What is temperament? Describe Chess and Thomas's three types of infant temperament. Compare these types to Rothbart’s three types of infant temperament.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Ans: Thomas and Chess identified nine characteristics that contribute to an infant’s temperament. Any individual infant can score high, low, or average on each of these characteristics, and combining this information produces three temperament profiles: an easy temperament, a difficult temperament, and a slow-to-warm temperament. Infants with an easy temperament have a generally positive mood, adapt fairly easily to change, and are regular and predictable in their patterns of eating, sleeping, and elimination (Chess & Thomas, 1999). In contrast, infants with a difficult temperament have a more negative mood, are easily frustrated and slow to adapt to change, and have irregular patterns of eating, sleeping, and elimination. Infants with difficult temperaments also tend to react more intensely to situations than those with easy temperaments. The third temperament described by Chess and Thomas (1999) is the slow-to-warm temperament. The research by Thomas and Chess grew out of their clinical work, but Rothbart placed a greater emphasis on the neurobiological bases of temperament. Her research with infants identified three higher-order factors that comprise temperament: extraversion, negative emotionality/affect, and self-regulation.