Leiden University Scholarly Publications

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Wijk, I.C. van (2019)

Social behavior in young twins : are fearfulness, prosocial and aggressive behavior related to frontal asymmetry?

Doctoral Thesis
We studied frontal asymmetry (FA) in relation to fearfulness, prosocial behavior and aggressive behavior in young twins. Based on the literature FA was a likely candidate to explain individual differences in approach and withdrawal related behavior. However, our results showed no associations between fearfulness, prosocial behavior or aggressive behavior on the one hand and FA on the other in 4-6 year old children. We did show that genetic influences were involved in fearfulness, prosocial behavior and FA in young twins. Furthermore, we have developed two new, age appropriate, tasks: the Prosocial Owl Game (POG) and the Social Network Aggression Task – Early Childhood (SNAT-EC). In both tasks, young children show similar responses to social exclusion and social judgments as older children, adolescents and adults. The POG and SNAT-EC turned out to be reliable measures that can be used for long-term follow-up research. New insights in the role of FA may be revealed when the...Show moreWe studied frontal asymmetry (FA) in relation to fearfulness, prosocial behavior and aggressive behavior in young twins. Based on the literature FA was a likely candidate to explain individual differences in approach and withdrawal related behavior. However, our results showed no associations between fearfulness, prosocial behavior or aggressive behavior on the one hand and FA on the other in 4-6 year old children. We did show that genetic influences were involved in fearfulness, prosocial behavior and FA in young twins. Furthermore, we have developed two new, age appropriate, tasks: the Prosocial Owl Game (POG) and the Social Network Aggression Task – Early Childhood (SNAT-EC). In both tasks, young children show similar responses to social exclusion and social judgments as older children, adolescents and adults. The POG and SNAT-EC turned out to be reliable measures that can be used for long-term follow-up research. New insights in the role of FA may be revealed when the children grow older, increasing the value of the data in the coming years. Show less
Frontal EEG asymmetry
Early childhood
Social behavior
Behavioral genetics
Replication
All authors
Wijk, I.C. van
Supervisor
Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J.
Co-supervisor
Huffmeijer, R.; Bulk, B.G. van den
Committee
Crone, E.A.M.; Dokovic, M.; Peltola, M.J.
Qualification
Doctor (dr.)
Awarding Institution
Education and Child Studies, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University
Date
2019-06-12

Funding

Sponsorship
The studies described in the current thesis were supported through the Gravitation program of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO grant number 024.001.003). Additional funding was provided by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and the European Research Council to Prof. dr. M.H. van IJzendoorn (NWO SPINOZA prize) and to Prof. dr. M.J. Bakermans-Kranenburg (NWO VICI grant number 453-09-003, ERC AdG 669249).