Temperament

Question 1

Define temperament:

Answer 1

Constitutional based individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation as observed in the domains of emotionality, motor activity and attention

Question 2

What are three things contemporary approaches to temperament agree on?

Answer 2

Temperament refers to:

Group of related traits

Behavioral tendencies

Individual differences

Question 3

What can we say about shyness and sociability from Kagan 2003?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

According to Kagan what is the reason for shyness in children?

Answer 4

The shyness in children stems from how easily their amygdala is stimulated by novel experiences

Question 5

What do we know about heart rate in shy children?

Answer 5

Consistently higher than those of sociable children and they speed up further in response to unfamiliar events.

Question 6

What are two physiological correlates of shyness in children?

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

What is Thomas & Chess theory of temperament?

Answer 7

A theory that states how temperament in children can be divided into 9 different dimensions

Question 8

What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?

Answer 8

Activity levels
Rhythmicity
Distractibility
Approach/withdrawal
Adaptability
Attention span
Intensity or reaction
Threshold of responsiveness
Quality of mood

Question 9

Define Activity levels from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?

Answer 9

Proportion of active periods to inactive ones

Question 10

Define Rhythmicity from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?

Answer 10

Regularity of functions (hunger, excretion, sleep, wakefulness)

Question 11

Define Distractibility from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?

Answer 11

Degree to which extraneous stimuli alter behavior

Question 12

Define Approach/withdrawal from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?

Answer 12

Response to a new object/person
(accepts the new experience/withdraws from it)

Question 13

Define Adaptability from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?

Answer 13

Ease with which the child adapts to changes in the environment

Question 14

Define Attention span from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?

Answer 14

Amount of time which the child adapts to changes in the environment

Question 15

Define Intensity or reaction from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?

Answer 15

Energy levels of response

Question 16

Define Threshold of responsiveness from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?

Answer 16

Intensity of stimulation required to evoke a response

Question 17

Define Quality of mood from What are the nine dimension of Thomas & chess theory?

Answer 17

Amount of friendly, pleasant, joyful behavior as contrasted with unpleasant unfriendly behavior

Question 18

What traits would the Thomas & Chess theory attribute to “Easy Children”

Answer 18

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

Question 19

What traits would the Thomas & Chess theory attribute to “Difficult Children”

Answer 19

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

Question 20

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?

Answer 20

“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

Question 21

What can be predicted from “Difficulties babies” or “Slow to warm up children” ?

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

What is a common criticism of Thomas & Chess Theory?

Answer 22

The “Difficult” label has been criticized

Question 23

Thomas and chess argues that Goodness of fit occurs when:

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What is effortful control?

Answer 24

Capacity to voluntarily suppress a dominant reactive response in order to plan and execute a more adaptive response, inhibitory control.

Question 25

What are the three parts of Temperamental self-regulation

Answer 25

1. Capacity to regulate dominant impulses (inhibitory control)
2. to focus and shift attention
   (attention control)
3. ability to activate the self to pursue goals when there are competing desires
   (activation control)

Question 26

Effortful control is different from reactivity in behavior but how do they neuraly differ from each other?

Answer 26

Effortful control comes from the prefrontal and midfrontal cortex while reactivity stems from activation in the subcortical region.

Question 27

What is irritability?

Answer 27

Excessive reactivity to negative emotional stimuli.

Example:
impatience
Annoyance
easily aroused frustration
Anger or aggression

Question 28

What are the limitation of laboratory measurements when assessing temperament?

Answer 28

Researchers only see the infants in that one occasion, might not paint a full picture.

Question 29

Other than laboratory measurements what is a good way to assess temperament?

Answer 29

Have parents keep diaries of their infants behavior.

Question 30

If we are going to observer infants to assess temperament, in what way should we do it?

Answer 30

Observe them at home and on more than one occasion.

Question 31

While the environment has a powerful effect on temperament, what method has been used to determine the hereditability of temperament?

Answer 31

Twin-adoption studies

Question 32

How do cultural differences affect temperament?

Answer 32

the caregivers reaction might be different to the child’s temperament depending on their cultural values.

Question 33

What are some problems with “poor” temperament a child can experience.

Give an example each for

Distractibility
Shyness
Effortful control

Answer 33

Distractibility:
Poor school performance

Shyness:
Often have difficulty interacting with their peers

Effortful control:
Externalizing problems (ADHD, ADD)

Question 34

What are the positive outcome of effortful control?

Answer 34

Academic achievement

persistence

cooperation

empathy

prosocial behavior

positively related to resistance to stress

Question 35

How do high and low reactivity differ?

Answer 35

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.

Question 36

Define resilience:

Answer 36

Ability of an individual to cope with and overcome a traumatic event/ period of difficulty

Question 37

What is something that reduces the negative effects of vulnerability and risk called in relation to resilience?

Answer 37

Protective factors.

Question 38

What are the implications for temperamental variation for educators or child-therapists?

Answer 38

A child’s unique temperamental characteristics should be accepted and consequently they need to adjust their teaching or invention accordingly.