Early attachment predicts emotion recognition at 6 and 11 years old

Abstract

This paper reports on findings from a sample of 63 children at 6 years old, and 49 children at 11 years old, all from the same cohort who had been observed with mother in the Strange Situation at 1-year-old. At 6 and 11 years, the children responded to the task of providing verbal labels for line-drawn (caricatures of) emotion faces. The faces comprised the six basic emotions identified as such by Darwin (sadness, happiness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust) as well as a neutral face and two more complex (blended) emotions (mischievousness and disappointment). Infant–mother attachment was linked significantly with children's emotion judgments 5 years and, to a lesser extent, 10 years after the Strange Situation assessment. Results are discussed in terms of the long-term but attenuating influence of early learning experiences in the relationship with mother, and implications for how we think about the functioning of internal working models of attachment.

Keywords:

• emotion recognition
• emotion judgments
• facial expressions of emotion
• attachment
• developmental neuroscience

Acknowledgements

The research was supported by a project research grant (R000233684) from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in the UK and two project grants from the Kohler Stiftung (Germany). Deep thanks are felt toward the families participating in the research who have been consistently generous with their time and interest. Our gratitude is also owed to two anonymous reviewers and to the guest editor of this issue, Ross Thompson.