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Temperament & Personality

• Temperament: constitutionally basedindividual differences in emotion, motor,reactivity and self-regulation that demonstrateconsistency across situations and over time

• Temperament is biologically based: Heredity,neural, and hormonal factors affect response tothe environment.

• Temperament can be modulated byenvironmental factors; parental response.

Examples of Thomas and Chess’sTemperament Dimensions

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Temperament Dimensions (continued)

Thomas and Chess’s Temperament Types

• Easy babies: 40% of infants; adjust easily tonew situations, quickly establish routines, aregenerally cheerful and easy to calm.

• Difficult babies: 10% of infants; slow toadjust to new experiences, likely to reactnegatively and intensely to stimuli and events.

• Slow-to-warm-up babies: 15% of infants;somewhat difficult at first but become easierover time.

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Temperament

Six Dimensions of InfantTemperament (Rothbart & Bates)

• Fearful distress• Irritable distress• Attention span and persistence• Activity level• Positive affect• Rhythmicity

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Role of Temperament in SocialSkills and Adjustment

• Differences in anger/irritability, positiveemotion, and ability to regulate emotions areassociated with social competence andadjustment.

• Children who are negative, impulsive, andunregulated tend to have poor peer relationsand get in trouble with the law. They aredifficult partners and roommates.

• Behaviorally inhibited children are more likelyto experience anxiety, depression, andphobias.

Temperament and Social Adjustment• “Goodness of fit”: the degree to which an

individual’s temperament is compatible withthe demands and expectations of his or hersocial environment

• Parents can modulate children’s temperamentby their influences on the environment.– What is good parenting for a difficult

baby/child?– What is good parenting for a slow-to-warm-up

or inhibited baby/child?