Article2002

Individual differences in children's understanding of emotion: The roles of attachment and language

152 citations0/0 files storedAttachment & Human Development

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Child and Animal Learning Development Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development Attachment and Relationship Dynamics

Abstract

There is accumulating evidence of a relationship between secure attachment and children's understanding of emotion (Fonagy & Target, 1997; Harris, 1999). The current experiment asked if this relationship is particularly evident when the test of emotion understanding includes attachment-related material or is equally marked on tests with and without attachment-related material. Children ranging from 3-6 years were given a novel test of emotion understanding (the Mother-Infant Separation Test Video) that incorporated provocative attachment themes and also an affectively neutral test of emotion understanding. They performed quite consistently on both types of test-either passing both or failing both. In addition, attachment security, measured concurrently by means of the Separation Anxiety Test, contributed to a correct performance on both tests. This contribution remained when other individual differences were controlled for (age, verbal mental age and gender). Possible explanations of the relationship between attachment and emotion understanding are discussed.

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References

1969Attachment and Loss 1978Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation 1972Attachment and Loss. Vol. 1. Attachment 1983Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children's understanding of deception 1985Security in Infancy, Childhood, and Adulthood: A Move to the Level of Representation 1980Attachment and Loss: Vol.3: Loss : Sadness and Depression 1997Attachment and reflective function: Their role in self-organization 1985Attachment Theory: Retrospect and Prospect

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