HUM554: INTELLIGENCE, BEHAVIOUR AND SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT

ORCID ID 0000-0003-4350-9627

Graduated in Psychology from the University of Seville in 1980 and graduated with a degree in 1981. From the 1977-1978 academic year, I studied Psychology simultaneously with the Diploma in Teacher Training in the EGB, finishing these studies also in 1980. In June 1986 I obtained the Outstanding Doctorate Cum Laude with a pioneering work in Spain on the analysis of social behaviour in children aged 4-6 from an ethological perspective. Since then, I have been working from a multidisciplinary perspective to better understand the indicators of social adjustment and risk, where researchers from different areas of knowledge have converged (Evolutionary Psychology, P.E.T.R.A., Basic Psychological Processes, and Human Ethology). The first works resulted in the formulation of a mathematical index of diversity of behavior in children 5-6 years old that was shown to be a good predictor of social adjustment in later ages. Later, and before focusing exclusively on the first school years (5 to 9 years old), we were interested in exploring the social risk in adolescence (where a possible moderating role of the classroom climate against family risk factors was evidenced) and in old age (where the importance of social adjustment against the appearance of dementia and depression was demonstrated). In the 1990s we began collaborating with a team of researchers from the psychophysiology area of the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) with whom we have been working ever since in the search for complex models that could explain and predict before the age of 8 the various factors (biological, sociocognitive, socio-emotional, family, temperament, hormonal...) - and their interactions - involved in the appearance and development of risk behaviour and their possible moderating or mediating roles. Thus, we have approached the analysis of the relationships, not only direct, but also indirect, between these variables, trying to reach a more complex and comprehensive vision.Recently, we have continued, within this line, to study the possible additive and interactive effects between diverse variables of the family context, the temperament of the sons and daughters, and sociocognitive and linguistic variables of the boys and girls on risk behaviour in mid-childhood, analysing possible differences in the sensitivity of individuals to the influence of the family context. As a result, she has supervised 3 doctoral theses, participated in 6 national research projects (two of them as principal investigator) and published 33 scientific papers (1926 of which appear in impact journals) and 13 book chapters.  This research career is completed with the teaching career that begins in 1980 as a professor in charge of the course (level C) in the University School of Teacher Training of EGB of the University of Cadiz, through various categories of non-civil servant teacher until obtaining, first, a position of Full Professor of School (1988), a position of Full Professor of University (1998) and since 2010 a position of University Professor in the Department of Psychology of the University of Cadiz, teaching in the Degree in Psychology. She has also held various positions of academic management at the University of Cadiz: Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, Head of Studies of the University School of Teacher Training of EGB, Vice Chancellor of Students, Director of the Department of Psychology and Vice Chancellor of Academic and Personal Organization.