Research interests

I study the development of children's emotional competence and their emotion understanding. From infancy to school entry, children make remarkable advances in their capacity to negotiate emotionally challenging situations, share their emotional experiences and understand other people as emotional agents. Whilst development brings increasing emotional autonomy, children remain deeply dependent on the structures that support them, and each family affords different opportunities to explore and integrate emotional experiences.

The majority of my research centres on variation in the emotional competencies and emotion understanding of children. Some aspects of this variation undoubtedly originate in constitutional differences between children (e.g., temperament), whereas other aspects have a social origin. By studying variation between children and the worlds in which they find themselves, it is my belief that we can open a window onto the mechanisms underlying emotional resilience and emotional disturbance.

To equip children for the emotional challenges they will face is one of the greatest responsibilities of parents and those caring for children. How children will meet these challenges is ultimately in their own hands.

 
 

Areas of specialisation

- Emotional Development and Social Cognition in Infancy and Early Childhood
- Individual Differences in Children's Socio-Cognitive Development
- The Inter-Generational Transmission of Social Fears
- Attachment and the 'Internal Working Model' Construct
- Children's Theory of Mind and Folk-Psychological Understanding

 
 

Previous appointments and qualifications

2003-2006
Junior Research Fellow
Churchill College, University of Cambridge, UK
(Centre for Family Research)

2002-2003
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Winnicott Research Unit, University of Reading, UK

2000-2002
Junior Dean of Students
Somerville College, University of Oxford, UK

1997-2003
Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil)
Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK
Corpus Christi and Somerville

1993-1997
BSc (Honours) 1st Class
(Behavioural Sciences and Genetics)
Macquarie University, Australia

 
 

Competitive grants

2008-2011
Fitting in and making friends:
The psycho-social underpinnings of children’s adaptation to school
Australian Research Council Discovery Project
Investigators: M de Rosnay, L Zadro and C Hunt
Grant value: $330,000 (No. DP0881855)

2007-2010
Acquiring social fears in infancy:
Underlying mechanisms and implications for behavioural intervention
Australian Research Council Discovery Project
Chief Investigator: M de Rosnay (APD)
Grant value: $361,004 (No. DP0774331)

2007
Children’s socio-cognitive understanding in action and context
University of Sydney Research & Development Grant Scheme
Chief Investigator: M de Rosnay
Grant value: $24,000

2005-2008
Internal working models and young children’s social-emotional development
Economic and Social Research Council, UK
Investigators: E Meins, C Fernyhough, M de Rosnay, B Arnott, & L Vittorini
Grant value: £ 316,000 (No. 000231073)

2003-2006
Junior Research Fellowship
Churchill College, University of Cambridge, UK

 
 

Publications

 

Forthcoming

Meins, E., Fernyhough, C., Arnott, B., Leekham, S. R., & de Rosnay, M. (in press). Mind-mindedness and theory of mind: Mediating roles of language andperspectival discourse. Child Development.

Heathers, J., Fink, E., Kuhnert, R-L., & de Rosnay, M. (in press). Blood Volume Pulse (BVP) derived Vagal Tone (VT) between 5 and 7 years of age: A methodological investigation of measurement and longitudinal stability. Developmental Psychobiology

Scheeren, A. M., de Rosnay, M., Koot, H., & Begeer, S. (in press). Rethinking theory of mind in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Begeer, S., de Rosnay, M., Lunenburg, P., & Meerum Terwogt, M. (in press). Understanding of emotions based on counterfactual reasoning in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Autism

 

2012

Pons, F., Harris, P. L., & de Rosnay, M. (in press). Piaget and consciousness: Retrospect and prospect. In C. Rodriguez & E. Marti (Eds.), After Piaget. Transaction Publishers.  (ISBN: 978-1-4128-4765-0)

de Rosnay, M. & Murray, L. (2012, September). Maternal care as the central environmental variable. In Mayes, L.C. & Lewis, M. (eds.) The Cambridge handbook of environment in human development.  Boston: Cambridge University Press. (ISBN: 9780521868822)

de Rosnay, M. & Fink, E. (2012). The development of moral motivation at six years of age. In R. Langdon & C. Mackenzie (Eds.), Emotions, Imagination and Moral Reasoning, New York: Psychology Press.  (ISBN: 9781848729001)

 

2011

Meins, E., Fernyhough, C., de Rosnay, M., Arnott, B., Leekham, S., & Turner, M. (published online, 2011). Mind-mindedness as a multidimensional construct: Appropriate and nonattuned mind-related comments independently predict infant-mother attachment in a socially diverse sample. Infancy (DOI: 10.1111/j.1532-7078.2011.00087.x)

Bender, P., Harris, P. L., Pons, F., & de Rosnay, M. (2011). Do children misunderstand their own emotions? European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 8(3), 331-348

Gamskjær, B., Pons, F., & de Rosnay, M. (2011). Emosjonell kompetanse hos små barn. In Ø. Kvelo (Ed.), Barns utvikling ibarnehagen. Oslo: Gyldendal Akademisk (ISBN 978-82-05-39973-0)

Emotional competence in young children. In Ø. Kvelo (Ed.), Child development in kindergarten. Oslo: Gyldendal Akademisk

 

2010

Pons, F., de Rosnay, M., & Doudin, P-A. (Eds.) (2010). Emotions in research and practice. Aalborg, Denmark: University of Aalborg Press. (ISBN 9788773079959) [See chapters below]

Cuisinier, F., Clavel, C., de Rosnay, M., & Pons, F. (2010). Emotional experiences at elementary school: Theoretical and pragmatic issues. In F. Pons, M. de Rosnay, & P-A. Doudin (Eds.), Emotions in research and practice. Aalborg, Denmark: University of Aalborg Press.

Succar, S., Beswick, K., & de Rosnay, M. (2010). Understanding children's tendencies to hide their feelings: The roles of emotion understanding and impulsivity. In F. Pons, M. de Rosnay, & P-A. Doudin (Eds.), Emotions in research and practice. Aalborg, Denmark: University of Aalborg Press.

Pons, F., de Rosnay, M., Cuisinier, F.,  Bender, P. (2010). On the cognitive nature of emotions and the emotional nature of cognitions. In F. Pons, M. de Rosnay, & P-A. Doudin (Eds.), Emotions in research and practice. Aalborg, Denmark: University of Aalborg Press.

Pons, F., de Rosnay, M., & Cuisinier, F. (2010) Cognition and emotion. In V. G. Aukrust (Section Editor), Learning and Cognition; E. Baker, B. McGaw & P. Peterson (Eds.) International Encyclopedia of Education (3rd Ed.). Oxford: Elsevier

Lecce, S., Caputi, M., Pagnin, A., de Rosnay, M., & Pons, F. (2010). La competenza sociale secondo genitori e insegnanti: il ruolo della teoria della mente. Età Evolutiva, 96, 5- 14  (ISSN 0392-0658)

 

2009

Corriveau, K. H., Harris, P. L., Meins, E., Fernyhough, C., Arnott, B., Elliott, L., Liddle, B., Hearn, A., Vittorini, L., & de Rosnay, M. (2009) Young children's trust in their mother's claims: Longitudinal links with attachment security in infancy. Child Development, 80(3), 750-761.

 

2008

Murray, L., de Rosnay, M., Pearson, J., Bergeron, C., Schofield, E., Royal-Lawson, M., & Cooper, P. J. (2008). Intergenerational transmission of social anxiety: The role of social referencing processes in infancy. Child Development, 79(4), 1049-1064.

de Rosnay, M., Harris, P.L. & Pons, F. (2008). Emotional understanding and developmental psychopathology in young children. In C. Sharp, P. Fonagy, & I. Goodyer (Eds.), Social cognition and developmental psychopathology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

de Rosnay, M., Pons, F., & Harris, P.L. (2008). Perché il Test di Comprensione delle Emozioni (TEC). In O Albanese & P. Molina, Lo sviluppo della comprensione delle emozioni e la sua valutazione: La standardizzazione italiana del Test de Comprensione delle Emozioni (TEC) (pp. 9-17). Milano: Edizioni Unicopli.

This book section (above)—entitled Why the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC)?—is a prolegomenon to the volume devoted to the Italian standardization of the TEC. The TEC, which I helped to develop, has been popular in Europe, and Italy in particular. The standardisation is based on 1000 children and the TEC has now been translated into over 15 languages.

 

2007

Pons, F., de Rosnay, M., Doudin, P.-A., Harris, P., & De Stasio, S. (2007). Comprensione sociale ed emotiva nei bambini. In M. Pinelli (Ed.) Metacognizione, emozioni, teoria della mente: Relazioni e strumenti di misure (pp. 25-48). Parma: Uni.Nova.

 

2006

Hughes, C. & de Rosnay, M. (Eds.) (2006). The role of conversations in children's social, emotional and cognitive development. Special Issue of the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24(1).

de Rosnay, M., Cooper, P., Tsigaras, N., & Murray, L. (2006). Transmission of social anxiety from mother to infant: An experimental study using a social referencing paradigm. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 44(8). 1165-1175.

de Rosnay, M. & Hughes, C. (2006). Conversation and theory of mind: Do children talk their way to socio-cognitive understanding? British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24(1), 7-37.

Pons, F., Harris, P. L., & de Rosnay, M. (2006). Betydningen af barnets sprog og familiens samtaleaktiviteter for barnets theory of mind ["The impact of child language and family conversation on children's theory of mind"]. In C. Jantzen & T. Thellesen (Eds.), Videnskabelig begrebsdannelse. Aalborg: Aalborg Universitrtsforlag.

Pons, F., de Rosnay, M., Doudin, P-A., Harris, P., & Cuisinier, F. (2006). Emotion understanding as a reflective emotional competence: Between experiences and symbols. In F. Pons, M-F Daniel, L. Lafortune, P-A. Doudin, & O. Albanese (Eds.) Toward Emotional Competencies (pp. 19-33). Aalborg, Denmark: Aalborg University Press

Pons, F., Doudin, P.-A., Harris, P., & de Rosnay, M. (2006). La comprensione delle emozioni tra affetto e intelletto. In O. Albanese, M.-F. Daniel, P.-A. Doudin, L. Lafortune & F. Pons (Eds.), Competenza emotiva tra psicologia ed educazione 
(pp. 15-34). Milano: Franco Angeli.

 

2005

Harris, P. L., de Rosnay, M., & Pons, F. (2005). Language and children's understanding of mental states. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(1), 69-73.

Pons, F., Doudin, P.-A., Harris, P., & de Rosnay, M. (2005). Helping children to improve their emotion comprehension. In F. Pons, D. Hancock, L. Lafortune & P.-A. Doudin (Eds.), Emotions in learning (pp. 15-39). Aalborg: Aalborg University Press.

Pons, F., Doudin, P.-A., Harris, P., & de Rosnay, M. (2005). La compréhension des émotions: entre affect et intellect. In L. Lafotune, M.-F. Daniel, P.-A. Doudin, F. Pons & O. Albanese (Eds.), Pédagogie et psychologie des émotions (183-206). Sainte-Foy: Presses de l'Université du Québec.

 

2004

Pons, F., Harris, P. L., & de Rosnay, M. (2004). Emotion comprehension between 3 and 11 years: Developmental periods and hierarchical organization. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 1(2), 127-152.

de Rosnay, M., Pons, F., Harris, P. L. & Morrell, J. M. B. (2004). A lag between understanding false belief and emotion attribution in young children: Relationships with linguistic ability and mothers' mental-state language. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 22(2), 197-218.

 

2003

Pons, F., Lawson, J., Harris, P. L., & de Rosnay, M. (2003). Individual differences in children's emotion understanding: Effects of age and language. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 44(4), 347-353.

 

2002

de Rosnay, M., & Harris, P. L. (2002) Individual differences in children's understanding of emotion: The roles of attachment and language. Attachment and Human Development, 4(1), 39-45.

Pons, F., Doudin, P.-A., Harris, P. L., & de Rosnay, M. (2002). Métaémotion et intégration scolaire. In L. Lafortune & P. Mongeau (Eds.), L'affectivité dans l'apprentissage. Saint-Foy: Presses de l'Université du Québec.

 

Other publications

Pons, F., de Rosnay, M., Barriol, C., & Zacharopoulou, M., (2010). Origins of attachment theory: subjectivity and interdisciplinary encounters. Impuls, 2, 10-22.

Pons, F., de Rosnay, M., Harris, P., & Lecce, S. (2009). Theory of Mind and language in children. Impuls, 3, 30-41

Pons, F., Harris, P., & de Rosnay, M. (2000). La compréhension des émotions chez l'enfant. Psychoscope, 21(9), 29-32.

Pons, F., & de Rosnay, M. (2000). Review of Sternberg's "Nature of cognition". Swiss Journal of Psychology, 59(3), 215-216.