The Development of Social Engagement: Neurobiological Perspectives (Series in Affective Science)

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. Biological approaches to the study of social engagement / Peter J. Marshall & Nathan A. Fox Temperamental exuberance : correlates and consequences / Cindy P. Polak-Toste & Megan R. Gunnar Neural bases of infants' processing of social information in faces / Michelle de Haan & Margriet Groen Joint attention, social engagement and the development of social competence / Peter Mundy & C. Francoise Acra The social dimension in language development : a rich history and a new frontier / Shannon M. Pruden, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek & Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Neuro-cognitive bases of preschoolers' theory-of-mind development : integrating cognitive neuroscience and cognitive development / Mark A. Sabbagh The neurobiology of social bonds and affiliation / Miranda M. Lim & Larry J. Young The neurobiology of maternal behavior in mammals / Frédéric Lévy & Alison S. Fleming Play and the development of social engagement / Sergio M. Pellis & Vivien C. Pellis Evolutionary perspectives on social engagement / Heidi Keller & Athanasios Chasiotis Understanding impairments in social engagement in autism / Raphael Bernier, Sara Jane Webb, and Geraldine Dawson Social engagement in Williams syndrome / Helen Tager-Flusberg & Daniela Plesa-Skwerer The psychological effects of early institutional rearing / Michael Rutter. Recent advances in neuroscience have allowed researchers from various disciplines - developmental psychology, comparative psychology, and developmental psychopathology - to shed light on the neural systems involved in social engagement behaviours in both children and adults. ""The Development of Social Engagement"" presents the latest on the topic from each of these intersecting research areas. Developmental psychologists have long been interested in the constellation of behaviours that constitutes early social engagement in infants and young children. Renewed interest in this topic has been s Bringing together some of the leading thinkers on the development of positive affect, this book aims to create a different focus for affective neuroscience. The contributors present their research on the development of positive affect in child, nonhuman, and clinical population.