Editorial: Social and Emotional Influences on Human Development : Perspectives From Developmental Neuroscience

Abstract

The relevance of emotional and social processes in human development is a central focus in developmental psychology (for an overview see Eisenberg, 2006). Developmental psychology has examined which kind of emotional and social processes play a prominent role in particular phases of development and how their relative impact changes over the life-span. For example, attachment theory has highlighted the role of caregiver-child interaction in the development of emotion regulation capacities during early childhood (cf. Cassidy and Shaver, 2016). Adolescence is known as a period of heightened sensitivity toward peer influences (e.g., Steinberg, 2008). Subjective well-being in the elderly is related to the quality of their social contacts (Pinquart and Sörensen, 2000). Overall, an examination of the developmental significance of particular emotional and social processes has led to a more comprehensive understanding of human development. Additionally, in the last decades psychology has experienced an increased use of methods derived from neuroscience. More recently, developmental researchers have also started to employ neuroscientific and psychophysiological methods in their empirical investigations. This paved avenues for novel ways to address pertinent research questions. Moreover, this provided novel insights that could not have been obtained with classical research methods. Recent years have also seen an increased employment of neuroscientific methods to explore emotional and social processes, giving reasons to establish new subdisciplines such as Social Neuroscience or Affective Neuroscience. These topics are also new territory for developmental psychology. This Research Topic brings together novel, cutting-edge neuroscientific research on the impact of emotional and social processes on human development. It highlights the benefits of neuroscientific and psychophysiological methods for fostering our understanding of the role social and emotional processes play during different phases of human development.