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The Key to Childhood Personality: How Does Temperament Affect Children's Behavior?
In psychology, temperament refers to persistent, biologically based differences in behavior between individuals that are relatively independent of learning experiences and value systems. Many studies point to associations between temperament and dynamic features of behavior, such as energetic aspects, shaping abilities, sensitivity to specific reinforcers, and emotionality. Temperament traits (e.g., neuroticism, sociability, impulsivity, etc.) are pronounced behavioral patterns throughout life, but are most prominent and best studied in children. Temperament can often be clearly identified from an infant's appearance, but long-term research in the 1920s began to view temperament as a stable trait across the life cycle.
Temperament is "the combination of innate characteristics that determine a child's unique behavioral style and how they experience and respond to the world."
Classification scheme of temperament
Many temperament classification schemes have been proposed, but no consensus has been reached. The Latin word temperamentum means "mixture." Some scholars believe that temperament is one of the basic factors in forming personality.
Main model
Four temperament models
Historically, the physician Galen in the second century AD described the four classic temperaments (melancholic, phlegmatic, sanguine, and choleric), which corresponded to the four humors or humours. This historical concept has been explored in greater depth by philosophers, psychologists, and physiological psychologists since the dawn of psychology.
Rusalov-Trofimova neurophysiological model
This model is based on a long tradition of neurophysiological experiments, starting with the study of the types and properties of nervous systems. The latest version of the model is based on the Activity-Specific Temperament Approach and the clinical neurophysiological research of Alex Luria.
Kagan’s research
Jerome Kegan and colleagues conducted an empirical study of the temperament category “reactivity.” Infants as young as four months old are classified as either high or low-responsive, a classification that has important implications for subsequent psychological development.
Highly reactive babies are generally highly sensitive to unfamiliar stimuli, which indicates possible anxiety and behavioral problems in the future, while low-responsive babies are less likely to be fearful of new situations.
Nine temperament characteristics of Thomas and Chess
In the 1950s, Alexander Thomas and Stella Chase began the classic New York longitudinal study to explore how temperamental traits influence lifelong adjustment. This study divided babies' temperaments into three categories: easy, difficult and slow-warming.
Mary K. Rothbart’s Three Dimensions of Temperament
Mary K. Rothbart viewed temperament as individual personality differences in young children, defined as individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation in the domains of emotion, activity, and attention.
Rothbart believed that the stability of temperament is reflected from infancy to schooling and predicts good self-control and social adaptation.
The biological basis of temperament
Scientists seek evidence to explore the interrelationships between temperament and neurotransmitter systems and try to explain how these relationships influence personality development.
The influence of temperament and family life
Family environment also has an influence on the development of temperament that cannot be ignored. In different cultural backgrounds, parents' expectations for their children and their parenting styles have an important impact on the display and development of their temperament.
Temperament not only affects a child's behavior and their interactions with society, but may continue to have an impact later in life. So, can understanding children’s temperaments and consciously guiding them help them better adapt to the environment and realize their potential?
