Child Temperament: Nine Traits and Their Development
This paper examines child temperament as a foundational concept in developmental psychology, tracing competing theoretical definitions from Goldsmith, Buss, Plomin, Thomas, and Chess. It explains why temperament is considered a natural and stable basis for personality development and provides a detailed breakdown of the nine behavioral traits identified by Thomas and Chess in the 1970s: activity level, rhythmicity, approach-withdrawal, adaptability, threshold of responsiveness, intensity of reaction, persistence-attention span, distractibility, and quality of mood. The paper concludes by emphasizing the practical value of understanding temperament for parents seeking to support children's positive traits while managing negative behavioral labels.
- Introduction to Child Temperament: Defines temperament as behavioral inclination, not behavior
- Theoretical Perspectives on Temperament: Competing scholarly views on temperament components
- The Nine Characteristics of Temperament: Lists the nine Thomas and Chess temperament traits
- Activity Level, Rhythmicity, and Approach-Withdrawal: First three traits explained with child examples
- Adaptability, Responsiveness, and Persistence: Middle traits covering adjustment and attention span
- Distractibility and Quality of Mood: Final two traits and their behavioral expressions
- Conclusion: Parental value of understanding child temperament
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What makes this paper effective
- Grounds abstract definitions in concrete, relatable examples (e.g., babies kicking their legs, a child persisting at a puzzle), making developmental concepts accessible to a broad audience.
- Organizes the nine temperament traits systematically, moving from definition to practical illustration for each, which aids comprehension and retention.
- Briefly surveys competing theoretical frameworks before focusing on Thomas and Chess, demonstrating awareness of scholarly debate without losing focus.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper uses definition-then-exemplification as its primary rhetorical strategy. Each temperament trait is first defined in clinical terms, then made concrete through a comparative example that contrasts high and low ends of the behavioral spectrum. This technique is effective for introductory-level developmental psychology writing and models how abstract constructs can be operationalized for practical understanding.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with competing scholarly definitions of temperament, narrows to the Thomas and Chess framework, and then devotes the bulk of its body to explaining each of the nine traits in turn. A brief conclusion ties the discussion back to parental application. The structure is expository and cumulative, building from theory to taxonomy to real-world relevance.
Introduction to Child Temperament
Temperament can be defined as a behavioral inclination rather than behavior itself. According to temperament theorists, temperament is a natural and stable basis for the later development of personality (Cicchetti & Toth, 1995). Although theorists agree that temperament is formed in the initial stages of life, they differ in their views on what can be considered its core components. According to Goldsmith, temperament is the manifestation of primary emotions. He maintained that emotions give a tendency to behaviors and psychological processes (Cicchetti & Toth, 1995).
Theoretical Perspectives on Temperament
Goldsmith, Buss, and Plomin define temperament more narrowly as negative emotionality, such as distress. In addition, they included sociability and activity — for instance, cadence, vigor, or behavioral arousal — within the scope of temperament. Thomas and Chess, by contrast, defined temperament as behavioral styles that emerge in response to environmental stimuli. According to them, temperament encompasses not aptitude, emotionality, or motivation, but rather qualities such as rhythmicity (Goldsmith & Alansky, 1987).
In the 1970s, Thomas and Chess described nine traits or characteristics of behavior in children, where every characteristic exists on a spectrum from minor to intense. These traits have since been widely used to describe a child's temperament (Fox, Kimmerly, & Schafer, 1991).
The Nine Characteristics of Temperament
The nine characteristics identified by Thomas and Chess are:
Activity level; Rhythmicity; Approach-withdrawal; Adaptability; Persistence and attention span; Intensity of reaction; Distractibility; Threshold of responsiveness; Quality of mood.
References
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. (1995). Child maltreatment and attachment organization: Implications for intervention. In S. Goldberg, R. Muir, & J. Kerr (Eds.), Attachment theory: Social, developmental and clinical perspectives. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
Fox, N., Kimmerly, N., & Schafer, W. (1991). Attachment to mother/attachment to father: A meta-analysis. Child Development.
Goldsmith, H., & Alansky, A. (1987). Maternal and infant temperamental predictors of attachment: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
Seifer, R., Schiller, M., Sameroff, A., Resnick, S., & Riordan, K. (1996). Attachment, maternal sensitivity, and infant temperament during the first year of life. Developmental Psychology.
Thompson, R., Connell, J., & Bridges, L. (1988). Temperament, emotion, and social interactive behavior in the strange situation: A component process analysis of attachment system functioning. Child Development.
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