6.2: Temperament
- Page ID
- 233852
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Consider time you spent around or interacting with infants or even how you compare with your siblings or other children you have known well How were they alike? How did they differ?
You may have noticed that some seemed to be in a better mood than others and that some were more sensitive to noise or more easily distracted than others. These differences may be attributed to temperament.
Temperament is the innate characteristics of the infant, including mood, activity level, and emotional reactivity, noticeable soon after birth
In the 1956 landmark New York Longitudinal Study conducted by Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas evaluated 140 children’s temperament based on parental interviews. The infants were assessed on 10 dimensions of temperament including:
- activity level
- rhythmicity (regularity of biological functions)
- approach/withdrawal (how children deal with new things)
- adaptability to situations
- intensity of reactions
- threshold of responsiveness (how intense a stimulus must be for the child to react)
- quality of mood
- distractibility
- attention span
- persistence
Based on the infants’ behavioral profiles, they were categorized into three general types of temperament:
- Easy (40% of babies)
- able to quickly adapt to routine and new situations
- remains calm
- easy to soothe
- usually in a positive mood
- Difficult (10% of babies)
- reacts negatively to new situation
- has trouble adapting to routin
- usually negative in mood
- cries frequently
- Slow to Warm to Up (15% of babies)
- low activity level
- adjusts slowly to new situations
- often negative in mood
Notice the percentages do not add up 100%. Not all children were able to be placed neatly into one of the categories.
Think about how each type of child might be approached to improve interactions with them. An easy child requires less intervention, but still has needs that must not be overlooked. A slow-to-warm-up child may need to be given advance warning if new people or situations are going to be introduced. A child with a difficult temperament may need to be given extra time to burn off their energy.
A caregiver's ability to work well and accurately read the child will enjoy a goodness- of-fit, meaning their styles match and communication and interaction can flow. Parents who recognize each child’s temperament and accept it, will nurture more effective interactions with the child and encourage more adaptive functioning.
The results of the New York Longitudinal Study provided a groundbreaking re-interpretation of human development. Although parenting skills were important contributors to children’s later adjustment, it was learned that the temperament of the child played a significant role in their development as well. Chess and Thomas were among the first researchers to credit children as contributors to their own development—not as passive recipients of caregiving. They described how bi-directional transactions between children and their parents influenced each other’s behavior.
The interaction between the child’s temperament and the environment was conceptualized within a goodness of fit framework which results when the properties of the environment and its expectations or demands are in sync with the child's own individual capacities, characteristics, and ways of being. If there is a match between the child's temperament and their environment, optimal development can be achieved. Conversely, poorness of fit can leads to maladaptative functioning. In additionm onsideration must also be given to the values and demands of an individual’s culture and socioeconomic group.
The goodness of fit model continues to influence temperament-based intervention today. It provides practitioners with a framework for assessing individuals within their specific environmental context.
Source
- 4.12: Temperament (Ob11). Infancy. Psych 172: Developmental Psychology (Bobola). LibreTexts Social Sciences Library.
- Baby’s personality: Chess and Thomas’ baby temperaments. OviaHealth.com.