Roundtable: What Is Temperament? Four Approaches

Abstract

4 current approaches to understanding temperament are discussed in the roundtable. In an introductory overview, Goldsmith outlines some of the major convergences and divergences in the understanding of this concept. Theorists representing 4 positions--Goldsmith, Buss and Plomin, Rothbart, and Thomas and Chess--outline their views by responding to each of 6 questions: How do you define temperament and explain the boundaries of the concept? What are the elements of temperatment? How does the construct of temperament permit you to approach issues or organize data in ways that are possible only if this construct is invoked? How does temperament develop? To what extent do you consider temperament to be a personological versus a relational or an interactional construct? and How does your approach deal with issues of temperamental "difficulty"? In 2 commentaries on the theorists' answers, Hinde highlights differences among their positions and indicates issues that current theories of temperament must take into consideration, and McCall draws on common aspects to propose a synthesizing definition that draws on all 4 approaches.

Perceived Difficult Temperament, Hostile Maternal Child-Rearing Attitudes and Insulin Resistance Syndrome Precursors among Children: A 3-Year Follow-Up Study

“…The reliability of these measures has previously been shown to be acceptably high [37]. Together, these three dimensions refer to general child difficultness [32], especially from the perspective of caregivers [30]. That being so, the three measures were used as indicators of the perceived difficult temperament latent factor.…”

“…Although the conceptualization of difficulty presented by Thomas et al [31]has been very influential, other conceptualizations also exist. Buss and Plomin [32], for example, have conceptualized ‘temperamental difficulty’ in terms of high negative emotionality, high activity and low sociability. The ‘difficult temperament’ has thoroughly documented predictive validity in terms of behavioral outcomes [30]; it has been shown to correlate with concurrent and future behavioral adjustment in children.…”

Temperamento de Crianças e Diferenças de Gênero

“…This approach describes nine dimensions of temperament, the concept of which refl ects the stylistic component of behavior, the how of the behavior, differently from the motivation of the behavior (why) and the behavioral abilities (what) (Goldsmith et al, 1987). Other researchers developed validated measurement scales using parent reports, according to Thomas and Chess approach, including the Infant Temperament Questionnaire (Carey, 1970), the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire , the Behavioral Style Questionnaire , the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (Bates, Freeland, & Lounsbury, 1979), and the Toddler Temperament Scale (Fullard, McDevitt, & Carey, 1984).…”

Infant Temperament in Russia, United States of America, and Israel: Differences and Similarities Between Russian-speaking Families

“…Most researchers agree that temperament represents a group of interrelated factors, such as activity level, emotionality, and stimulus sensitivity [2,3]. The psychobiological approach proposed by Rothbart and Derryberry [4] has conceptualized temperament as constitutionally based individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation, influenced by heredity, maturation, and experience, wherein ''constitutional'' refers to the relatively enduring biological make-up of the individual, influenced by the interactions of heredity, maturation, and experience.…”