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Chapter 11 - Turning Points in the Study of Developmental Processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2025

By
Stephen J. Suomi
Edited by
Frank Kessel
Frank Kessel
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico
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Summary

Over the past half-century attachment theory has emerged as a driving force for research and practice across much of the developmental psychology community. Some of the most compelling empirical support for the biological basis of attachment theory has come from research with monkeys. This chapter highlights some contributions that my colleagues and I have made in generating this evidence by broadening the range of activities associated with attachment throughout development, exploring the relationship between behavioral patterns and a host of biological processes including some genetic factors, and characterizing the consequences of different expressions of attachment for the external social world that is progressively engaged throughout development. This body of nonhuman primate research has featured several important turning points, largely the product of certain unique combinations of colleagues and circumstances that served to generate major inflection points in shaping the direction and scope of the research described here.

Keywords

attachmentrhesus monkeyslongitudinal designsgene-environment interplayepigenetics
Type
Chapter
Information
Pillars of Developmental Psychology
Recollections and Reflections
 , pp. 112 - 123
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Suggested Reading

Bennett, A. J., Lesch, K. P., Heils, A., Long, J. C., Lorenz, J. G., Shoaf, S. E., Champoux, M., Suomi, S. J., Linnoila, M. V., & Higley, J. D. (2002). Early experience and serotonin transporter gene variation interact to influence primate CNS function. Molecular Psychiatry, 7(1), 118–122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Champoux, M., Bennett, A. J., Shannon, C., Higley, J. D., Lesch, K. P., & Suomi, S. J. (2002). Serotonin transporter gene polymorphism, differential early rearing, and behavior in rhesus monkey neonates. Molecular Psychiatry, 7(10), 1058–1063.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Massart, R., Nemoda, Z., Suderman, M. J., Sutti, S., Ruggiero, A. M., Dettmer, A. M., Suomi, S. J., & Szyf, M. (2016). Early life adversity alters normal sex-dependent developmental dynamics of DNA methylation. Development and Psychopathology, 28(4, Pt 2), 1259–1272. PubMed ID: 27687908, PMCID: PMC6590057, https://doi.org.10.1017/S0954579416000833.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sackett, G. P., Sameroff, A. S., Cairns, R. B., & Suomi, S. J. (1981). Continuity in behavioral development: Theoretical and empirical issues. In Immelmann, K., Barlow, G. W., Petrinovich, L., & Main, M. (Eds.), Behavioral Development: The Bielefeld Interdisciplinary Project (pp. 1–36). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Suomi, S. J., Harlow, H. F., & Novak, M. A. (1974). Reversal of social deficits produced by isolation rearing in monkeys. Journal of Human Evolution, 3(6), 527–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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