temperament

Examples of temperament in the following topics:

• Genetics, the Brain, and Personality

  • In psychology, "temperament" refers to the personality tendencies that we show at birth (and that are therefore biologically determined).
  • For example, Thomas and Chess (1977) found that babies could be categorized into one of three temperaments: easy, difficult, or slow to warm up.
  • After birth, environmental factors (such as family interactions) and maturation interact with a child's temperament to shape their personality (Carter et al., 2008).
  • Research suggests that there are two dimensions of our temperament that are important parts of our adult personality: reactivity and self-regulation (Rothbart, Ahadi, & Evans, 2000).

• Arousal Theory of Motivation

  • These traits generally develop at a very young age (if not prenatally) as part of the individual's temperament.
  • Temperament is defined as an individual's basic way of interacting and includes aspects like frustration tolerance (i.e., the ability to withstand frustrating situations without getting upset), delay of gratification, and inhibition vs. impulsivity.

• Socioemotional Development in Childhood

  • A child's temperament has a large impact on emotional self-regulation: children who are more negatively focused tend to have a more difficult time with regulation than those who are focused on the positive aspects of life.
  • Empathy helps a child develop positive peer relationships; it is affected by a child's temperament, as well as by parenting style.

• Altruism: Helping

  • Developmental psychologists suggest that both personal disposition (temperament) and social context contribute to individual differences in empathic concern.

• Reactive Attachment Disorder

  • It has been suggested that types of temperament, or constitutional response to the environment, may make some individuals susceptible to the stress of unpredictable or hostile relationships with caregivers in the early years.

• Nature vs. Nurture

  • However, some traits which reflect underlying talents and temperaments—such as how proficient at a language, how religious, or how liberal or conservative—can be partially heritable.

• Preventing Psychological Disorders

  • Other risk factors may include family history of mental illness (such as depression or anxiety), temperament, and attitudes (e.g., pessimism).

• Defining Personality

  • Personality as a field of study began with Hippocrates, a physician in ancient Greece, who theorized that personality traits and human behaviors are based on four separate temperaments associated with four fluids of the body known as “humors”.

• Cluster B: Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, and Narcissistic Personality Disorders

  • Genetic influences draw on the temperament and the kind of personality a person is born with, and environmental influences include the way in which a person grows up and the experiences they have had.

• Allport's, Cattell's, and Eysenck's Trait Theories of Personality

  • Hans Eysenck was a personality theorist who focused on temperament—innate, genetically based personality differences.