The Origin of Personality

The child is father of the man: Personality continuities from childhood to adulthood.

“…These pediatric psychiatrists found that a majority of children could be grouped into one of three temperamental types which they labeled easy, difficult, and slow to warm up. Repeated assessments of a group of 141 children, studied from the first few years of life to young adulthood, showed that these temperamental profiles were fairly stable over the short run, but in the long run it proved difficult to predict specific adult outcomes for the different groups of children (Chess & Thomas, 1987Thomas, Chess, & Birch, 1970). Chess and Thomas's observations spawned a great deal of interest among psychiatrists and psychologists, who have since conducted larger studies to inquire about the origins of personality (Rothbart & Bates, 1998).…”

Reducing childhood obesity: opportunities to influence transitional infant feeding

“…The results are broadly consistent with the characteristics that define infant temperament, 297 in that infants described as "easy," based on their acceptable eating and sleeping routines, were generally fed based on their feeding cues. In contrast, "fussy" or less settled infants were fed based on the mother's desire to influence behaviour and weight.…”

“…Infants with a slow-to-warm-up temperament are also slow to adapt to new things but have lower activity levels and tend to have slightly negative moods. 297 The temperament of the child and societal expectations of the mothers were also dominant factors influencing feeding decisions. While the feeding of infants with an easy temperament was child-driven based on trusting the infant's cues of hunger and satiety, the feeding of infants with a difficult temperament was more likely to be mother-driven based on controlling feeding practices to achieve behaviour change goals.…”

“…177,203,243 An infant's temperament, considered the innate personality which influences both their behaviour and external interactions, can be classified as easy, difficult or slow-to-warmup. 297 Infants with an easy temperament tend to have regular eating and sleeping routines, adapt well to new situations and have positive moods. Infants with a difficult temperament tend to have irregular routines, cry more and are slower to adapt to new routines.…”

Dimensions of Temperament: Affect Intensity and Consumer Lifestyles

“…Based on earlier research on energy arousal regulation and temperamental characteristics (Buss & Plomin, 1975;Strelau, 1982;Thomas, Chess, & Birch, 1970), Larsen (1984) proposed four fundamental dimensions of temperament: (a) Emotionality-the intensity with which the individual is aroused by negative or positive emotional stimuli; (b) Sociability-the extent to which the individual responds to, or seeks out, emotional stimulation from the companionship of others; it represents a style of social responsiveness (Buss & Plomin, 1975); (c) Sensory Arousability-the extent to which the individual tends to be easily aroused by sensory stimuli (this dimension of temperament relies on the Mehrabian, 1979, concept of arousability, which identifies individuals who are overly sensitive to sensory stimulation such as olfactory sensitivity, auditory sensitivity, tactile sensitivity, and thermal sensitivity); and (4) Activity Level-the extent to which the individual displays a high or low level of energy. Larsen (1984) emphasized that these temperamental characteristics serve as a means of regulating arousal level.…”