B1 C5: Temperament and Development

B1 C5: Temperament and Development

1. How is temperament defined?

   • 3 main trait theories. All share view that there's a limited set of stable characteristics of which ppl vary
     • Eysenk EPI 1981-2 primary traits; introvesion-extraversion, neuroticism-stability + 2 secondary traits- intelligence+psychotisim
       • Strongly Nativist- 2 main traits are biological
     • Costa &McCrae 1997- OCEAN/Big 5
       • Openess to experience. Conscientiousnes. Extraversion. Agreeableness. Neuroticism
     • Cattel 1977 -16 PF- personality factor eg. Reasoning, sensitivity, liveliness
     • All 3 agree a set of factors exists that can be used as bipolar dimensions to measure ppl
       • They all disagree as to what causes these individual dimensions
         • Eysenk- biological (nativist). Others experience + genes influence levels of traits
   • Seen as different from cognitive abilty. No empirical link between temperament and intelligence
     • No generaly accepted consensus on definitition

2. How is temperament measured?

   • Interviews with parents:
     • Problematic because of bias through social desireability or expectations rather than the actual behaviour, diaries also show bias
   • Buss & Plomin EAS Framework
     • closely linked to psychometric test construction
   • Most common check lists, questionaires
     • Diaries, but also show bias

3. STABILITY: Is temperament stable over time?

   • Adult personality arises from genetic predisposition combined with experience/choices
   • Buss & Plomin 1984: meta twins study, high inheritablity
     • Critic: Hinde 1989-no obvious cut off for heritability; behaviour can change depending age + enviro
   • Plomin et al 1988: Colorado adoption project. Longitudinal showed stability in EAS scores.
     • Adult personality might be shaped by temperament + not just experience
   • 2 stable temperamental feature dev as C gets older, emerging first at around 12mo
     • Behavioural inhibition (Kagan, 1988) the ability infants dev to resist investigating unfamilar things - some become more shy than others
     • Effortful control (Rothbart, 1989): the ability to continue doing smthing in order to accomplish a goal without being distracted by nearby stimuli

4. SITUATIONAL SPECIFICITY: Does temperament affect behaviour across contexts?

   • Hinde &Tobin 1986- coherence of temperament in 4yo at home +playgroups.
     • Behaviour not the same but temperament seen in different contexts
     • found behaviours at home that related to behaviours in the playgroup
       • "intense" C behaved broadly the same in both places.
         • "Active" C had fewer friendly interactions at home, more hostile to teachers.
           • "Shy"- girls tened to have better maternal relationships + much less hostile to school peers. Boys tened to have less good maternal relationships + were more hostile to peers at school than "non-shy" boys.
             • "Moodines" at home seemed to relate to ho the C's mum responded to their moodiness, but "moody" C were "just moody" at playgroup
     • behaviour predictable + dep on age + sex
       • Temperament is seens as the set of assosactions between behaviour in diff situations rather than a constant way of behaving
         • the quality of interctions with others is a key feature of these contexts
   • If temperament has a biological basis, then it should be seen consistantly in a variety of setings

5. EMERGENT BEHAVIOURS: Are there changes of features in temperament in development?

   • Dunedin Study Caspi et al 1973. 1000 children born 72/3.
     • 5 Main types identified at 3yo- well adjusted, under-controlled, confident, inhibited, reserved
       • 23 yrs later- 5 personality groups assesed.
         • questionaire filled out by friends
         • Finidings: 1yo temperament does not correlate to later behaviour.
           • 1yo+ temperament is significant influence on behaviour- STABILITY OF DIFF IS ESTABLISHED
   • "stability of dev" refers to how variable charac is over long term-
     • e,g is the typical C emotional state same at 18mo + 3yo
   • "Continuity of dev" describes how stability is ob over long term through diff behaviour
     • e.g. crying might induce fear at 18mo, but C might also be able to explain that the feel afraid at 3yo

6. GOODNESS-OF-FIT(PARENT-CHILD) How are parent child relationships involved in child development?

   • Bell Sameroff &Chandler-transactional model. Child produces their own experiences directly
     • but also through the influence its behaviour has on its care givers
   • Indirect effect via susceptability to psychological diviersity
     • e.g hospitalisation of pre-schoolers. But only if they are from poor bkgrd

7. CHARACTER: Are there different types of people?

   • Type theories
     • Galen: 4 types like hippocrates
       • Choleric- easily aroused/angered. Phlematic: cool, detached. Sanguine: excitable, optimistic, impulsive. Melancholic: depressive, pessimistic
       • Still used today: Myers- Brigg Type Inventory (MBT)
   • Trait theories
     • Bipolar dimensions describe aspects of personality
       • Wundt suggested that personality types can be described in terms of levels of traits e.g Sanguine = high excitablity + low changeability
       • Implies "type" of person smone is can be worked out by measuring how much they display of each group traits
       • the challenge is agreeing on the right set of traits to measure
         • A common approach is to use lexical analysis to gather the that ppl use describe others
           • use the statistice to methods to id when these mean the same thing
             • thus leaving a minimally sufficent subset traits
         • Traits should be independant
           • levels of 1 shouldn't predict levels another. Having more of 1 is not correlated with having "more" or "less" another
             • If that happens the 2 are prob the same trait
               • However, some may be linked- e.g. high activity + high impulsivity may happen independently
                 • So not the same thing but often occur together

8. 2 approaches to dev psy

   • Nomothetic (general laws)
     • What stages of dev do all kids go through? (stage theories)
       • What processes explain how they dev?
   • Idiographic (individual differences)
     • How do charac such as emotionality vary between adults?
       • How can bb temperament explain diff in behaviour + subsequent diff adulthood like personality?