Temperament

1
Temperament

• Thomas and Chesss Longitudinal Study
• Started in 1956 and observed participants from
  infancy to adulthood.
• Parent reports of childs behavior
• Evaluated nine aspects of behavior

2
Temperament

• 9 aspects of behavior
• Activity level
• Rhythmicity
• Distractability
• Approach/withdrawal
• Adaptability
• Attention span and persistence
• Intensity of reaction
• Threshold of responsiveness
• Quality of mood

3
Temperament
4
Temperament

• Determined 3 classification of temperament
• Easy babies (40 of original study)
• Difficult babies (10 of original study)
• Slow-to-warm-up babies (15 of original study)
• (The rest did not fit into a category)

5
Types of Temperament

• Easy
• positive mood
• regular routines
• adapts easily
• Difficult
• reacts negatively
• cries frequently
• irregular routines
• slow to accept new experiences

• Slow-to-warm
• Low activity level
• somewhat negative
• low adaptability
• low mood intensity

6
Temperament

• More recent temperament dimensions focus on
  positive and negative emotions and regulation
  abilities
• Negative emotionality
• Difficultness
• Attention span and persistence
• Activity level
• Positive reactivity
• Adaptability to novelty

7
Rothbart and Temperament

• Primary Dimensions of Temperament
• Reactivity is the ease of the infants arousal.
• Motor activity, emotion, physiological
• Self-Regulation are the processes that inhibit or
  facilitate reactivity.

8
Rothbart and Temperament

• Dimensions of Temperament
• Emotionality is the strength of the infants
  emotional response.
• Activity is the tempo and vigor of a childs
  physical activity.
• Sociability is the childs preference for being
  with other people.

9
Rothbart and Temperament

• Dimensions of Temperament
• Surgency/Extraversion - Sociability, Positive
  Affect, High Intensity Pleasure
• Negative Affectivity Fear, Frustration,
  Sadness, Discomfort
• Regulation Activation, Attention, Inhibition
• Orienting Sensitivity Neutral Perceptual,
  Affective Perceptual, Associative Sensitivity

10
Rothbart and Temperament

• Differences in Infant Temperament
• Older infants - higher on Approach, Vocal
  Reactivity, High Intensity Pleasure, Activity,
  Perceptual Sensitivity, Distress to Limitations,
  and Fear
• Younger infants - higher for Low Intensity
  Pleasure, Cuddliness/Affiliation, and Duration of
  Orienting.

11
Rothbart and Temperament

• Differences in Infant Temperament
• Male infants - higher on Activity and High
  Intensity Pleasure
• Female infants - higher on the Fear scale

12
Kagans approach

• Reactions to the unfamiliar
• Perception (threat or harmless)
• Ease of assimilation
• Availability of appropriate response
• Reactivity Bias in Infants and Inhibition

13
Kagans method

• Puts child in mildly stressful situations to
  observe response
• Stranger attempts to interact
• Metal robot to explore
• Left alone in room
• Observe signs of fear
• Crying, fretting, withdrawal, no interaction

14
History of Kagans Work

• Moss and Kagan, 1957 College study
• Inhibited at 3yo
• Introverted, Cautious, Emotionally dependent
• Uninhibited at 3yo
• Extraverted, Sociable, Competitive

15
History

• Kagan, Snidman, 1989
• Measured at 31mo
• Uninhibited and inhibited remained so at 4, 5, 7,
  and 13 years
• Only 3 of the 49 children changed

16
History

• Schwartz, Snidman, and Kagan 1999
• Inhibited at 31mo much more likely to experience
  social anxiety in adolescence
• Physical characteristics

17
Inhibited children

• Reluctant to be spontaneously verbal with
  unfamiliar adults or peers
• Low level of smiling at unfamiliar others
• Long time to relax in new situations
• Unusual fears and phobias

Uninhibited children opposite
18
Inhibited children

• Greater risk of anxiety (and PTSD) after
  traumatic events
• Impaired memory following stress
• Low risk taking behaviors

19
Precursors to inhibition

• Reactivity
• Response to sudden, novel experiences
• Motor activity and levels of distress
• Amygdala
• Sympathetic nervous system

20
Kagan and Persistence

• Persistence of Reactions to the unfamiliar
• Canadian 6th graders rated the same as in
  kindergarten
• Shy, disphoric Dutch toddlers (2yo) the same at
  7yo
• Shy, over-controlled Icelandic children more
  likely to be shy adolescents

21
Potential Outcomes

• Reactivity in children
• Shy 3yos in new Zealand described themselves as
  cautious at 18
• Middle-aged men who were shy as children
  established careers, chose wives, and became
  parents, later in life

22
Infant behavior and temperament

• Kagan longitudinal study, 1999 at 4 mo
• High reactive (high motor, high distress)
• 30
• Low reactive (low motor, low distress)
• 40
• Distressed (low motor, high distress)
• Aroused (high motor, low distress)

23
Infant behavior and temperament

• Kagan longitudinal study at 2 years
• High reactive (high motor, high distress)
• Most fearful
• Low reactive (low motor, low distress)
• Least fearful

24
Infant behavior and temperament

• Kagan longitudinal study at 4 years
• High Reactives
• 46 Shy, quiet, timid (inhibited)
• Low Reactives
• 90 Sociable, talkative (uninhibited)
• 10 shy, timid

25
Infant behavior and temperament

• Kagan longitudinal study, 1999 at 7 years
• High reactives
• 18 were consistently inhibited across all 4 age
  ranges (14mos, 21mos, 4, 7)
• More likely to have anxiety 45HR 15LR
• Higher blood pressure and stress response
• 0 were consistently uninhibited

26
Infant behavior and temperament

• Kagan longitudinal study at 11 years
• Social Bx Consistency
• HRs- Quiet and serious
• LRs Talkative and friendly
• 42 of subjects were consistent with profile from
  infancy
• 13 were inconsistent

27
Infant behavior and temperament

• General Bx Consistency from 4mo to 11yr
• HRs
• 38 remained inhibited across all ages
• 13 of became uninhibited over time
• LRs
• 70 remained uninhibited across all ages
• only 6 became inhibited over time

28
Infant behavior and temperament

• Consistency from infancy at 11 years
• Summary
• Less than 5 of children from either group
  developed behavioral and biological
  characteristics from the opposite group!

29
Infant behavior and temperament

• Kagan longitudinal study, 1999
• Interesting! - Behavior measure at 4 mos better
  than at 1 and 2 years as predictor of 11yo
  behavior. Especially fear response. Why?

30
Infant behavior and temperament

• Kagan longitudinal study, 1999
• Temperament is NOT destiny!
• However, reactivity (not inhibition) is stable
  over time
• And a predictor of anxiety, social anxiety, and
  negative feeling tones

31
Infant behavior and temperament

• Kagan longitudinal study, 1999
• Interesting! HRs more likely to have
• Thin body type
• Narrow face
• Blue eyes

32
Heredity and Environment

• Is temperament inherited or shaped by the
  environment?
• Both, probably
• Has a moderate heritability index (.5-.6)
• But less related to genes after infancy
• Temperament may be increasingly changeable with
  experience or it becomes harder to measure

33
Temperament

• Temperament Studies
• Twin Studies
• The correlation of activity levels in fraternal
  twins was found to be .38.
• For identical twins the correlation in activity
  levels was found to be .72.
• Similar findings for social fearfulness,
  persistence, and proneness to anger.

34
Potential Outcomes

• Caveat Environment Matters
• Low reactivity parenting styles
• Nurturance and guidance
• Corporate CEO
• Neglect and permissiveness
• Criminal

35
Kagan and Persistence

• Inhibited children
• Remained close to mother
• Avoided playing with unfamiliar toys and peers
• Remained inhibited when
• Intrusive, hypercritical mothers
• Less likely to remain inhibited when
• Mothers discouraged shyness

36
Goodness of Fit

• Match between childs environmental demands and
  childs temperament
• Examples?
• Child with little emotional regulation ability
  consistently being put in emotionally charged
  situations

37
Temperament

• Rothbarts research has resulted in the
  following list of temperament dimensions
• Positive affect and rapid approach to rewarding
  objects or events.
• Surgency (approach) is of particular importance
  because of its associations with curiosity,
  eagerness, and energy toward goal satisfaction
  related to mastery motivation. When it is not
  controlled, the child may show failure of
  self-regulation.

38
Temperament

• Fear - the tendency to negative affect and
  inhibition or withdrawal in response to novelty,
  challenge, or signals of punishment.
• Fear reactions involve arousal, attention toward
  the feared object, escape, and the arrest of
  ongoing behavior.

39
Temperament

• Irritability/Frustration - the affect associated
  with responses to failure in goal attainment,
  removal of reward, or blockage of progress.
• Frustration has important implications in its
  association with failure, aggression, and
  defensive tendencies.

40
Temperament

• Attention / Effortful Control - Attentional
  processes show considerable development with
  maturation and are subject to habituation. The
  executive attention system is responsible for the
  deployment of attention for long-term goals,
  planning and persistence.
• The programming of effort control is considered
  critical to socialization, particularly with
  regard to development of attention, effort, and
  conscience.

41
Rothbart Temperament

• The list of temperament factors (dimensions)
  based on Mary Rothbarts research

42
Rothbart Temperament

• EXTRAVERSION/SURGENCY
• Sociability Enjoyment derived from social
  interaction and being in the presence of others.
  
• Positive Affect Latency, threshold, intensity,
  duration, and frequency of experiencing pleasure.
• High Intensity Pleasure Pleasure related to
  situations involving high stimulus intensity,
  rate, complexity, novelty, and incongruity.

43
Rothbart Temperament

• NEGATIVE AFFECT
• Fear   Negative affect related to anticipation
  of distress
• Sadness  Negative affect and lowered mood and
  energy related to exposure to suffering,
  disappointment, and object loss.
• Discomfort Negative affect related to sensory
  stimulation, including intensity, rate or
  complexity of visual, auditory, smell/taste, and
  tactile stimulation.
• Frustration   Negative affect related to
  interruption of ongoing tasks or goal blocking.

44
Rothbart Temperament

• EFFORTFUL CONTROL
• Attentional Control  Capacity to focus attention
  as well as to shift attention when desired.
• Inhibitory Control  Capacity to suppress
  inappropriate approach behavior.
• Activation Control  Capacity to perform an
  action when there is a strong tendency to avoid
  it.

45
Rothbart Temperament

• ORIENTING SENSITIVITY
• Neutral Perceptual Sensitivity Detection of
  slight, low intensity stimuli from both within
  the body and the external environment.
• Affective Perceptual Sensitivity Spontaneous
  emotionally valenced, conscious cognition
  associated with low intensity stimuli.  
• Associative Sensitivity  Spontaneous cognitive
  content that is not related to standard
  associations with the environment.