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Perspectives on two temperamental biases

Jerome Kagan1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA jk@wjh.harvard.edu.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|February 28, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Infant temperament, specifically high or low reactivity, influences later behavior and biology. However, individual life experiences and circumstances ultimately shape adult traits more than initial temperamental biases.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental psychology
  • Behavioral biology
  • Individual differences

Background:

  • Infant temperament is a key area of study in developmental psychology.
  • Temperamental biases, such as reactivity, are thought to influence long-term behavioral and biological outcomes.
  • Understanding these early biases can provide insights into individual differences throughout development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the contribution of two infant temperamental biases to behavioral and biological variation over 18 years.
  • To investigate the predictive power of high reactive and low reactive temperaments on later traits.
  • To explore the interplay between temperament, life history, and current circumstances in shaping adult traits.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of middle-class Caucasian children from infancy to 18 years.
  • Defined high reactive infants by limb activity and crying to novel stimuli at four months.
  • Defined low reactive infants by opposite behaviors to the same stimuli, assessing amygdala excitability.

Main Results:

  • High reactive infants showed cautious, avoidant responses and excitable amygdala to novelty.
  • Low reactive infants displayed sociable, spontaneous profiles and minimally excitable amygdala.
  • Temperamental biases were better predictors of traits *unlikely* to develop than those that did.

Conclusions:

  • Early temperamental biases (high/low reactive) influence developmental trajectories.
  • The final pattern of traits is a complex interplay of temperament, life history, and environment.
  • Individual differences in development are shaped by multiple interacting factors.

Keywords:
amygdalabehavioural inhibitionsocial anxietytemperament

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