Lecture 3 Flashcards
the paediatric approach to temperament
temperament best viewed as general term referring to the “how” of behaviour
differs from ability, which is concerned with the what and how well of behaving and from motivation which accounts for why a person does what he is doing
temperament by contrast, concerns the way in which an individual behaves
temperament constitutes of…
- activity level
- regularity
- approach withdrawal
- adaptability
- threshold of responsiveness
- intensity of reaction
- quality of mood
- distractibility
Thomas & Chess - 3 way typology of children
- easy
- difficult
- slow to warm up
issue = not every child can fit into a category
personality tradition
“set of inherited personality traits that appear early in life”
the traits are genetic in origin, like other psychological dispositions that are inherited
traits appear in infancy (first year of life) which distinguishes temperament from other groups of personality traits
personality traits constitutes
- emotionality
- activity
- sociability
individual differences
“constitutionally based individual differences in emotional, motor and attentional reactivity and self-regulation.”
temperamental characteristics are seen to demonstrate consistency across situations, as well as relative stability overtime
individual differences constitutes
- fearful distress/ inhibition
- irritable distress
- attention span and persistence
- activity level
- positive affect/ approach
- rhythmicity
- agreeableness/ adaptability
commonalities
- temperament refers to individual differences rather than normative characteristics
- temperament refers to set of traits rather than trait itself
- emphasis on biological underpinnings
- emerges early in life - purest form
disagreements
- differing boundaries for temperament
- differing constitutes
- relationship between temperament and personality construed differently
heritability
- taken as a whole, temperament is influenced by genetic factors and this estimate is similar across age
- stability in temperament is mediated primarily by genetic factors, where as environmental factors account for much of the change seen from age-to-age
clinical application of temperament
historically temperament a departure from the “tabula-rasa” idea so recognition of temperament primary
- introduced “goodness of fit”
advocate an interactionist, ideographic approach
goodness/ poorness of fit
- goodness of fit results when the child’s capacities, motivations and temperaments are adequate to master demands, expectations and opportunities of environment
- poorness of fit results when child characteristics are inadequate to master the challenges of environment and this leads to maladaptive functioning
temperament in context
- temperament is not meaningful without reference to social context
- “difficult” temperament is associated with poor outcomes in western society
- “difficult” babies held an evolutionary advantage Masai environment under harsh drought conditions
