Temperament and Cultural Variations

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms related to infant temperament, its stability, cultural variations, and predictive implications.

Temperament

The newborn’s “pre-personality”; a set of characteristic moods, activity levels, and ways of responding to environmental stimuli.

• Mother sensitivity to baby signals impact temperament and attachment

Thomas & Chess Longitudinal Study

Classic research that followed a birth cohort from 3–4 months to about 10 years, demonstrating the stability of temperament and identifying three broad temperament types.

• Core finding

  • Temperament at 3–4 months was largely predictive of temperament at 10 years.

  • Provided empirical support for temperamental stability

  • Children may have hereditary  dispositions towards certain temperament but also tend to select an environment that matches

  • Parenting stock and influence temperament

 

• Resulting typology (3 broad styles, still influential):

Easy Babies

Infants with a cheerful mood,

regular sleep/eat patterns

, high adaptability to change

, and low fussiness;

roughly 40 % of infants.

Slow-to-Warm-Up Babies

• Less overtly cheerful

• Moderately irregular biological rhythms

• More easily upset; show cautious or inhibited approach to novelty/new enviroents

• Lower adaptability

• Prevalence: ≈ 15%

Difficult Babies

Infants showing irritable mood,

highly irregular routines,

strong resistance to change,

and intense negative reactions to novelty;

around 10 % of infants.

Unclassifiable Temperament

Approximately 35 % of infants whose traits do not fit neatly into the easy, slow-to-warm-up, or difficult categories, often shifting across contexts.

Temperamental predicts

Some differences in temperament (e.g. quality of mood – negative vs. positive,

sociability) are quite stable through the lifespan

 

Evidence that early temperament predicts…

➢later personality

➢cognitive performance (attention span, persistence on tasks)

➢friendship patterns /social competence

➢conduct disorders in children

➢substance use in adolescents

 

Difficult babies, more likely to struggle with those and later life

Hereditary Disposition

Genetic influences that predispose children toward particular temperament traits and guide them to select matching environments.

Parenting Sensitivity

Caregivers’ accuracy and responsiveness to infant signals, which shape both temperament expression and later attachment security.

Cultural Variation in Temperament

Differences in temperament linked to culturally specific child-rearing practices, discipline methods, and socialisation norms.

Kyrios et al. (1989)

Study showing Greek-Australian infants displayed more difficult temperament traits than matched Anglo-Australian peers, highlighting cultural effects.

• More negative mood/approach

• Lower adaptability

• Less distractibility (harder to soothe)

• Lower positive affect

 

 

Implication: Child-rearing beliefs/practices tied to cultural background can nudge temperamental expression.

 

• Note: Demographic landscape has changed; replication today might yield different outcomes.

 

 

➢Temperament influenced by both genes and environment (parenting)

 

Freedman (1974)

Research indicating Aboriginal newborns were quieter, less irritable, happier, and better at self-comforting than Anglo-Australian infants.

Aboriginal newborns were: 

➢more quietly alert (calm attentiveness ) 

➢much less tense and irritable

➢happier and more responsive to cuddling 

➢more adept at comforting

themselves after bouts of crying

 

Suggests cultural or prenatal environmental factors foster early regulatory capacities.

Little et al. (2012)

Longitudinal study finding Indigenous and non-Indigenous infants had similar interaction, persistence, and reactivity levels, suggesting evolving cultural influences.

●Both had similar temperament in:

➢Interaction with others

➢Persistence

➢Reactivity to people & objects

 

 Interpretation: Cultural effects may evolve with societal change; earlier differences may diminish or manifest differently across generations.

Gene–Environment Interaction in Temperament

The concept that both genetic makeup and environmental factors, such as parenting style, jointly shape an infant’s temperament.

Predictive Outcomes of Early Temperament

Later personality traits, cognitive performance, social competence, risk for conduct disorders, and adolescent substance use that can be anticipated from early temperament patterns.