Temperament Flashcards
Define temperament:
Constitutional based individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation as observed in the domains of emotionality, motor activity and attention
What are three things contemporary approaches to temperament agree on?
Temperament refers to:
Group of related traits
Behavioral tendencies
Individual differences
What can we say about shyness and sociability from Kagan 2003?
Children identified at age 2 as being shy continued to show evidence of greater physiological arousal in new situations even six years later
Only those children at the extremes of behavioral inhibition or shyness displayed stability
According to Kagan what is the reason for shyness in children?
The shyness in children stems from how easily their amygdala is stimulated by novel experiences
What do we know about heart rate in shy children?
Consistently higher than those of sociable children and they speed up further in response to unfamiliar events.
What are two physiological correlates of shyness in children?
Shy children have higher concentration of cortisol than sociable children and show greater pupil dilatation, rise in blood pressure and cooling of the fingertips when faced with novelty compared with sociable children.
What is Thomas & Chess theory of temperament?
A theory that states how temperament in children can be divided into 9 different dimensions
What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?
Activity levels
Rhythmicity
Distractibility
Approach/withdrawal
Adaptability
Attention span
Intensity or reaction
Threshold of responsiveness
Quality of mood
Define Activity levels from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?
Proportion of active periods to inactive ones
Define Rhythmicity from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?
Regularity of functions (hunger, excretion, sleep, wakefulness)
Define Distractibility from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?
Degree to which extraneous stimuli alter behavior
Define Approach/withdrawal from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?
Response to a new object/person
(accepts the new experience/withdraws from it)
Define Adaptability from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?
Ease with which the child adapts to changes in the environment
Define Attention span from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?
Amount of time which the child adapts to changes in the environment
Define Intensity or reaction from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?
Energy levels of response
Define Threshold of responsiveness from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?
Intensity of stimulation required to evoke a response
Define Quality of mood from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?
Amount of friendly, pleasant, joyful behavior as contrasted with unpleasant unfriendly behavior
What traits would the Thomas & Chess theory attribute to “Easy Children”
Easy children have the following traits:
Positive mood
Quite open
Adaptable to new experiences
Their habits are regular & predictable
Accept most frustrations with minimal fuss
What traits would the Thomas & Chess theory attribute to “Difficult Children”
Difficult children have the following traits:
Active
Irritable
Irregular in their habits
They often react very vigorously to changes in routine
adapt slowly to new experiences
often responding negatively & intensely
Thomas & Chess Theory also defines a third type of children that appears 15% of the time, what traits are attributed to them and what are they called?
“Slow to warm up children”
Quite inactive
moody
can be slow to adapt to new persons and situations
sleeps and feed more regularly than Difficult children but less regularly than Easy children
What can be predicted from “Difficulties babies” or “Slow to warm up children” ?
Difficulties babies are at risk for adjustment problems in childhood (aggressive behavior, anxiety and social withdrawal)
Slow to warm up children predict problems once they enter school.
What is a common criticism of Thomas & Chess Theory?
The “Difficult” label has been criticized
Thomas and chess argues that Goodness of fit occurs when:
When the opportunities, expectations, and demands of the environment are in accord with the child´s temperament and other characteristics
When this consonance between child and environment is present, optimal development in a positive direction is possible, whereas when there is dissonance or “poor fit” then the outcome is risk for later psychological disturbance
What is effortful control?
Capacity to voluntarily suppress a dominant reactive response in order to plan and execute a more adaptive response, inhibitory control.
What are the three parts of Temperamental self-regulation
- Capacity to regulate dominant impulses (inhibitory control)
- to focus and shift attention
(attention control) - ability to activate the self to pursue goals when there are competing desires
(activation control)
Effortful control is different from reactivity in behavior but how do they neuraly differ from each other?
Effortful control comes from the prefrontal and midfrontal cortex while reactivity stems from activation in the subcortical region.
What is irritability?
Excessive reactivity to negative emotional stimuli.
Example:
impatience
Annoyance
easily aroused frustration
Anger or aggression
What are the limitation of laboratory measurements when assessing temperament?
Researchers only see the infants in that one occasion, might not paint a full picture.
Other than laboratory measurements what is a good way to assess temperament?
Have parents keep diaries of their infants behavior.
If we are going to observer infants to assess temperament, in what way should we do it?
Observe them at home and on more than one occasion.
While the environment has a powerful effect on temperament, what method has been used to determine the hereditability of temperament?
Twin-adoption studies
How do cultural differences affect temperament?
the caregivers reaction might be different to the child’s temperament depending on their cultural values.
What are some problems with “poor” temperament a child can experience.
Give an example each for
Distractibility
Shyness
Effortful control
Distractibility:
Poor school performance
Shyness:
Often have difficulty interacting with their peers
Effortful control:
Externalizing problems (ADHD, ADD)
What are the positive outcome of effortful control?
Academic achievement
persistence
cooperation
empathy
prosocial behavior
positively related to resistance to stress
How do high and low reactivity differ?
High levels of reactivity can result in impulsive decisions such as substance use, manic episodes and eating disorders
Low levels of reactivity instead result in lack of reaction and can lead to depression.
Define resilience:
Ability of an individual to cope with and overcome a traumatic event/ period of difficulty
What is something that reduces the negative effects of vulnerability and risk called in relation to resilience?
Protective factors.
What are the implications for temperamental variation for educators or child-therapists?
A child’s unique temperamental characteristics should be accepted and consequently they need to adjust their teaching or invention accordingly.
