Temperament (psychology)

People have been curious about temperament for thousands of years, but scientific psychology did not always have the means to unravel its complexities. The twenty-first century has brought enormous advancement to this area of psychology. Despite the long-standing controversy regarding the true meaning of the word, it is commonly defined as genetically based differences in an individual’s emotional responses and behavioral style. These differences can be seen from early childhood and are demonstrated over time, across situations. There is a close tie between temperament and personality, with temperament serving as the emotional and biological foundation of personality. Differences in temperament develop during infancy and childhood, forming the essence of personality. Understanding the core facets of temperament can lead to deeper knowledge of oneself and human nature.

Background

The concept of temperament (stemming from the Latin word temperamentum) can be traced back to ancient times and originally relates to the four temperaments, which were built upon the ancient Greek medical concept of the four humors. Humorism stated that there were four essential bodily humors and that sickness was the result of a disparity in them. Greek physician Galen further developed and described the terms sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic to describe the impact of the four humors on personality. The sanguine person, in whom blood predominates, is optimistic and outgoing; the choleric person, with a high proportion of yellow bile, is irritable and easily angered; the melancholic person, in whom black bile predominates, is introverted and sad; and the phlegmatic person, with a high proportion of phlegm, is calm and easygoing. Throughout history, philosophers, doctors, clergymen, and teachers have accepted this fourfold typology, and some psychologists have linked their theoretical approaches to it.

The centralized role of temperament in understanding personality was articulated in the early twentieth-century work of psychologist Gordon W. Allport, who defined personality as "the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment." This definition is in line with the study of common traits, which Allport also defined and which implies that personality is biologically based. Allport revealed the direct connection between temperament and personality through his emphasis on process, his consideration of adaptive traits that may be associated with evolution, and his regard for dynamic organization.

In the late twentieth century, the theory of temperament was made more accessible to the average individual through David Keirsey, a psychologist and the author of Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types (1984). Keirsey’s temperament theory extends the concept of the four temperaments by describing four temperament types: Artisans, Guardians, Idealists, and Rationals.

Overview

The theory of temperament pertains to individual traits that determine how people respond to their environment, and it is generally more concerned with how a person does something rather than what they do. Child-oriented temperament theorists regard temperament as a component of personality, which comprises the person’s abilities, motivations, defense mechanisms, values, standards, and temperament. For this reason, when studying temperament, researchers examine personality as well.

According to acclaimed researchers and child psychiatrists Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess, temperament deals with the how, or style, of behavior. Personality, however, pertains to why a person does something and the abilities and content of the behavior, such as what the person does and how well he does it. Both personality and temperament are widely overlapping areas of study, as temperament is regarded as the main biological foundation for the developing personality. While personality theories, such as those developed by Carl Jung, have been widely adopted and extended in modern psychology, Thomas and Chess’s temperament approach remains one of the most influential models, as it has established a landmark framework that later theories have followed. Another widely used model was developed by Mary Rothbart, who described temperament in terms of three broad dimensions: effortful control, negative affectivity, and extraversion or surgency.

In developing their classic model, Thomas and Chess identified nine temperament traits. They also grouped children into three general types: easy, difficult, and slow-to-warm-up, based on patterns of these traits. Activity level deals with how active the child is usually, such as whether the child has problems sitting still or prefers quiet, sedentary activities. Distractibility refers to how easily the child’s behavior is disrupted by external stimuli. Intensity is the degree of positive or negative energy the child expends in their responses, such as whether the child reacts dramatically or quietly when upset. Regularity pertains to the predictability of the child’s natural functions, such as whether the child’s sleepiness or appetite can be predicted. Sensory threshold relates to the child’s sensitivity to touch, taste, and other physical stimuli, such as whether he reacts favorably or negatively to certain tastes or smells.

The sixth temperamental trait is approach or withdrawal, which examines the child’s inborn responses to strangers or new events, such as whether the child is slow to warm up or is comfortable with new situations. Adaptability refers to the ease with which the child adjusts to changes, as when switching from one activity to another. Persistence deals with the child’s ability to continue activities when faced with challenges, such as whether the child keeps working on the activity or gives up and moves on to something else. The final temperamental trait is mood, which pertains to how the child responds to the world, whether positively or negatively; for example, is the child typically happy, or does he tend to focus on the more negative aspects of situations?

Although many personality experts support the belief that temperament is biologically based, they also maintain that temperament can change over the course of a person’s life in response to environmental factors and personal experiences. Studies have also shown that many aspects of temperament remain stable across different cultures and stages of development. For this reason, discussions among researchers in this field tend to focus on the extent to which temperament stems from biology and the extent to which it is fostered by the environment. Temperament has also been linked to mental health outcomes, such as anxiety and behavioral disorders, especially when certain traits interact with environmental stress. For parents and those who work with young children, understanding temperament and the way a child will react to a situation can influence how caregivers nurture and guide the child. Thomas and Chess also introduced the idea of "goodness of fit," which describes how well a child’s temperament matches the expectations and environment around them.

Bibliography

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