TEMPERAMENT
If you were to spend a few minutes watching toddlers in a nursery school,
you most likely would notice that even before they are a year old, some chil-dren clearly act differently than others. If you were to spend a week working
in the nursery, you could probably identify the active babies, the ones who
cry frequently, and (hopefully) a few who are usually quiet and happy.
Although it is possible these differences are the result of different treatment
the children receive at home, a growing number of researchers are convinced
these general behavioral styles are present at birth. Further, they argue thatthese general styles are relatively stable and influence the development of per-
sonality traits throughout a person’ s life.
But does this mean that some people are born to be sociable and others
are born to be shy? Probably not. More likely we are born with broad dispo-sitions toward certain types of behaviors. Psychologists refer to these general
behavioral dispositions as temperaments . Temperaments are general patterns
of behavior and mood that can be expressed in many different ways and
that, depending on one ’s experiences, develop into different personality traits.
How these general dispositions develop into stable personality traits de-
pends on a complex interplay of one ’s genetic predispositions and the envir-
onment that a person grows up in.
Temperament and Personality
Although researchers agree that temperaments are general behavioral pat-
terns that can often be seen in newborns (A. H. Buss, 1991), they do not al-ways agree on how to classify the different kinds of temperaments they
observe (Caspi, 1998; Clark, 2005; Clark & Watson, 1999; Evans &
Rothbart, 2007; Rothbart, Ahadi, & Evans, 2000; Shiner, 1998). Indeed, re-
searchers often disagree on the number of basic temperaments. One popular
model identifies three temperament dimensions —emotionality, activity, and
sociability (Buss & Plomin, 1984, 1986). Emotionality refers to the intensity
of emotional reactions. Children who cr y frequently, are easily frightened,
and often express anger are high in this temperament. As adults, these indi-
viduals are easily upset and may have a “quick temper. ”Activity refers to a
person ’s general level of energy. Children high in this temperament move
around a lot, prefer games that require running and jumping, and tend tofidget and squirm when forced to sit s t i l lf o ra ne x t e n d e dp e r i o do ft i m e .
Adults high on this dimension are alw ays on the go and prefer high-energy
activities like playing sports and dancing in their free time. Sociability re-
lates to a general tendency to affiliate and interact with others. Sociable chil-
dren seek out other children to play with. Adults high in this temperament
have a lot of friends and enjoy social gatherings.
Where do temperaments come from? Because we can identify temperamen-
tal differences in babies, it is not surprising that researchers find evidence thattemperaments are largely inherited (Neale & Stevenson, 1989). In contrast to
the approach taken by many physicians and psychologists a few decades ago,230 CHAPTER 9 The Biological Approach