temperament

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From at least classical times, temperament has referred to an individual's or a group's consistent and stable pattern of behaviour or reaction, one that persists across time, activity, and space. The roots of the theory of temperament lie in classical Greek medicine and astronomy. A central component of the humoral theory of the body, temperament (‘crasis’ in Greek) denoted the particular balance of the four primary qualities — hot, wet, cold, and dry — characteristic of a given individual in a healthy condition. The mixture was fixed at birth, largely through astrological influences, though modifications could occur with ageing, changes in environment, disease, geography, etc. Although each person was deemed to have his or her own individual temperament, they were generally described as variations on four basic types: choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phlegmatic. These states were at once physiological and psychological, denoting both the organization of the internal body and what might be called an attitude toward life. Galen's On Complexions, drawing on Hippocratic sources and the ideas of the Pneumatics, presents an elaborated account of the theory of temperaments (complexio in Latin), one that had much influence on medieval medical authors. According to ancient and medieval medical theory, most internal illnesses could be explained as the result of complexional imbalances, and therapy consisted of various interventions designed to restore the proper mixture of the four elements. Because temperament was understood to be something individual, however, remedies had to be patient-specific, tailored to the unique complexion of the particular sufferer.

The medical theory of temperament began to lose favour in the early modern period. As a characterization of a person's psychological state, however, temperament continued to be employed by both psychologists and the lay public well into the twentieth century. In general, the concept has continued to refer to something both physiological and innate, although there is much dispute in the literature over whether temperaments are inborn or develop early in life through an interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Whatever their origin, it is widely accepted that temperaments both help to shape, and are themselves shaped by, the social environments in which an individual develops and lives, and that they represent styles of thought and behaviour that are both personal and consistent. As an individual develops, it is his or her temperament that helps to orient that development, influencing the growth of both intellect and character along particular lines.

While the possible varieties of temperament are almost limitless, psychologists have identified a number of dimensions — including relative ego strength, radicalism-conservatism, dominance- submissiveness, and extroversion- interoversion — that they believe characterize important aspects of an individual's temperament. Research on temperaments has generally been oriented toward determining whether a functional unity exists within a given constellation of behaviours, so that it can be demonstrated that a recognizable style of action persists from one domain to another. Since the 1950s to 1960s, psychoanalytic ego psychology, personality psychology, and cognitive psychology have all become more interested in the phenomena associated with temperament, seeking to identify and understand individual differences or cognitive styles that are consistent across settings. It remains the case, however, that the term itself has fallen largely into disuse, especially within professional circles.

— John Carson

See also personality.

noun

1. A person's customary manner of emotional response: complexion, disposition, humor, nature, temper. See be.
2. A tendency to become angry or irritable: irascibility, irascibleness, spleen, temper, tetchiness. Informal dander. Slang short fuse. Idioms: low boiling point. See feelings.

Definition

Individual differences in human motivation and emotion that appear early in life, usually thought to be biological in origin. Temperament is sometimes considered the biological or physiological component of personality, which refers to the sum total of the physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and social dimensions of an individual.

Description

History

Ancient Greek and Roman physicians invoked nature, claiming that the proportions of the various humors or fluids in the bodies influenced personality. They thought that there were four basic temperaments—sanguine (cheerful), choleric (irritable), melancholic (gloomy), and phlegmatic (apathetic)—which were determined by the predominance of blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm respectively in the person's physical constitution. The ancient theory survives in the form of such expressions as "being in a bad (or good) humor."

The theory of four bodily humors did not survive the rise of scientific medicine in the seventeenth century as an explanation for differences in human temperament, but it has not been replaced by any single universally accepted theory of personality either. During most of the twentieth century, political ideology, discoveries about the learning or conditioning capabilities of infants, and the emergence of psychoanalytic theory, which emphasized the importance of early experience, all combined to discredit biological explanations for human motivation and emotion. Nurture and socialization became the favored explanations of differences in temperament.

There was, however, a resurgence of interest in the contribution of temperament to children's development after the 1950s. Temperament came to be summarized as the biological dimension of personality. It was seen as a predisposition that allows two individuals to experience the same objective event very differently within the range of normal behavior and development.

Specific Approaches to Temperament

THE NEW YORK LONGITUDINAL STUDY. Suspecting that inherent individual differences among their young patients contributed to their developmental paths, two child psychiatrists, Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess, designed a study that challenged the nature-nurture dichotomy. Beginning in 1956 and ultimately publishing their research in Temperament and Development in 1977, Thomas and Chess collected longitudinal data from over 100 children, following them from infancy through early adulthood. Using extensive clinical interviews to gather information about children's behavior as well as parents' values and expectations, they examined what they termed the goodness of fit between the individual child and his or her environment.

Thomas and Chess found that children could be rated on each of nine dimensions even in infancy:

• Activity level: The child's general level of energy and movement—whether he or she is quiet, always "on the go," or somewhere in-between.
• Rhythmicity: The child's regular biological patterns of appetite and sleep—whether the child gets hungry or tired at predictable times.
• Approach/withdrawal: The child's usual response to new people or situations—whether the child is eager for new experiences or shy and hesitant.
• Adaptability: The child's ability and pace in adjusting to changes in schedules or transitions from one activity to another.
• Threshold of responsiveness: The child's level of sensitivity to such physical stimuli as sounds, smells, and lights. For example, some children are easily startled by sudden noises while others are less sensitive to them. Some children are pickier about food than others.
• Intensity: The child's responses to people or events. Some children react strongly and loudly to even minor events while others are less demonstrative or openly emotional.
• Quality of mood: The child's overall worldview, whether positive or negative. Some children tend to focus on the negative aspects of a situation while others are more positive or hopeful. Some children tend to approach life in a serious or analytical fashion while others respond to their immediate impressions of situations.
• Distractibility: The child's ability to pay attention to tasks or instructions even when the child is not particularly interested in them. Some children have shorter attention spans than others.
• Persistence: The child's ability to continue with an activity in the face of obstacles or problems. Some children are more easily discouraged by difficulties than others.

Thomas and Chess combined the patterns of children's ratings on each of these nine dimensions to distinguish three major temperamental types:

• Easy children: About 40 percent of the NYLS sample displayed a temperamental profile marked by regularity, ease of approach to new stimuli, adaptability to change, mild to moderate mood intensity, and a generally positive mood. This profile characterizes what Thomas and Chess call the easy child.
• Difficult children: About 10 percent of children showed a very different profile and were called difficult children. They had irregular patterns of eating and sleeping, withdrew from new stimuli, did not adapt easily to change, and reacted intensely to changes. Their overall mood was often negative.
• Slow-to-adapt children: Children who were slow to warm up comprised the third temperamental group, about 15 percent of Thomas and Chess's sample. These children tended to withdraw from new stimuli and had difficulty adapting to change, but their reactions were of mild intensity and gradually became either neutral or positive with repeated exposures to the new event or person.

Some researchers prefer the terms flexible, active or feisty, and cautious instead of the somewhat judgmental terms of easy, difficult, and slow-to-adapt, respectively.

Clearly, these three temperamental types that Thomas and Chess identified did not include all of the variations seen in children across the entire sample. About one third of the children showed mixed profiles. Nonetheless, these temperamental classifications became highly influential in child development research. Perhaps the greatest contribution of the NYLS, however, was Thomas and Chess's emphasis on "goodness of fit"; that is, they maintained that the child's temperament by itself was not the most important consideration in his or her growth and development, but the extent to which that temperament agreed with the values, expectations, and style of the child's environment, whether family, childcare setting, school, or culture. For example, a quiet and serious child fits in well with a family of scholars or intellectuals, whereas an intense, active, and easily distracted child may not be accepted as readily in the same family context. In terms of culture, some ethnic groups place a high value on self-control and relating well to others, while other groups emphasize assertiveness and independence. A child who has a high energy level and reacts intensely to persons and events will have a better fit with the second group than with the first. The notion of goodness of fit also helps to explain why some children in a given family seem to get along better with their parents than their siblings do. Even though temperament is thought to be rooted in biology, different children in the same family may have very different temperaments.

TRAIT APPROACHES. Some approaches to the study of temperament emphasize traits; that is, they assume that temperamental qualities can be rated as persisting within individuals across time in a variety of situations. In 1984, as published in their book, Temperament: Early Developing Personality Traits, Arnold Buss and others considered temperaments to be heritable and stable personality profiles—profiles that are genetically influenced and relatively unchanging over time. These researchers used maternal questionnaires to gather information on children's emotionality, activity, and sociability, traits they regarded as the fundamental dimensions of temperament. Interestingly, Buss and Plomin suggested that children who are rated as extreme on these dimensions may be qualitatively different from those whose scores lie closer to the middle.

Basic emotions were at the core of H. Hill Goldsmith and Joseph Campos's conception of temperament. In 1983, in an essay included in Socio-Emotional Development, they described temperament in terms of individual differences in experiencing and expressing such primary emotions as anger, fear, and pleasure. Goldsmith and Campos, however, emphasized the speed and intensity of children's responses to stimuli as well as the specific emotions involved. Their evaluations were based on three measurements: threshold (the amount of stimulation the child requires before responding); latency to respond (how rapidly the child reacts to the stimulus); and intensity of response.

In 2004, Mary Rothbart emphasized reactivity and self-regulation as core processes in organizing temperamental profiles. These processes, she believed, can be seen in six significant infant behaviors: smiling; distress when confronted by limitations; fear; activity level; soothability, and duration of orienting (how long the baby plays with or pays attention to a single object). Her Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ), which was developed in the early 1980s, remained, as of 2004, one of the most widely used methods of assessing temperament in infants between the ages of three months and 12 months. In the first version of the IBQ, published in 1981, parents were asked to rate the frequency of these temperament-related behaviors in their child over a two-week period. The revised version of the IBQ, known as the IBQ-R, was developed by Rothbart and her colleague Masha Gartstein in the early 2000s. The IBQ-R expanded the original six measures of temperament to 14. The new measurements include the following:

• Approach: The infant's excitement and looking forward to a pleasurable experience or activity.
• Vocal reactivity: The baby's level of vocal responses to stimuli in its daily routine.
• Perceptual sensitivity: The infant's ability to detect low-intensity stimuli in its environment.
• Sadness.
• High-intensity pleasure: The infant's reactions to pleasurable stimuli or activities of high intensity, such as loud music or bright lights.
• Low-intensity pleasure.
• Cuddliness: The infant's physical and emotional responses to being held or cuddled by a parent or caregiver.
• Rate of recovery from distress: How long it takes the infant to return to a normal level of emotion after an exciting or upsetting experience and how readily the child falls asleep.

In contrast to Goldsmith and Campos, Rothbart emphasized cognitive processes in children as the key to understanding temperament rather than emotions by themselves. For Rothbart and her colleagues, the infant's ability to focus its attention is the basis of its later ability to regulate its reactions to people and events. In Rothbart's view, what she calls the attentional system allows the child to regulate his or her outward behavior as well as internal reactions to stimuli. As children mature, they develop the ability to turn their attention to alternative strategies when they are frustrated and to make plans in order to achieve their goals. Different patterns of self-regulation in turn help to explain differences in temperament.

Goldsmith and Rothbart collaborated to develop an assessment tool to gauge temperamental dimension based on systematic observations of behaviors elicited under standard laboratory conditions (for example, how a child reacts to a mechanical spider). The development of an observational protocol or test for assessing temperamental characteristics offers an advantage over reliance on questionnaires. When parents describe their children's behavior, they are influenced by their feelings about the child as well as their observations. In addition, the parents' reports include many sources of information such that reports of the child's behavior cannot be easily separated from the parents' biases, values, or expectations.

TYPE APPROACHES. Another major approach to the study of temperament distinguishes among types of people characterized by different patterns of behavior. In the 1990s, in Galen's Prophecy, Jerome Kagan and his colleagues studied two types of children whom they defined as inhibited and uninhibited (or exuberant) respectively. Kagan's group studied the development of these two types of children through adolescence as well as the infant profiles that predicted the children's behavior at later ages. At early ages, inhibited children cling to their mothers and may cry and hesitate when confronted with unfamiliar persons or events. These children appear to be timid and shy and represent about 20 percent of volunteer Caucasian samples. Uninhibited or exuberant children, on the other hand, approach new events and persons without hesitation or trepidation. They appear fearless and sociable and represent about 40 percent of volunteer samples. Kagan's observations of these children over time indicated that these characteristic profiles tended to continue, although the display of temperamental tendencies varied in accordance with the child's developmental level. An older inhibited child or teenager, for example, may not cling to his or her mother or cry when coming to an unfamiliar laboratory but may hesitate to talk to the examiner and may smile infrequently.

Interestingly, Kagan found that the behavioral profiles of these children were accompanied by physiologic profiles that suggested different levels of reactivity in the children's central nervous systems, particularly in regard to fear and stress reactions. Inhibited, compared to uninhibited, children tended to have higher and more stable heart rates, higher levels of stress-related hormones like cortisol and norephinephrine, larger changes in blood pressure in response to stressors, and measurable tension in their voices when speaking under mildly stressful conditions. These differences seemed to support the contention that temperamental categories have a biological dimension.

Although young infants are not sufficiently mature to demonstrate timidity in response to new experiences, the reactivity of the structures in the human nervous system that are thought to underlie inhibited and uninhibited temperaments may appear at early ages. When infants are exposed to variations in the sights and sounds in their environment, some become aroused and demonstrate this arousal by moving their arms and legs and fretting or crying. Other infants remain calm, relatively motionless, and do not cry. Those who are highly reactive to stimulation tend to become inhibited in their reactions to novelty and uncertainty at later ages. Those whose reactivity level is low in infancy tend to grow into children who remain relaxed in novel situations so that they appear outgoing and uninhibited.

MALLEABILITY OF TEMPERAMENT. Malleability refers to the extent to which temperament can be influenced or reshaped by later life events. The reader should note that the continuity of temperamental profiles from infancy through later ages is a group phenomenon; that is, individual children may change and become more or less inhibited while the groups of children remain distinct on average. Neither temperament nor biology is destiny. Temperament and environment both influence development, although relatively few researchers have studied the interaction of these two influences as of the early 2000s.

Research in Early 2000s About Temperament

In the early 2000s, research on temperament in children and adolescents is making use of new brain imaging technology to expand understanding of the biological processes that influence emotional self-regulation and task-related activities. This technology is known as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Functional magnetic resonance imaging is based on the fact that activity in a specific part of the brain is accompanied by an increased flow of blood to that region. As the blood flow increases, the amount of deoxyhemoglobin, a form of hemoglobin that has lost its oxygen content, decreases in the affected area of the brain. Since the amount of deoxyhemoglobin in the blood affects the magnetic resonance image signal, it can be used as the source of the signal for fMRI. This discovery means that fMRI studies can be conducted without injecting radioactive materials into a subject's blood. In addition, it means that usable MRI images can be obtained in a very short period of time (1.5–2 minutes on average) rather than the longer periods of testing required when radioactive materials are used.

FMRI has many beneficial applications, ranging from more accurate planning for brain surgery to more effective pain management. In terms of the study of temperament, fMRI allows researchers to study such complex brain activities as problem-solving as well as visual and auditory (hearing) perception. In 2003, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) began a study that uses fMRI technology on 60 children and adolescents between the ages of nine and 16. The study is designed to test the hypothesis that differences in temperament related to differences in brain functioning put some children at an increased risk of certain psychiatric disorders later in life. The type of child that Kagan's research group identified as inhibited, for example, appears to have the same pattern of disturbed nerve cell activity that has been identified in adults diagnosed with mood or anxiety disorders. Specifically, inhibited children seem to have a higher level of activity in a part of the brain called the amygdala, which regulates emotion, and a lower than average level of activity in the prefrontal cortex, which governs a person's ability to express emotions. Exuberant children, on the other hand, are thought to have a relatively high level of activity in the prefrontal cortex in response to certain stimuli.

In addition to its usefulness in studying the parts of the brain that are activated by sensory perception, thinking, and emotional responses to various stimuli, fMRI may also be helpful in distinguishing between problem behaviors in children that are rooted in temperament and behaviors that indicate a psychological problem. As of the early 2000s, research in the area of temperament has not been closely coordinated with research in childhood psychiatric disorders; as a result, both the causes and treatments of these disorders were, as of 2004, not well understood. Child psychiatrists have already observed that avoidant personality disorder (APD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are closely linked to the inhibited type of temperament as described in Kagan's work. To give another example, such temperamental traits as irritability and strong negative reactivity are thought to contribute to the development of oppositional defiant disorder in some children. Lastly, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder is thought to be heavily influenced by genetic factors affecting the child's temperament, including the production and metabolism of certain neurotransmitters in the brain that affect the child's ability to focus his or her attention.

Common Problems

The following are some of the problems that may arise in connection with differences in children's temperaments:

• Parents tend to regard certain characteristics as negative rather than as potentially positive. For example, a child's slowness to adapt may be seen as a drawback rather than as a protection against the dangers of impetuosity or being overly influenced by peer pressure.
• Behavioral problems are related to a poor fit between parent and child. Pediatricians often see families in which a vicious circle of negative interactions develops. The most common example is an angry reaction to a difficult child's aggressiveness or restlessness that takes the form of scolding or spanking. The child reacts to the parents' negative actions by increased aggressiveness, temper tantrums, or stubbornness. Another common pattern is the shy or inhibited child who becomes even more withdrawn when parents react to the shyness by lecturing or shaming the child.
• Favoritism becomes a factor when some parents find it much easier to relate to a child with a flexible temperament or one whose temperament matches their own than to a child who does not fit in as well. They may ignore the child they find less agreeable or punish him or her unfairly.

Parental Concerns

Common parental concerns about evaluations of their children's temperament include the following:

• Fears about labeling or stigmatization: Some parents are concerned about the reactions of teachers or other adults if their child is identified as "difficult." This fear is one reason why some researchers prefer to describe children in this category as "active" or "feisty" rather than to use the negative term difficult.
• Concerns about fairness: Parents whose children have different temperaments are sometimes concerned that treating the children differently will be perceived as unfair or unjust.
• Concerns about the parent-child bond: Some parents worry about their ability to relate to a child with a difficult temperament or one whose temperament is different from their own. They may feel guilty about their negative emotional reactions toward such a child and doubt their ability to be good parents.

When to Call the Doctor

As has already been mentioned, it is not always easy for parents to distinguish between a child with a "difficult" temperament whose behaviors are still within the normal range and a child with a psychiatric disorder. Some guidelines that have been given by pediatricians include the following:

• The specific problem behavior(s) cannot be attributed to the child's developmental stage (such as "the terrible twos").
• The child's problematic behaviors occur frequently.
• The child has several problematic behaviors.
• The child's behaviors are interfering with his or her social and intellectual development.

See also Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); Magnetic resonance imaging; Personality development.

Resources

Books

"Behavioral Problems." Section 19, chapter 262 in The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, edited by Mark H. Beers and Robert Berkow. Whitehouse Station, NJ: Merck Research Laboratories, 2002.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,4th ed., text revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2000.

Periodicals

Austin, A. A., and B. F. Chorpita. "Temperament, Anxiety, and Depression: Comparison Across Five Ethnic Groups of Children." Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 33 (June 2004): 216–26.

Frick, P. J. "Integrating Research on Temperament and Childhood Psychopathology: Its Pitfalls and Promise." Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 33 (March 2004): 2–7.

Hyde, J. S., et al. "Children's Temperament and Behavior Problems Predict Their Employed Mothers' Work Functioning." Child Development 75 (March-April 2004): 580–94.

Lonigan, C. J., et al. "Temperament, Anxiety, and the Processing of Threat-Relevant Stimuli." Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 33 (March 2004): 8–20.

Organizations

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). 3615 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016–3007. Web site: www.aacap.org..

American Psychological Association (APA). 750 First Street NE, Washington DC 20002. Web site: www.apa.org.

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Office of Communications. 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8184, MSC 9663, Bethesda, MD 20892–9663. Web site: www.nimh.nih.gov.

Web Sites

"The Future Role of Functional MRI in Medical Applications." About Functional MRI (General). Available online at www.fmri.org (accessed November 5, 2004).

Larsen, Lene Holm, and Carrie Sylvester. "Anxiety Disorder: Generalized Anxiety." eMedicine. Available online at www.emedicine.com/ped/topic2658.htm (accessed November 5, 2004).

Lubit, Roy. "Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Children." eMedicine. Available online at www.emedicine.com/ped/topic3026.htm (accessed November 5, 2004).

Montauk, Susan Louisa, and Christine Mayhall. "Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder." eMedicine. Available online at www.emedicine.com/ped/topic177.htm (accessed November 5, 2004).

"The Psychobiology of Childhood Temperament." National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) Clinical Trials. Available online at www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui/show/NCT00060775 (accessed November 5, 2004).

Tynan, W. Douglas. "Oppositional Defiant Disorder." eMedicine. Available online at www.emedicine.com/ped/topic2791.htm (accessed November 5, 2004).

[Article by: Doreen Arcus, PhD]

A tuning of a scale in which most or all of the concords are made slightly impure in order that none or few are distastefully so. Equal temperament, in which the octave is divided into 12 uniform semitones, is the standard Western temperament today except among specialists in early music.

Temperaments are necessary mainly because the concords of triadic music - octaves, 5ths and 3rds - are in many cases incommensurate in their pure forms. Thus three pure major 3rds fall short of a pure octave by about one-fifth of a whole tone; four pure minor 3rds exceed an octave by half as much again; the circle of pure 5ths does not quite cumulate in a perfect unison; and the major 2nd produced by subtracting a pure minor 3rd from a pure 4th is about 11% smaller than that produced by subtracting a pure 4th from a pure 5th.

The earliest temperament known to have been used in Western music was Pythagorean, with most of the 5ths pure. Mean-tone temperaments, with pure (or very nearly pure) major 3rds, succeeded during the Renaissance and early Baroque period. Irregular or ‘circulating’ temperaments were, however, advocated by some Renaissance and Baroque theorists and were recommended by some writers of the time, in the late 18th century especially, for the particular character they gave to each key (advocates included Tartini and Bach's pupil Kirnberger). This in turn was succeeded, as music became increasingly chromatic and ranged wider in key, by equal temperament. Equal temperament had been advocated by theorists as far back as the 16th century, and came increasingly to prevail during the 18th and 19th. It is uncertain whether Bach had equal temperament in mind when writing his Well-Tempered Clavier; but this was the system recommended by Rameau (1737) and C. P. E. Bach (1762). This system is, necessarily; the one universally used today for recent and contemporary music, though specialists in early music endeavour to use historically correct temperaments - as is necessary if the music is to sound as it did at the time and place when and where it was composed.

Emotional aspects of personality, such as joviality, moodiness, tenseness, and excitability.

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Quotes:

"Great men are always of a nature originally melancholy." - Aristotle

"Temperance is love surrendering itself wholly to Him who is its object; courage is love bearing all things gladly for the sake of Him who is its object; justice is love serving only Him who is its object, and therefore rightly ruling; prudence is love making wise distinction between what hinders and what helps itself." - St. Augustine

"Women complain about premenstrual syndrome, but I think of it as the only time of the month I can be myself." - Roseanne Barr

"Good nature is worth more than knowledge, more than money, more than honor, to the persons who possess it." - Henry Ward Beecher

"Temperament lies behind mood; behind will, lies the fate of character. Then behind both, the influence of family the tyranny of culture; and finally the power of climate and environment; and we are free, only to the extent we rise above these." - John Burroughs

"The cut of a garment speaks of intellect and talent and the color of temperament and heart." - Thomas Carlyle

See more famous quotes about Temperament

The peculiar behavioral character and mental cast of an animal.

• t. change — can be important in animal management or indicative of disease, e.g. vicious change in mare with ovarian adenocarcinoma, assumption of male characters in cow with ovarian tumor, disengagement in dogs with brain tumor. In food animals, castration of male livestock and spaying of females is practiced to aid management with limited restraint. In companion animals desexing practiced for population control also has marked effect on temperament.

• Mental States, Processes, and Behavior - temperament: characteristic mental, physical, and emotional aspects of an individual

This article is about psychological temperament. For musical temperament, see Musical temperament.

In psychology, temperament refers to those aspects of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learned. A great many classificatory schemes for temperament have been developed; none, though, has achieved general consensus in academia.^[1]

Historically, the concept of temperament was part of the theory of the four humours, with their corresponding four temperaments. The concept played an important part in pre-modern psychology, and was explored by philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Hermann Lotze. David W. Keirsey also drew upon the early models of temperament when developing the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. More recently, scientists seeking evidence of a biological basis of personality have further examined the relationship between temperament and character (defined in this context as the learnt aspects of personality). However, biological correlations have proven hard to confirm.^[1]

Contents 1 Overview 2 Infants, children and adults 3 Nine temperament characteristics of Thomas and Chess 3.1 Activity 3.2 Regularity 3.3 Initial reaction 3.4 Adaptability 3.5 Intensity 3.6 Mood 3.7 Distractibility 3.8 Persistence and attention span 3.9 Sensitivity 4 "Easy", "difficult", and "slow-to-warm-up" 5 Mary K. Rothbart’s three dimensions of temperament 5.1 Surgency/Extraversion 5.2 Negative affect 5.3 Effortful Control 6 Family life 6.1 Influences 6.2 Understanding for improvement 7 History 7.1 Rudolf Steiner's four temperaments 8 Popular usages 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 External links

Overview

Temperament is determined through specific behavioural profiles, usually focusing on those that are both easily measurable and testable early in childhood. Commonly tested factors include irritability, activity, frequency of smiling, and an approach or avoidant posture to unfamiliar events.^[1] There is generally a low correlation between descriptions by teachers and behavioural observations by scientists of features used in determining temperament.^[2]

Temperament is hypothesized to be associated with biological factors, but these have proven difficult to test directly.^[1]

Infants, children and adults

Alexander Thomas, Stella Chess, Herbert G. Birch, Margaret Hertzig and Sam Korn began the classic New York Longitudinal study in the early 1950s regarding infant temperament (Thomas, Chess & Birch, 1968). The study focused on how temperamental qualities influence adjustment throughout life. Chess, Thomas et al. rated young infants on nine temperament characteristics each of which, by itself, or with connection to another, affects how well a child fits in at school, with their friends, and at home. Behaviors for each one of these traits are on a continuum. If a child leans towards the high or low end of the scale, it could be a cause for concern. The specific behaviors are: activity level, regularity of sleeping and eating patterns, initial reaction, adaptability, intensity of emotion, mood, distractibility, persistence and attention span, and sensory sensitivity. Redundancies between the categories have been found and a reduced list is normally used by psychologists today.^[3]

Jerome Kagan and his colleagues have concentrated empirical research on a temperamental category termed "reactivity." Four-month-old infants who became "motorically aroused and distressed" to presentations of novel stimuli were termed highly reactive. Those who remained "motorically relaxed and did not cry or fret to the same set of unfamiliar events" were termed low reactive.^[1] These high and low reactive infants were tested again at 14 and 21 months "in a variety of unfamiliar laboratory situations." Highly reactive infants were predominantly characterized by a profile of high fear to unfamiliar events, which Kagan termed inhibited. Contrastingly, low reactive children were minimally fearful to novel situations, and were characterized by an uninhibited profile (Kagan). However, when observed again at age 4.5, only a modest proportion of children maintained their expected profile due to mediating factors such as intervening family experiences. Those who remained highly inhibited or uninhibited after age 4.5 were at higher risk for developing anxiety and conduct disorders, respectively.^[1]

Kagan also used two additional classifications, one for infants who were inactive but cried frequently (distressed) and one for those who showed vigorous activity but little crying (aroused). Followed to age 14–17 years, these groups of children showed differing outcomes, including some differences in central nervous system activity. Teenagers who had been classed as high reactives when they were babies were more likely to be "subdued in unfamiliar situations, to report a dour mood and anxiety over the future, [and] to be more religious."^[4]

Solomon Diamond described temperaments based upon characteristics found in the animal world: fearfulness, aggressiveness, affiliativeness, and impulsiveness. His work has been carried forward by Buss and Plomin, who developed two measures of temperament: The Colorado Child Temperament Inventory, which includes aspects of Thomas and Chess's schema, and the EAS Survey for Children.^[3]

H. Hill Goldsmith and Joseph Campos used emotional characteristics to define temperament, originally analyzing five emotional qualities: motor activity, anger, fearfulness, pleasure/joy, and interest/persistence, but later expanding to include other emotions. They developed several measures of temperament: Lab-TAB and TBAQ.^[3]

Other temperament systems include those based upon theories of adult temperament (e.g. Gray and Martin's Temperament Assessment Battery for Children), or adult personality (e.g.the Big Five personality traits).

Nine temperament characteristics of Thomas and Chess

Research by Thomas and Chess used the following nine temperament traits in children^{[5][6][7][8][9]} based on a classification scheme developed by Dr. Herbert Birch:^[10]

Activity

Activity refers to the child's physical energy. Is the child constantly moving, or does the child have a relaxing approach? A high-energy child may have difficulty sitting still in class, whereas a child with low energy can tolerate a very structured environment. The former may use gross motor skills like running and jumping more frequently. Conversely, a child with a lower activity level may rely more on fine motor skills, such as drawing and putting puzzles together. This trait can also refer to mental activity, such as deep thinking or reading—activities which become more significant as the person matures.

Regularity

Regularity, also known as Rhythmicity, refers to the level of predictability in a child’s biological functions, such as waking, becoming tired, hunger, and bowel movements. Does the child have a routine in eating and sleeping habits, or are these events more random? For example, a child with a high regularity rating may want to eat at 2 p.m. every day, whereas a child lower on the regularity scale may eat at sporadic times throughout the day.

Initial reaction

Initial reaction is also known as Approach or Withdrawal. This refers to how the child responds (whether positively or negatively) to new people or environments. Does the child approach people or things in the environment without hesitation, or does the child shy away? A bold child tends to approach things quickly, as if without thinking, whereas a cautious child typically prefers to watch for a while before engaging in new experiences.

Adaptability

Adaptability refers to how long it takes the child to adjust to change over time (as opposed to an initial reaction). Does the child adjust to the changes in their environment easily, or is the child resistant? A child who adjusts easily may be quick to settle into a new routine, whereas a resistant child may take a long time to adjust to the situation.

Intensity

Intensity refers to the energy level of a positive or negative response. Does the child react intensely to a situation, or does the child respond in a calm and quiet manner? A more intense child may jump up and down screaming with excitement, whereas a mild-mannered child may smile or show no emotion.

Mood

Mood refers to the child’s general tendency towards a happy or unhappy demeanor. All children have a variety of emotions and reactions, such as cheerful and stormy, happy and unhappy. Yet each child biologically tends to have a generally positive or negative outlook. A baby who frequently smiles and coos could be considered a cheerful baby, whereas a baby who frequently cries or fusses might be considered a stormy baby.

Distractibility

Distractibility refers to the child’s tendency to be sidetracked by other things going on around them. Does the child get easily distracted by what is happening in the environment, or can the child concentrate despite the interruptions? An easily distracted child is engaged by external events and has difficulty returning to the task at hand, whereas a rarely distracted child stays focused and completes the task at hand.

Persistence and attention span

Persistence and attention span refer to the child’s length of time on a task and ability to stay with the task through frustrations—whether the child stays with an activity for a long period of time or loses interest quickly.

Sensitivity

Sensitivity refers to how easily a child is disturbed by changes in the environment. This is also called sensory threshold or threshold of responsiveness. Is the child bothered by external stimuli like noises, textures, or lights, or does the child seem to ignore them? A sensitive child may lose focus when a door slams, whereas a child less sensitive to external noises will be able to maintain focus.

"Easy", "difficult", and "slow-to-warm-up"

Thomas, Chess, Birch, Hertzig and Korn found that many babies could be categorized into one of three groups: easy, difficult, and slow-to-warm-up (Thomas & Chess 1977).^[5] Not all children can be placed in one of these groups. Approximately 65% of children fit one of the patterns. Of the 65%, 40% fit the easy pattern, 10% fell into the difficult pattern, and 15% were slow to warm up. Each category has its own strength and weakness and one is not superior to another.

Thomas, Chess, Birch, Hertzig and Korn showed that Easy babies readily adapt to new experiences, generally display positive moods and emotions and also have normal eating and sleeping patterns. Difficult babies tend to be very emotional, irritable and fussy, and cry a lot. They also tend to have irregular eating and sleeping patterns. Slow-to-warm-up babies have a low activity level, and tend to withdraw from new situations and people. They are slow to adapt to new experiences, but accept them after repeated exposure.

Thomas, Chess, Birch, Hertzig and Korn found that these broad patterns of temperamental qualities are remarkably stable through childhood. These traits are also found in children across all cultures.

Thomas and Chess also studied temperament and environment. One sample consisted of white middle class families with high educational status and the other was of Puerto Rican working class families. They found several differences. Among those were:^[5]

• Parents of middle class children were more likely to report behavior problems before the age of nine and the children had sleep problems. This may be because children start preschool between the ages of three and four. Puerto Rican children under the age of five showed rare signs of sleep problems, however, sleep problems became more common at the age of six.

• Middle class parents also placed great stress on the child’s early development, believing that problems in early ages were indicative of later problems in psychological development, whereas Puerto Rican parents felt their children would outgrow any problems.

• At the age of nine, the report of new problems dropped for middle class children but they rose in Puerto Rican children, possibly due to the demands of school.

Mary K. Rothbart’s three dimensions of temperament

Mary K. Rothbart views temperament as the individual personality differences in infants and young children that are present prior to the development of higher cognitive and social aspects of personality.^[11] Rothbart further defines temperament as individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation that manifest in the domains of emotion, activity and attention. Moving away from classifying infants into categories, Mary Rothbart identified three underlying dimensions of temperament.^[12] Using factor analysis on data from 3 -12 month old children, three broad factors emerged and were labelled surgency/extraversion, negative affect, and effortful control.^[11]

Surgency/Extraversion

Surgency/extraversion includes positive anticipation, impulsivity, increased levels of activity and a desire for sensation seeking.^[13] This factor reflects the degree to which a child is generally happy, active, and enjoys vocalizing and seeking stimulation.^[12] Increased levels of smiling and laughter are observed in babies high in surgency/extraversion. ^[11] 10-11 year olds with higher levels of surgency/extraversion are more likely to develop externalizing problems like acting out; however, they are less likely to develop internalizing problems such as shyness and low self-esteem.^[14]

Negative affect

Negative affect includes fear, frustration, sadness, discomfort,^[13] and anger.^[11] This factor reflects the degree to which a child is shy and not easily calmed.^[12] Anger and frustration is seen as early as 2 to 3 months of age. Anger and frustration, together, predict externalizing and internalizing difficulties. Anger, alone, is later related to externalizing problems, while fear is associated with internalizing difficulties. Fear as evidenced by behavioural inhibition is seen as early as 7-10 months of age, and later predicts childrens’ fearfulness and lower levels of aggression.^[15]

Effortful Control

Effortful control includes the focusing and shifting of attention, inhibitory control, perceptual sensitivity, and a low threshold for pleasure.^[13] This factor reflects the degree to which a child can focus attention, is not easily distracted,^[12] can restrain a dominant response in order to execute a non-dominant response, and employ planning. When high in effortful control, six to seven year olds tend to be more empathetic and lower in aggressiveness.^[13] Higher levels of effortful control at age seven also predict lower externalizing problems at age 11 years.^[16] Children high on negative affect show decreased internalizing and externalizing problems when they are also high on effortful control.^[15] Rothbart suggests that effortful control is dependent on the development of executive attention skills in the early years. In turn, executive attention skills allows greater self-control over reactive tendencies. Effortful control shows stability from infancy into the school years^[15] and also predicts conscience.^[17]

Family life

Influences

Most experts agree that temperament has a genetic and biological basis, although environmental factors and maturation modify the ways a child's personality is expressed.^[18] The term “goodness of fit” refers to the match or mismatch between temperament and other personal characteristics and the specific features of the environment. Differences of temperament or behavior styles between individuals are important in family life. They affect the interactions among family members. While some children can adapt quickly and easily to family routines and get along with siblings, others who are more active or intense may have a difficult time adjusting. The interactions between these children and their parents or siblings are among a number of factors that can lead to stress and friction within the family.

The temperament mix between parents and children also affects family life. For example, a slow paced parent may be irritated by a highly active child; or if both parent and child are highly active and intense, conflict could result. This knowledge can help parents figure out how temperaments affect family relationships. What may appear to be a behavioral problem may actually be a mismatch between the parent’s temperament and their child’s. By taking a closer look at the nine traits that Thomas and Chess revealed from their study, parents can gain a better understanding of their child’s temperament and their own. Parents may also notice that situational factors cause a child's temperament to seem problematic; for example, a child with low rhythmicity can cause difficulties for a family with a highly scheduled life, and a child with a high activity level may be difficult to cope with if the family lives in a crowded apartment upstairs from sensitive neighbors.

Parents can encourage new behaviors in their children, and with enough support a slow-to-warm-up child can become less shy, or a difficult baby can become easier to handle. More recently infants and children with temperament issues have been called "spirited" to avoid negative connotations of "difficult" and "slow to warm up". Numerous books have been written advising parents how to raise their spirited youngsters.

Understanding for improvement

Understanding a child’s temperament can help reframe how parents interpret children’s behavior and the way parents think about the reasons for behaviors. By parents having access to this knowledge now helps them to guide their child in ways that respect the child’s individual differences. By understanding children’s temperaments and our own helps adults to work with them rather than try to change them. It is an opportunity to anticipate and understand a child’s reaction. It is also important to know that temperament does not excuse a child’s unacceptable behavior, but it does provide direction to how parents can respond to it. Making small and reasonable accommodations to routines can reduce tension. For example a child who is slow paced in the mornings may need an extra half hour to get ready. Knowing who or what may affect the child’s behavior can help to alleviate potential problems. Although children obtain their temperament behaviors innately, a large part that helps determine a child's ability to develop and act in certain ways is determined by the parents. When a parent takes the time to identify and more importantly respond to the temperaments they are faced with in a positive way it will help them guide their child in trying to figure out the world.

Recognizing the child’s temperament and helping them to understand how it impacts his/her life as well as others is important. It is just as important for parents to recognize their own temperaments. Recognizing each individual’s temperament, will help to prevent and manage problems that may arise from the differences among family members.

Temperament continues into adulthood, and later studies by Chess and Thomas have shown that these characteristics continue to influence behavior and adjustment throughout the life-span.

In addition to the initial clinical studies, academic psychologists have developed an interest in the field and researchers such as Bates, Buss & Plomin, Kagan, and Rothbart have generated large bodies of research in the areas of personality, neuroscience, and behavioral genetics.

History

See also: Four humours (disambiguation)

In the second century A.D. the physician Galen described four temperaments - melancholic, phlegmatic, sanguine and choleric - based upon the four humours or bodily fluids. These became known as the four classical temperaments.

Rudolf Steiner's four temperaments

Rudolf Steiner emphasized the importance of the four classical temperaments in elementary education, the time when he believed the influence of temperament on the personality to be at its strongest.^[19][20] He hypothesized that temperament diminishes in importance as the personality becomes more developed after puberty; that a person's temperament may change, especially in the pre-puberty years; and that temperament is not exclusive: people may combine aspects of several or even, in unusual cases, all of them. He also suggested that people are capable of transforming their own temperaments.

For each temperament Steiner described less and more mature forms: the introspective and sensitive melancholic may be sullen and self-absorbed but can also become a sympathetic helper or a deep thinker. Steiner's temperaments are often used as a basis to describe and understand children during the elementary-school years in Waldorf schools.

Popular usages

It is a popular conception that those who are highly artistic - painters, sculptors, musicians, writers, etc. - often show dramatic swings in emotion, often elevated to extremes: the so-called "artistic temperament".

See also

• Four Temperaments
• Five Temperaments
• Keirsey Temperament Sorter
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Jerome Kagan, "Temperament", Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development 2005
2. ^ Biship GS, Spence SH, McDonald C. Can parents and teachers provide a reliable and valid report of behavioural inhibition? Child Development 2003;74(6):1899-1917
3. ^ ^{a b c} Marcel Zentner & John E. Bates, "Child Temperament: An Integrative Review of Concepts, Research Programs and Measures". European Journal of Developmental Science [EJDS]. 2008, Vol. 2, No. 1/2, 7–37
4. ^ Kagan, J., Snidman, N., Kahn, V., & Towsley, S. (2007). The Preservation of Two Infant Temperaments into Adolescence. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, Serial No. 287, 72(2),p.vii
5. ^ ^{a b c} "PsychPage.com Child Temperament". http://www.psychpage.com/family/library/temperm.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
6. ^ Firchow, Nancy M.L.S.. "Your Child's Temperament: Some Basics". http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.asp?r=495. Retrieved 2009-04-21. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ "Ohio State University Extension: Understanding Your Child's Temperament". http://ohioline.osu.edu/flm02/FS05.html. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
8. ^ "University of Maine Cooperative Extension: Family Issues Facts". http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/4358.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
9. ^ "KeepKidsHealthy.com Temperament and Personality". http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/development/temperament_personality.html. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
10. ^ Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas, Temperament, Routledge: 1996. ISBN 978-0-87630-835-6. p. 31
11. ^ ^{a b c d} Rothbart, M.K & Hwang, J. (2005). Temperament and the development of competence and motivation. In A.J. Elliot & A.C. Dweck (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation. New York: Guilford Press. pp. 167-184. ISBN 978-1-59385-606-9. http://www.guilford.com/cgi-bin/cartscript.cgi?page=pr/elliot3.htm&dir=pp/sapp&cart_id=471466.23602. 
12. ^ ^{a b c d} Kail RV, Barnfield A (2011). Children and Their Development, Second Canadian Edition with MyDevelopmentLab. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada. ISBN 0-13-255770-3. 
13. ^ ^{a b c d} Rothbart, M K (Oct 2004). "Temperament and the pursuit of an integrated developmental psychology". Merrill-Palmer quarterly 50 (4): 492-505. http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/mpq/vol50/iss4/7. 
14. ^ Ormel, A.; Oldehinkel, A., Ferdinand, R., Hartman, C., de Winter, A., & Veenstra, R. (Dec 2005). "Internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence: General and dimension-specific effects of familial loadings and preadolescent temperament traits". Psychological Medicine 35 (12): 1825-1835. PMID 16300695. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16300695. 
15. ^ ^{a b c} Rothbart, M.K. (2007). "Temperament, development and personality". Current directions in psychological science 16 (4): 207-212. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00505.x. http://brainstormquestions.wikispaces.com/file/view/Rothbart+-+Temperament,+Development+and+Personality.pdf. 
16. ^ Valiente, C.; Eisenberg, N., Smith, C.L., Reiser, M., Fabes, R.A., Losoya, S., Guthrie, I.K., Murphy, B.C. (Dec 2003). "The relations of effortful control and reactive control to children's externalizing problems: a longitudinal assessment". Journal of Personality 71 (6): 1171-1196. PMID 14633062. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14633062. 
17. ^ Kochanska, G.; Murray, K.T., & Harlan, E.T. (Mar 2000). "Effortful control in early childhood: Continuity and change, antecedents, and implications for social development". Developmental Psychology 36 (2): 220-232. PMID 10749079. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10749079. 
18. ^ Development of Temperament Symposium (2008). Philoctetes Center, New York; with panelists Sue Carter, Francis Champagne, Susan Coates, Ed Nercessian, Donald Pfaff, Daniel Schechter, Nadia Bruschweiler Stern
19. ^ Steiner, Rudolf (1909). "The Four Temperaments: Lecture in Berlin". http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/FourTemps/ForTem_index.html. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
20. ^ Steiner, Rudolf. The Four Temperaments. ISBN 0-910142-11-4. 

References

• Anschütz, Marieke, Children and Their Temperaments. ISBN 0-86315-175-2.
• Carey, William B., Understanding Your Child's Temperament. ISBN 1-4134-7028-9.
• Diamond, S. (1957). Personality and temperament New York: Harper
• Kagan J. Galen's prophecy: temperament in human nature. New York, NY: Basic Books; 1994.
• Kagan J, Snidman NC. The long shadow of temperament. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press; 2004.
• Kohnstamm GA, Bates JE, Rothbart MK, eds. Temperament in childhood Oxford, United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons; 1989:59-73.
• Neville, Helen F., and Diane Clark Johnson, "Temperament Tools: Working with Your Child's Inborn Traits". ISBN 1-884734-34-0.
• Shick, Lyndall,"Understanding Temperament: Strategies for Creating Family Harmony". ISBN 1-884734-32-4.
• Seifer, RA; Sameroff, AJ; Barrette, LC; Krafchuk, E. (1994). "Infant temperament measured by multiple observations and mother report". Child Development 65 (5): 1478–1490. doi:10.2307/1131512. JSTOR 1131512. PMID 7982363. 
• Thomas, Chess & Birch (1968). Temperament and Behavior Disorders in Children. New York, New York University Press

External links

• Henig, Robin Marantz. "Understanding the Anxious Mind". New York Times Magazine, September 29, 2009. Retrieved October 3, 2009.

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Common misspelling(s) of temperament

• temperment

Dansk (Danish)
n. - temperament

Nederlands (Dutch)
temperament

Français (French)
n. - tempérament, humeur, (Mus) tempérament

Deutsch (German)
n. - Temperament, (mus.) Temperatur

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ιδιοσυγκρασία, ταμπεραμέντο, διάθεση, ψυχισμός, χαρακτήρας

Italiano (Italian)
temperamento, carattere, indole

Português (Portuguese)
n. - temperamento (m), índole (f)

Русский (Russian)
темперамент, страстность, характер, нрав

Español (Spanish)
n. - temperamento

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - temperament, lynne sinnelag, humör

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
气质, 性情, 性质

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 氣質, 性情, 性質

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 체질, 격한 성미, 평균율

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 気質

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) حساسيه بالغه, مزاج‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אישיות יצירתית, מזג, טבע‬

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