Temperament: Early Developing Personality Traits

Description

Originally published in 1984, this title looks at the development of temperament in early life. At the time of publication there were three major perspectives on temperament: paediatrics, individual differences in infants, and inherited personality traits that appear in early life. Whatever the diversity of these perspectives, they converge on personality traits that develop early in life, hence the title of this book. The authors start by looking at the main research in this field, then go on to discuss their own approach to temperament, building on their original theory from 1975. 1. Introduction 2. Evolution and Development -- Evolution and Early Developing Traits -- Culture and Early Developing Traits -- Constitution and Early Environment -- Continuity and Change 3. The Pediatric Approach -- Description of the Measures -- Evaluation of the Measures -- Conceptual Issues -- Individual Differences in Neonates 4. Arousal -- Three Kinds of Arousal -- Temperament as Affect -- Reactivity and Self-Regulation -- Temperament as "Behavioral Inhibition" -- Arousal and Temperament 5. Emotionality -- Inheritance -- Emotionality as Distress -- Differentiation of Fear and Anger -- Theory of Emotionality -- Summary Comments 6. Sociability -- Interaction Social Rewards -- The Nature of Sociability -- Infancy -- Behavior with Peers -- Shyness -- Extraversion and Neuroticism -- Concluding Remarks 7. Theory and Measurement of EAS -- Definition and Criteria -- Impulsivity -- Influence of EAS on Environment -- Measuring EAS 8. Behavioral Genetics -- Major Methods -- Genotype-Environment Correlation -- Structural Models -- Developmental Behavioral Genetics -- Environment: Familial and Individual -- Differential Heritability -- Temperament-Environment Interaction 9. Heredity and the EAS Temperaments -- Parental Ratings -- Observations -- Measures Other Than Ratings -- Conclusions 10. Continuity, Environment, and the EAS -- Continuity -- Heritability and Stability -- Stability of the EAS Temperaments -- Environment -- Individual Experiences -- Temperament and Environment 11. Concluding Comments -- Broad versus Narrow Temperaments -- Future Directions - References - Author Index - Subject Index