The Origin of Personality

Children differ in temperament from birth. What is the nature
of these temperamental differences, and how do they interact
with environmental influences in the formation of personality?

by Alexander Thomas, Stella Chess and Herbert G. Birch

TABLE I (abbreviated): Temperament of a child allows him to be classified as "easy", "slow to warm up", or "difficult" according to how he rates in certain categories in the authors' nine-point personality index. The categories areonly a general guide to temperament. Of the 141 subjects 65 percent could be categorized, but 35 percent displayed a mixture of traits. Such a child might for example be rated "easy" in some ways and "difficult" in others.

[Addition by J. Gruber:

distractibility (the degree to which extraneous stimuli affect behavior),

attention span and persistence (the amount of time devoted to an activity and the effect of distraction on the activity), and

threshold of responsiveness (the intensity of stimuli required to evoke a discernible response)

are not characteristic of one of the 3 types (easy, slow to warm up and difficult).]

TYPE OF CHILD ACTIVITY LEVEL RHYTHMICITY APPROACH WITHDRAWAL ADAPTABILITY INTENSITY OF REACTION QUALITY OF MOOD

The proportion of active periods to inactive ones Regularity of hunger, excretion, sleep and wakefulness The response to a new object or person The ease with which a child adapts to changes in his environment The energy of response regardless of its quality or direction The amount of friendly, pleasant, joyful behavior as contrasted with unpleasant, unfriendly behavior

"EASY" VARIES VERY REGULAR POSITIVE APPROACH VERY ADAPTABLE LOW OR MILD POSITIVE

"SLOW TO WARM UP" LOW TO MODERATE VARIES INITIAL WITHDRAWAL SLOWLY ADAPTABLE MILD SLIGHTLY NEGATIVE

"DIFFICULT" VARIES IRREGULAR WITHDRAWAL SLOWLY ADAPTABLE INTENSE NEGATIVE

version: February 28, 2014
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TYPE OF CHILD	ACTIVITY LEVEL	RHYTHMICITY	APPROACH WITHDRAWAL	ADAPTABILITY	INTENSITY OF REACTION	QUALITY OF MOOD
	The proportion of active periods to inactive ones	Regularity of hunger, excretion, sleep and wakefulness	The response to a new object or person	The ease with which a child adapts to changes in his environment	The energy of response regardless of its quality or direction	The amount of friendly, pleasant, joyful behavior as contrasted with unpleasant, unfriendly behavior
"EASY"	VARIES	VERY REGULAR	POSITIVE APPROACH	VERY ADAPTABLE	LOW OR MILD	POSITIVE
"SLOW TO WARM UP"	LOW TO MODERATE	VARIES	INITIAL WITHDRAWAL	SLOWLY ADAPTABLE	MILD	SLIGHTLY NEGATIVE
"DIFFICULT"	VARIES	IRREGULAR	WITHDRAWAL	SLOWLY ADAPTABLE	INTENSE	NEGATIVE