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8ii Temperament - Coggle Diagram
8ii Temperament
"
stable individual differences in quality and intensity of emotional reactions
"
a precursor for
personality
emerge early in life
researchers agree that is
biologically based
researchers disagree on
source of temperament
some say genes, some say
prenatal biological changes
somewhat stable
over time
New York
Longitudinal study
Studied 141 participants from
infancy
to
adulthood
Procedure
From
0 to 1.5 years
Parents interviewed about
children every
3 months
From 1.5 to 5 years
Parents interviewed
annually
until adulthood
Parents interviewed
every
6 months
tried to focus on actual behaviour instead of parents' interpretations of behaviour
Conducted by psychiatrist
Thomas and Chess
Results
9 Dimensions of
Temperament
Mood
are children habitually
positive or negative
Negative :red_cross:
5 months
Fussy during or after meals
2 years
crying when mother
leaves briefly
being very sticky
10 years
intense distress when being
unable to complete homework
Positive :check:
5 months
smile and laugh at parents
2 years
happily playing with parents or siblings
10 years
deriving joy from accomplishments
Approach &
Withdrawal
how do children respond to
novel or unfamiliar situations
Bold
:chart_with_upwards_trend: approach, :chart_with_downwards_trend: withdrawal
love meeting new people and
encountering new situations
trying new classes
sliding down a slide head first
find novelty exciting and rewarding
Shy
:chart_with_downwards_trend: approach, :chart_with_upwards_trend: withdrawal
dislike new activities
tentative and frightened by
new people or situations
prefer status quo
Adaptability
ability to adapt and react to
changes in their environment
Adaptive
Toddlers
can spend weekend in
new places (ah mah house)
12 years
can adapt to
secondary school
Infants
ability to nap anywhere
Not adaptive
Toddlers
changes in caregiver
getting a haircut
10 years
May perform poorly with
new teachers or new schools
Infants
must nap at specific
time
and
place
Intensity
strength of child's
emotional reactions
Extreme
very loud and expressive
when excited and happy
can cry for hours when
toys are removed
Mellow
smile quietly at
books, toys, movies
whimper or cry
softly when scared
Rhythm :drum_with_drumsticks:
regularity of child's
biological cycles
Predictable
sleeping and eating
everyday at same time
sleeping and eating
same amount
Unpredictable
time and amount of
sleep of eating varies
predictor of sleep
in adulthood
Persistence
how do children persist in
response to challenges
Persistent
practice a difficult skill
in order to improve
persist in social
situations
throw longer tantrums
willing to cry longer
Not persistent
give up on
challenging
problems
give up in
social situations
Eg. Able to accept "no"
from mum as final answer
stop trying and decide they
are inadequate at things
Sensory
Threshold
High Threshold
sleep through loud parties
ignore commotions
in restaurants
Low Threshold
irritated by certain fabrics
or tags in clothing
notices even soft sounds
sensitiveness to
sensory stimuli
light
hoise
touch / temperature
Activity
proportion of active and inactive
time throughout the day
Active
Fidget and cannot
stay still in class
Engage in sports
when older
Climb furniture when
being put to sleep
needs relatively
little sleep
Inactive
do not move when
dressing, eating or sleeping
Sleep more and eat
slower when older
enjoy quiet play and
reading as toddlers
Distractibility
ability to focus on tasks
while ignoring distraction
Not distractible
Distractible
Infant
attention will be caught
by any distraction
Toddlers
stop crying when
activity mentioned
Older
need silence while
doing homework
4 Temperament
Types
Easy (
40%
)
positive mood
easy for parents
to care for
regular patterns
in sleep and feeding
adaptable
mild or moderate
intensity
Difficult (
10%
)
negative mood
active
irregular patterns
of sleep and feeding
not adaptive
withdrawal
from novelty
intense emotional reactions
hard work
for parents
Slow to
warm up (
15%
)
mild to moderate
intensity of reactions
withdraw from novelty
sit back and observe
for a period of time
eventually warm up
low activity levels
slow to adapt
Average (
35%
)
do not fall into other categories
not particularly high or low
in any dimensions
Temperament as
a
predictor
Goodness of Fit
parents and caregivers work
with child's temperament
Positive outcomes
Examples
Difficult children need
consistent
parenting
Distractible children do better if
they sit at
front
of the room
developmental outcomes
an
interaction
of
temperament
and
environment
(
parenting
)
parents work with
against children
Negative outcomes
Difficult children
Ignore the child
Tolerate child and
try negotiation
Scold the child
difficult children stretch parents making
it difficult for them to establish a good fit
difficult children most at
risk for negative outcomes
irritable
aggressive
least socially
competent
easy kids had fewest
behavioural problems
better relationships
w parents and siblings
positively viewed
by teachers
socially competent
shy kids at
moderate risk
high consistency in
temperament across lifespan
Criticisms
Halo Effects
same interviewer talked
to parents each time
interviewer knowledge of child may have coloured questions and interpretations of subsequent interviews
Information solely sourced
from parental self-reports
Social desirability bias
Negativity bias
Developmental
Psychology
Perspective
bidirectionality in influences
on child's development
traditionally research has
taken a unidirectional approach
parent influences on child
child temperament can
influence parenting
Modern Measurement
Techniques
Video-taped interviews coded
by naive research assistants
More refined parental
questionnaires
Asking how much baby cries VS
How many times baby cries daily
supplemented by
behaviours elicited
in the lab
can measure biometric markers
like
heart rate
,
cortisol levels
can use biology based
methods like EEG