What Is Temprament?

What is temperament? What is the relation between temperament and personality traits in adulthood?

Over time, I have noticed that I have become more impatient, I let negativity come to mind before positivism, and sometimes, I just don't want to hear it. This is not my complete personality at its best, but the innocent mind that used to be open to people's stories thinks a bit more skeptically and suspiciously. Though skeptical, I do enjoy listening to people's encounters and feelings. I am a good friend and loving family member, who has qualities of independence, ambition, passion, and a free spirit. All of my personality traits have stayed with me through the years and were able to be noticed at an early age. Though I keep these traits with me, they have gone through changes and have become weaker and stronger as I get further into adulthood.

There are two sides to personality, one of which is temperament and the other is character. Temperament is the general nature one's personality. Introversion and extroversion are both examples of temperament. It is a predisposition of attitude and actions, and an inborn form of one's human nature. In our text, temperament is defined as "individual differences in basic behavioral style assumed to be present at birth and biologically determined."

An ancient medical theory exists that suggests that there are four main temperaments which are personality types or moods that are biologically set according to the balance of certain bodily fluids in each person. The first, sanguine, indicates the personality that is generally optimistic, cheerful, even-tempered, confident, rational, popular, and fun-loving. This is the most positive temperament. Next is choleric. This temperament describes a person that is easily angered or bad tempered. The choleric temperament can be seen in infants at a very early age if they cry uncontrollably and seem as if they are angry. The third temperament is melancholic. This temperament is used to describe depressed individuals and perfectionists. The final temperament is the phlegmatic person. This person is calm and unemotional. While phlegmatic people are generally self-content and kind, their enthusiasm is inhibited by their shyness, and can make themselves lazy and resistant to change. They are very consistent and relaxed and have many friends.

As previously discussed, temperament is a set of in-born traits that compose how a child will approach the world. They develop the child's personality and contribute in how the child will learn about the world around him. Once parents understand the temperament of a child, they can guide and teach them in ways that the child will respond to. Some children are noisier than others while some like to cuddle more. A parent can also anticipate certain situations that their child may encounter through life by their temperament. The parent will be more effective as they more fully understand and appreciate their child's uniqueness and individuality.

Classic child development research has identified nine temperamental traits. One is the child's activity level. How active a child is can be determined by how often they wiggle as an infant, contentment to sit quietly and still, or if they are always moving. Highly active children may use their extra energy to succeed in sports or high-energy responsibilities and careers later in life.

Another temperamental trait is distractibility. This involves their degree of concentration and ability to pay attention even though they might not be interested. High distractibility is seen as positive when it is easy to divert a child from an undesirable behavior but seen as negative when it prevents the child from finishing school work.

Intensity is another trait, and refers to the energy in a child's response whether it is positive or negative. The level of their voice, signs of pleasure, dramatics, and strength all show their intensity.

The forth temperamental trait is regularity. This refers to the predictability of biological functions such as appetite and sleep. As adults, irregular persons may do well with traveling and changes.

Sensory threshold relates to how sensitive the child is to physical stimulants such as sounds, tastes, touch, and temperature. Highly sensitive children tend to be more artistic, inventive, and creative.

The sixth temperament is approach and withdrawal. Hesitation and eagerness are measured to how a child responds to a new situation or a stranger. Thinking before they act and analyzing the situation are common and during adolescence they are less likely to act impulsively.

Adaptability portrays how well a child responds to change and transitioning. A slow-to-adapt child is less likely to rush into danger and is not easily influenced by

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