Temperament

Question 1

What is temperament?

Answer 1

• Possibly a precursor to personality

* Observable characteristics in 1st month

Question 2

Thomas & Chess (1970)

Answer 2

• Longitudinal study
• 9 Characteristics
• 3 Temperament styles

Question 3

What are the 9 characteristics from Thomas & Chess’ (1970) study?

Answer 3

1. Activity level
2. Rhythmicity - how well you can predict what the child is going to do
3. Approach/Withdrawl - how child responds to new stimuli
4. Distractibility
5. Attention span
6. Adaptability - how well can the child adjust to a new environment
7. Intensity of reactions - how much energy goes into a reaction
8. Threshold of responsiveness - what gets a response? e.g loud noise or small noise
9. Quality of mood - is the child generally more happy or irritable?

Question 4

What are the 3 temperament styles from Thomas & Chess’ (1970) study

Answer 4

1. Easy Child (40%)
2. Slow to warm child (15%)
3. Difficult child (10%)
   • Unclassified (35%)

Question 5

What are the characteristics of a easy child?

Answer 5

• 40% of children
• Regular body function
• low to moderate intensity reactions
• high in adaptability
• Approach rather than withdrawal new stimuli

Question 6

What are the characteristics of a slow to warm child?

Answer 6

• 15% of children
• Low activity level
• Tendency to withdrawal from new stimuli
• Slow to adapt
• Slow to warm mood
• Low intensity of reactions

Question 7

What are the characteristics of a difficult child?

Answer 7

• 10% of children
• Irregular body functions
• Usually intense reactions
• Tend to withdrawal from new stimuli
• Slow to adapt
• Generally moody

Question 8

Plomin & Buss Study

Answer 8

• Biological
• 1. Emotionality
2. Activity
3. Sociability (shyness?)

Question 9

Jerome Kagan’s study on Inhibition

Answer 9

• Inhibited infants
• Inhibition - tendency to quickly respond in a negative manner to a unfamiliar situation
• by 12 months shy, fearful
• Later implications - anxiety, fearfulness, physiological responses