Rothbart MK, topic ed. Using three dimensions: emotionality, activity, and sociability, the EAS temperament model was developed.Emotionality refers to a child’s emotional reactions to environmental stimuli. Those low on sociability may prefer solitary activities and experience anxiety around strangers or new situations. We see these general emotional responses in infants and can often see a trend by the time the child is only a few months old. The happy and content infant may be the adult who finds friends easily and has a knack for seeing the good in others. In other words, a child who is highly emotional may cry easily, be more fearful, get excited quickly, or exhibit other strong emotional responses. Natural observations are often expensive and time-consuming, requiring multiple visits to elicit a reliable sample of children’s behaviour. In: Tremblay RE, Boivin M, Peters RDeV, eds. Temperament definition, the combination of mental, physical, and emotional traits of a person; natural predisposition. To date temperament includes variability in positive affect and approach, fear, frustration, sadness and discomfort as well as attentional reactivity and attention controls on behaviour, thought and emotion.Children’s temperamental dispositions are reflected in orientations toward or away from objects, people and eventsResearch on temperament in childhood is based on multiple methods, including questionnaires, laboratory and home observations with each approach demonstrating both advantages and disadvantages.There are also problems with each of these methods.
An inhibited child, one who is wary of strangers, more passive in his interactions with others, and more hesitant to explore new situations, tends to become an adult who who is less likely to engage others, be more passive in relationships, and prefer solitary to group activities. The parent can observe temperament in the patterns of the child's behaviour and emotions in different situations. These questions have yet to be answered conclusively. Many of these parents will also assert that these responses, or temperaments, seem to continue throughout the child’s development.The stubborn infant who cries when put down for a nap may become the stubborn adolescent who rebels against authority or resists society’s norms. Is inhibition directly linked to our genes or indirectly through other biological components. The study of temperament is a rapidly growing research area, and the influence of temperament on developmental pathways and outcomes has now been recognized even in areas that have traditionally been seen almost exclusively the result of socialization, such as conduct problems, school performance, empathy and the development of conscience. While no one method is completely error-free, each provides tools to improve our understanding of temperament and its relation to developmental outcomes.Research on temperament in childhood has been greatly influenced by the New York Longitudinal Study (NYLS).4 Thomas, Chess and colleagues interviewed parents about the behaviours of their two- to six-month-old infants, and through content analysis, identified nine temperament dimensions. Temperament shapes children’s outcomes and influences the way they interact with their environment and how adults and children respond to them.Temperament refers to individual differences that can be seen early in life, shaping our reaction to events in the social and physical environment, and the environment’s reaction to us. For instance, if your child is a picky eater, that may be very frustrating. Obviously those high in this temperament will prefer group activities, team sports, and be more comfortable interacting in social settings. Temperament consists of the individual differences in emotion, motor activation and attentional reaction to stimuli. Caregiver reports in questionnaires may be biased by the respondent’s desire to portray the child in a desirable way. However, if you understand your child is very sensitive to texture and touch, that may help explain their behavior, which can change how you feel about it and how you react to it. Temperament shapes responses and reactions – “how” a child does something, not what they do. The study of temperament is a rapidly growing research area, and the influence of temperament on developmental pathways and outcomes has now been recognized even in areas that have traditionally been seen almost exclusively the result of socialization, such as conduct problems, school performance, empathy and the development of conscience.Temperament can be observed before many of the more cognitive aspects of personality have developed.
Early Temperament and Psychosocial Development. Temperament includes the child's dispositions toward emotionality, activity and orienting, along with their attention based effortful control.