Behavioral Inhibition: Integrating Theory, Research, and Clinical Perspectives

This book examines three decades of research on behavioral inhibition (BI), addressing its underlying biological, psychological, and social markers of development and functioning. It offers a theory-to-practice overview of behavioral inhibition and explores its cognitive component as well as its relationship to shyness, anxiety, and social withdrawal. The volume traces the emergence of BI during infancy through its occurrences across childhood. In addition, the book details the biological basis of BI and explores ways in which it is amenable to environmental modeling. Its chapters explore the neural systems underlying developmental milestones, address lingering questions (e.g., limitations of studying BI in laboratory settings and debatable benefits of self-regulatory processes), and provide recommendations for future research.Key areas of coverage include: Animal models of behavioral inhibition. Social functioning and peer relationships in BI. Attention mechanisms in behavioral inhibition. BI and associative learning of fear. Behavioral inhibition and prevention of internalizing distress in early childhood. The relations between BI, cognitive control, and anxiety. Behavioral Inhibition is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians, scientist-practitioners, and graduate students across such fields as developmental psychology, psychiatry, social work, cognitive and affective developmental neuroscience, child and school psychology, educational psychology, and pediatrics.

About the Author

Koraly Pérez-Edgar, Ph.D., is the McCourtney Professor of Child Studies and a Professor of Psychology at The Pennsylvania State University. She received her A.B. from Dartmouth College and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Dr. Pérez-Edgar’s research focuses on the relations between temperament and psychopathology. In particular, she examines how individual differences in attention can work to ameliorate or exacerbate risks associated with early temperament traits. Dr. Pérez-Edgar is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.

Nathan A. Fox, Ph.D., is a Distinguished University Professor of Human Development at the University of Maryland. He received his B.A. from Williams College and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Dr. Fox is a world-recognized leader in the study of early behavioral inhibition, the impact of early life events on development, and the biological underpinning of development. Dr. Fox is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Psychological Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.