1. Temperament and Development
Social Development
Temperament and Development

2. Parenting and Child Characteristics
What is the extent of the role of parenting in social development?
What is the extent of the role of constitutionally based individual differences?

3. Temperament
constitutionally based individual differences in emotional, motor, and attentional reactivity and self-regulation”
constitution: biological make-up
interaction of heredity, maturation and experience
“psychological features that arise in early years of life through an interaction of inherited physiology with environmental influences”
It refers to general disposition and overall behavioral style

4. Temperament
Thomas and Chess (1977): elements in early years can be clustered in predictable ways
Easy: regularity of behavior, even-tempered, intense mood is rare, adaptable
Difficult: active, irritable and irregular in habits
Slow-to-warm-up: Inactive, moody, mild negative response

5. Temperament Problems with general profiles: Difficult temperament
characteristic is displayed in a context
value-laden overtone
global and impedes progress in understanding specific roles of particular temperaments

6. persistence (attention span): length of time child orients to and focuses on objects or events of interest
sociability (positive affect): frequency of smiling, laughing, tendency to approach new people and situations
rhythmicity: regularity and predictability of the child’s usual pattern of activities and bodily functions
activity: amount of gross motor activity
reactivity (irritable distress/frustration/anger): readiness with which a child reacts to a particular stimulus or event. Fussiness and showing distress when desires are frustrated
fearfulness (fearful distress): wariness and distress in new situations or in response to novel stimuli

7. Effortful Control
the ability to inhibit a dominant response in order to perform a sub-dominant response, to detect errors and to engage in planning.
is related to regulation of attention, behavior and reactive systems
is a higher order temperamental trait, measured by attentional control, inhibitory control, low intensity pleasure and perceptual sensitivity.

8. Measurement of Temperament
Lab: expose children to strangers or unusual toys and note child’s responses
- limited range of behaviors
- may elicit atypical expressions of temperament
- influenced by transient factors such as mood
Questionnaire: ask adults who know the child well.
- fearful distress (crying to loud noise), irritability (fussiness), positive affect, activity level

9. Measurement of Temperament
Persistence: tendency to remain focused on an activity or a task
Sociability: tendency to approach new people and situations
Rhythmicity: regularity and predictability of the child’s usual pattern of activities
Reactivity: readiness with which a child reacts to a particular stimulus or event
CHILDHOOD TEMPERAMENT SCALE   For each question, please circle the number that best describes your child’s recent and current behavior. Almost Never = Almost always = 6

10. 6. My child asks for or takes a snack about the same time each day.
Temperament
1. My child is shy with strange adults. 2.    When my child starts a project such as model or puzzle, he/she works on it without stopping until it’s completed, even if it takes a long time. 3.    My child has a bowel motion at the same time each day. 4.    My child is shy when first meeting new children. 5.    My child likes to complete one task or activity before going on to the next.
6.    My child asks for or takes a snack about the same time each day.  

11. Temperament
7. When upset or annoyed with a task, my child throws it down, cries, slams doors, etc.
      8. If my child wants a toy or sweet while shopping, he/she will easily accept something else instead.
       9. After my child is put to bed at night, he/she takes about the same length of time to fall asleep.
       10. My child is unwilling to leave a game or activity that he/she has not completed.
       11. If my child resists some activity such as having hair brushed, he/she will continue to resist it for months.
       12. My child stays with an activity (e.g., puzzle, construction kit, reading) for a long time.

12. 14. My child sleeps for a different length of time each night.
Temperament
13. When in the park or visiting, my child will go up to strange children and join in their play.
      My child sleeps for a different length of time each night.
15. If my child is shy with a strange adult, he/she gets over this quickly.
     When my child is angry about something, it is difficult to sidetrack him/her.
      
17. My child gets hungry at different times each day.
     When the family goes on a trip, my child immediately makes him/herself at home in the new surroundings.

13. Temperament and Development
Indirect mediated effects
Different temperaments elicit different responses from people
Example: cheerful, moody, reactive temperaments

14. Temperament and Development
Interactional effects
Temperament x environment
Goodness of fit

15. Problems with “difficult temperament” and temperament x parenting
China: group harmony is valued.
Inhibition is thought to reflect social maturity and understanding
Canada: autonomy and assertiveness
Correlations with parental acceptance and power assertion

16. Difficult temperament, temperament x parenting and culture
inhibition was accepted by peers and even valued by teachers
accepted and popular more than not only aggressive but also average children

17. Difficult temperament and child’s sex
correlation between negative family interactions and inhibition

18. Belsky (2005): “Differential susceptibility”
socialization experiences have a larger impact on developmental outcomes of children with extreme temperaments
because systems of children with extreme temperaments are more sensitive to all sorts of influence, they also benefit from positive parenting practices even more than their less sensitive counterparts

19. Implications of “Differential susceptibility”
Temperament, by itself, does not serve as a risk factor.
Indeed, characteristics that have long thought to be as “difficult” may help foster optimal development in the context of positive socialization.

20. Gilissen et al. (2008) showed that
4- and 7-year old fearful Dutch children who did not have a secure relationship with mothers showed the highest levels of reactivity to fearful stimuli (fear-inducing film clips), and their fearful counterparts with more secure relationships displayed the lowest reactivity.

21. Stright et al. (2008) study:
quality of parenting (e.g., that allowed emotional support and autonomy) was measured via observation during infancy and early childhood
social competence (social skills, social interaction with peers and teachers) was measured via teacher-ratings at grade 1.
When parenting quality was low, children who had difficult temperament as infants had poorer social competence. However, when parenting quality was high, their social skills and interactions were better than those children with a less difficult temperament.

22. Kochanska, Aksan, & Joy (2007)
For relatively fearful children, parents’ power assertion, even its low levels, predicted cheating behavior during games. More fearful children experiencing power assertion showed poorer socialization outcomes than did less fearful children.

23. How far are the social outcomes
temperamentally or environmentally driven?
Buss and Plomin explanation:
Temperament in middle ranges:
Environment x Temperament 
Temperament in extremes:
Temperament ( Environment) 

24. Eisenberg, Fabes, Guthrie, & Reiser (2002)
Temperament-by-temperament effects
self-regulatory aspects of temperament may change expression of other potentially problematic aspects
a moderate to high level of self-regulation is optimal for successful social functioning
negative emotionality, in the presence of optimum regulation, does not lead to low social competence.
Self-regulation was a weaker predictor for children who were not prone to negative affect

25. Temperament and Development
Temperament-by-temperament effects
high sociability x emotional reactivity (irritable distress)
low sociability x emotional reactivity (fearful distress)