that children with disorganized and insecure attachments are at increased risk for problematic long-term outcomes, including difficulties with regulating emotions, processing social information, and establishing positive peer relationships. The central aim of this proposed symposium is to further our understanding of the role of attachment on children’s social cognitive processes (e.g., hostile attributional bias, emotion recognition) and social behaviors (e.g., aggression). Taken together, the papers address this question using longitudinal data and different methodologies for assessing attachment and attachment representations. Several developmental periods will be covered, ranging from infancy to middle childhood.

The first paper examines attachment disorganization in infancy as a developmental precursor to hostile attributional bias in middle childhood. The second paper considers kindergarten children’s attachment representations as a predictor of not only their later social information processing (SIP) patterns but also their executive functions (cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control), self-perceptions, and social behavior. Finally, the third paper investigates whether emotional information processing and empathy mediate the relationship between insecure attachment and aggression in a sample of elementary school children.

Attachment, social cognitive processes, and social behaviors are dynamically interlinked. Emphasizing a developmental perspective, discussion will highlight this complexity, with a particular emphasis on how understanding these relations may help inform prevention programs and interventions for children who are at the greatest risk for maladaptive functioning in their social worlds.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Deborah B. Jacobvitz, University of Texas, Austin

Discussant

• Deborah B. Jacobvitz, University of Texas, Austin

Individual Presentations

• Attachment Disorganization in Infancy: A Developmental Precursor to Hostile Attributional Bias at Age Eight - Presenting Author: Lindsay Zajac, University of Delaware; Megan K. Bookhout, University of Delaware; Julie A. Hubbard, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware; Mary Dozier, University of Delaware

• Attachment representations and social cognitions and behaviors in kindergarten: a short-term longitudinal study - Presenting Author: Yair Ziv, University of Haifa; Ora Aviezer, University of Haifa Center for the Study of Child Development; Abraham Sagi-Schwartz, University of Haifa, Center for the Study of Child Development; Aya Klein-Manor, University of Haifa

• Attachment and Aggression in Middle Childhood: The Role of Emotion Recognition and Empathy - Presenting Author: Peter F. Zimmermann, University of Wuppertal