This review integrates findings from the research fields of temperament, cognitive processes and childhood psychopathology. It examines the role of temperamental effortful control (EC) in both internalising and externalising behaviours in children. The difficulties in operationalising the construct of EC and its developmental trajectory are also highlighted. The review then reviews evidence for attentional biases (hypervigilance to threat, disengagement difficulties and avoidance) in anxiety and aggression. Research is presented which considers the association between attentional biases and EC and discusses this association as a risk factor in the development of childhood anxiety a similar process is presented as a potential risk in externalising behaviours.