Cristina Colonnesi is associate professor at the Research Institute of Child Development and Education, Developmental Psychopathology. She studied Developmental and Clinical Psychology at The Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). Her research is focused on the social-cognitive and social-emotional development from infancy to childhood and the association with psychopathology. She is a teacher in mentalization, attachment, autism, anxiety & depression, and social-emotional and communicative development in infancy and childhood.
Research interests and expertise
- Caregivers’ mentalizing abilities, mind-mindedness, and sensitive behavior
- Infant-parent interaction and attachment
- Individual differences in social-cognitive and social-emotional development
- Development of shyness and other self-conscious emotions, affect processing and regulation
- Association between social-cognitive/social-emotional development and psychopathology
Current projects
- Synchrony of Emotional Communication and Pointing in Infancy: An Investigation on the Early Developmental Trajectories of Social-Communicative Functioning NWO Research Talent, PhD student: Eliala Salvadori.
- Mind Matters: How Parental Mind-Mindedness Influences Infant Development. UvA, PhD student: Moniek Zeegers.
- Infant Early Self-regulation, Attention and Joint-Attention Difficulties as Predictors of Later Self-Regulation Problems. Yield Signature Project, PhD student: Martina Zaharieva.
- Het belang van traumasensitiviteit voor (professionele) opvoeders in de residentiële zorg voor jeugd. ZonMw Effectief Werken in de Jeugdsector, Phd: Carolien Konijn.
- Doorontwikkeling van een screeningsinstrument voor problematische gehechtheid bij kinderen van 2 t/m 5 jaar (AISI). ZonMw, Effectief Werken in de Jeugdsector.