Joint Attention, Social Competence, and Developmental Psychopathology

The models of joint attention development are: the caregiver/scaffolding model; the social-cognitive model; the social motivation model; and the neurodevelopmental executive function model. This chapter examines the nature and validity of these models, examining autism, measurement issues, parietal-temporal and frontal processes, and dorsal-medial cortical functions. The literature and ideas discussed revolve around several main themes. First, the study of joint attention has relevance for those interested in more general aspects of social competence associated with the development of social motivation, self-regulation, and executive processes. Second, research suggests that observation of joint attention skills may provide unique information about early social neuropsychological processes that contribute social competence development. Third, joint attention may be a vehicle or platform for social constructivist process in early development. Finally, joint attention provides an operationalization and means of measuring individual differences in the tendency of young children to engage in episodes of intersubjectivity.