Psychology Personality Table
Topic
Definition
Research
Evaluation
Personality / Temperament.
Personality - The thoughts, feelings and behaviours that make an individual unique.
Temperament - The genetic component of personality.
Temperament -
1) Thomas, Chess and Birch.
Discover whether ways of responding to environment remain stable throughout life. Studied 133 children from infancy to adulthood. Childrens behaviour observed and parents were interviewed, parents were asked about child's routine and its reactions to change. Found children fall into three types: ‘easy’, ‘difficult’ or ‘slow to warm up’. Easy - happy and flexible. Difficult - cried a lot and demanding. ‘Slow to warm up’ did not respond well to change but once they’d adapted they were usually happy. Ways of responding to the environment stayed with them as they developed. Temperament is innate.
2) Buss and Plomin.
To see if temperament is innate. Studied 228 pairs Mz twins + 172 Dz twins. Rated temperament when they were 5 years old - looked at three dimensions of behaviour - emotionality, activity and sociability. Then compared the scores for each pair of twins. There was a closer correlation between the scores of Mz twins. Temperament has genetic basis.
3) Kagen and Snidman.
To investigate whether temperament is due to biological differences. Studied reactions of four-month-old babies in new situation. First minute the baby was placed in a seat with the caregiver sitting nearby. Next three minutes the caregiver moved out of the baby’s view while the baby was shown toys. 20% of babies showed distress - crying, arching of the back - vigorous arm and leg movements - classed as high reactive. 40% showed little movement and emotion - low reactive. Remaining infants fell somewhere between the two. 11 years later, still a difference with the 2 groups + how they reacted to new situations. High reactives - shy. Low reactives - calm. 2 temperaments due to inherited differences.
1) Thomas, Chess and Birch.
One of
Definition
Research
Evaluation
Personality / Temperament.
Personality - The thoughts, feelings and behaviours that make an individual unique.
Temperament - The genetic component of personality.
Temperament -
1) Thomas, Chess and Birch.
Discover whether ways of responding to environment remain stable throughout life. Studied 133 children from infancy to adulthood. Childrens behaviour observed and parents were interviewed, parents were asked about child's routine and its reactions to change. Found children fall into three types: ‘easy’, ‘difficult’ or ‘slow to warm up’. Easy - happy and flexible. Difficult - cried a lot and demanding. ‘Slow to warm up’ did not respond well to change but once they’d adapted they were usually happy. Ways of responding to the environment stayed with them as they developed. Temperament is innate.
2) Buss and Plomin.
To see if temperament is innate. Studied 228 pairs Mz twins + 172 Dz twins. Rated temperament when they were 5 years old - looked at three dimensions of behaviour - emotionality, activity and sociability. Then compared the scores for each pair of twins. There was a closer correlation between the scores of Mz twins. Temperament has genetic basis.
3) Kagen and Snidman.
To investigate whether temperament is due to biological differences. Studied reactions of four-month-old babies in new situation. First minute the baby was placed in a seat with the caregiver sitting nearby. Next three minutes the caregiver moved out of the baby’s view while the baby was shown toys. 20% of babies showed distress - crying, arching of the back - vigorous arm and leg movements - classed as high reactive. 40% showed little movement and emotion - low reactive. Remaining infants fell somewhere between the two. 11 years later, still a difference with the 2 groups + how they reacted to new situations. High reactives - shy. Low reactives - calm. 2 temperaments due to inherited differences.
1) Thomas, Chess and Birch.
One of