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Temperament moderates responsiveness to joint attention in 11-month-old infants

James T Todd1, Wallace E Dixon

  • 1Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, FL, United States.

Infant Behavior & Development
|May 4, 2010
PubMed

Insights

Children's temperament influences their ability to follow gaze. While high perceptual sensitivity and negative affect were linked to less gaze-following, lower effortful control surprisingly increased responsiveness to joint attention.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Psychology
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Individual differences in temperament are known to affect various aspects of child development.
  • Responsiveness to joint attention is a crucial early social-communicative skill.
  • Previous research suggests links between temperament and language development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between children's temperament and their responsiveness to joint attention.
  • To explore how specific temperament dimensions moderate engagement in joint attention behaviors.

Main Methods:

  • Study involved 25 eleven-month-old infants (12 girls, 13 boys).
  • A gaze-following task was administered in a laboratory setting.
  • Parental reports were collected to assess infant temperament.

Main Results:

  • Infants' gaze-following ability varied based on temperament predispositions.
  • Higher perceptual sensitivity and negative affect correlated with less frequent gaze-following.
  • Lower effortful control was unexpectedly associated with greater responsiveness to joint attention bids.

Conclusions:

  • Temperament acts as a moderator for children's engagement in joint attention.
  • Joint attention may serve as a mechanism linking temperament to language development.
  • Findings highlight the complex interplay between innate behavioral styles and early social-communication skills.

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