Going off of the video and slides we used to prepare for the insecure attatchment portion of class, we learned about the "9 Temperament Traits", the "Goodness of Fit" and the "3 Personality Types" discovered by Thomas and Birch.
When taking notes on the Temperament Traits, I kept thinking about where I fell as an individual on on each of the temperament trait scales.
The 9 Temperament Traits are:
1) Activity Level
2) Regularity
3) Approach/Withdrawal
4) Adaptability to Change in Routine
5) Level of Sensory Threshold
6) Positive/Negative Mood
7) Intensity of Response
8) Distractibility
9) Persistance and Attention Span
I feel as though a lot of you guys thought about where you fell on the scales as well. For the first response I want you to pick ONE of the temperaments and describe where you would fall on the scale and use an example from your life to support your answer.
Lastly, Thomas and Birch came up with the "3 Personality" types. This has received a lot of criticism because only 65% of children fit into 1 of the 3 categories. For the last response i'd like to know if you as an individual believe you fit into one of the three categories and if you believe it's an efficient way to categorize people or not.
First, I'd like to touch on where I think that I fall in the adaptability to change in routine continuum. I see myself as a mostly Type A personality. Therefore, I am really big on planning, making lists, and being organized. When plans change suddenly on me, I tend to get really upset and stressed. Because of this, I would say I fall into the side of the continuum that is inability to shift. However, I do sometimes see myself as being flexible in the ability to change to a new activity in class or when it involves workout activities. Thus, I am not completely on one side of the continuum.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I think that I have an easy personality. I am usually positive, have regular body functions, moderate intensity of reactions, and am fairly active. While I think that I fall into a specific category I can see how many individuals would not. I do not think that this is a good way to categorize personalities. I like the idea of a continuum more, or a different category system that has many more options, say 10 or so, that people can fall into.
Every time I hear the word "temperament", I immediately recall the original ancient greek concept with 4 types: phlegmatic, choleric, sanguine and melancholic. You can clearly see how those 3 types by Thomas and Birch are a mix of those original 4 applied to children.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how to respond to the first question. If I understand corretly, these 3 types were developed to be applied to babies/ young children and not to adults, so I don't think it would be necessarily valid to apply these types to the current me.
As to the second question, I totally agree with Ashley that continuum definitions are better than categorical when we talk about personality traits; that's one of the problems with the very popular but faulty personality test Myers- Briggs Type Indicator -- the four traits that are measured in that test are categorical and that's not how people work. For example, nobody is a 100% introvert or extravert, it's usually a certain percentage of both, having an absolute form of a trait would probably constitute a mental disorder.
In addressing the first question I would choose the temperament trait of activity level, but there are more that apply to me than just this particular one. When thinking about activity level I would say I lean more towards the left on the continuum because I'm always moving. I'm in constant motion, I can't always sit still or I tap my feet in class. When I realize I am not doing something, I feel the need to find something to do. With that I think I can get bored pretty easily. I know as a child I was always running around, very high energy and I can remember people always commenting on how energized I was. My dad used to read books on how to deal with overactive children or hyperactive children. Yet some days I feel exhausted and just want to sit and not move, so I think it really just depends sometimes for what side of the continuum people associate themselves with.
ReplyDeleteFor the second question I think I fit into the category as an easy personality type. I'm always trying to stay positive and try new things. I think for the most part I can adapt well to new situations, but some may take some time. Now as for these 3 traits being an effective way to categorize individuals, I don't think this is necessarily true, its not effective. Everyone is unique in their own way and personality, you can't just define a person based on 3 traits. The traits are very broad when it comes to defining people and I think they need to develop a better system with many more traits, but have it be more specified when it comes to categorizing an individual because not everyone is easy, difficult, or slow to warm up.
Thanks for getting us thinking about the temperament trait categories, Lexy, and how they might apply to use personally. If we want to test ourselves on the scale of each of them and see how we're labeled, go to http://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-temperament-quiz/ . One observation from doing the online quiz is that we can see how useful (or not) self-report might be for parents - for their children, and for themselves. I can take this now, but I imagine my responses would be different in some ways than 22 years ago when my daughter was an infant and I was becoming attuned to her own temperament, and figuring out how to adjust my parenting to be 'goodness of fit' to what she needed. And then of course, there's response bias and my completing this for what I believe or want myself to be, and just imagine if I'm filling this out when I'm (as a parent of an infant) having a really bad or really good day! Imagine how inflated the responses would be.
ReplyDeleteThe main idea with assessments like these is that they can differentiate children to help us differentiate our caregiving. They may not be terribly precise but they can act as a guideline, more useful than not. You might be interested in seeing further evolution of personality testing and research. This site: http://www.personality-project.org/ offers TONS of resources and information. You'll read how others have characterized personality, with frequent assessments of 16 types as revealed by tests such as the Myers-Briggs (e.g., ENFJ, etc) and the Big Five Personality factors, defined as openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. At the bottom of the page linked here is yet another assessment - and in this case temperament has been blended with cognitive abilities and with interests towards a measure.
Back to me. As I review the temperament traits and my own assessment, I would say it's pretty accurate. What is interesting is to 'know thyself' and be an observer through life of how this self operates on the environment, and vice versa, and which of these aspects have mellowed or moved somewhat with time and experience, and which have remained somewhat stable.
In regards to the temperament trait of distractibility, I think that I fall on the way end, meaning that I am very distractible when I am trying to accomplish tasks. For example, when I take tests, I notice every little noise and movement going on around me, such as shifting of papers and people sneezing or coughing. When I study or do homework, I need to be in a specific type of environment in which there is no noise and nothing going on around me. I am fortunate because in my sorority, we have this little room that is always quiet and has the perfect amount of stimulation for me to focus. This is an unfortunate aspect of my personality, in my opinion, because I can never study in more social contexts, such as with friends in a library or a coffee shop.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Thomas and Birch's three personality traits are an accurate way to categorize individuals, especially since just over half of the population fits into a category. I believe that there are many different ways of categorizing temperaments than just three and you are doing a child an injustice by labeling them as something that they might not totally fit into. For me personally, I don't think that I fit into any of the categories and I have specific qualities from each. I am easy because I approach new objects or people positively, but I am also difficult because I adapt slowly to changes in the environment and have a high intensity of reaction in most situations.
The temperament trait that stood out the most to be was positive/negative mood. Ever since I was young, I have been described as a happy-go-lucky person. Most recently, my positive attitude has been noticed in work settings. I work at Lifetime Fitness opening the club Thursdays and Fridays, so I have to be there by 4:30 in the morning. Since my body doesn’t let me fall asleep earlier than 10:30pm, I usually only get about 4-5 hours of sleep before work those mornings. Most people would be exhausted walking into work at that hour, but I am the complete opposite. Maybe it is just that I love my job, but I get comments every day about how my positive attitude so early in the morning starts their day off right.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of what is going on in my life, you will see me with a genuine smile on my face 98% of the time. This leads into the three main personality types. I strongly believe that I have been an easy person since I was born. I was never fussy as a child, handled divorce and moving very well, and love new experiences. These personality traits are somewhat effective, yet the 35% of children who do not fit into these categories makes me believe that there may need to be another personality type. They make sense, but only apply to the extreme children and not those who have mixed qualities.
I think its awesome that you always try to spread good vibes to people no matter what you're going through in your personal life, I am the same way! You never know the impact you can have on someone with simple things such as a friendly smile. I do agree with you that there is definitely an issue with these personality categories 35% of children don't necessarily fit into one. I believe that these were meant to be a general guideline and not meant directly for every individual child.
DeleteI agree with Katelyn. Distractibility is definitely a temperament trait that I would choose. I am easily distracted and I have a very hard time trying to concentrate on important tasks. When I do my homework, for example, I would finish one problem/question and by the time I know it, I'm already scrolling halfway down my newsfeed on Facebook. This could probably be one of the reasons why I am often lacking on sleep because I procrastinate and stay up late trying to finish my homework.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Thomas and Birch's three personality traits, I also agree with some that the multiple personality and uniqueness of individuals shouldn't necessarily be categorized into only three categories. Although many fit in those three categories, there are some who can be a mixture of each. Going back to what Susan had stated, it is an assessment to help differentiate children so that we, as the upcoming caregivers can mold ourselves to fit the children's needs. So, in a way, although personally I don't believe it's efficient for my personal gain and knowledge, I think it's efficient when trying to become a good parent to a child.
The temperament trait that I would choose for myself is "Intensity of response", because when someone asks me a question that I am not familiar with or do not know well enough to answer, my response is quiet. I do not want to answer the question asked to me wrong, or I do not want to sound confusing to others when I answer. I become very quiet and shy when it comes to those situations. But if someone asked me a question that I knew, and felt confident enough to answer, my response with be a high level of energy and be positive.
ReplyDeleteWhen people ask me what I want to do when I am older after graduating college, I always answer in a positive response because I am excited about my future after graduating and know what I want to do.
For the second questions regarding to the three personality traits, I believe that people should not be categorized into traits. Individuals are unique in their own way and not everyone is going to specifically fit into one category as they might have different traits in each of those categories. I believe that there should me more categories for individuals because no one wants to be labeled something they aren't. I think that I am positive when there are new situations, but I can also react not so positive to new situations depending on what the situation is and how comfortable I am with the situation.
When I was a kid, I would be very withdrawn when my parents would introduce me to a group of new people. I would hide behind them or under the table so that the strangers wouldn't be able to come near me. It would take me along time to get used to the new environment that I was in. Their friends would ask me for a hug and I would shake my head no, staring at the ground. My parents never made me hug anyone unless I was comfortable with it. Even now I'm a hesitant when it comes to being in situations where I don't know anyone. I like to stand off to the side and observe the people around me before striking up a conversation with anyone. A lot of times I'll just wait until someone approaches me and starts a conversation. Don't get me wrong, I love new experiences, but I like them a lot more when I have someone I am comfortable with, with me.
ReplyDeleteI would say that in general, I was an easy child. I had low intensity reactions to a lot of things. I almost never cried or fussed over a little thing. It was easy for me to adapt to changes in schedules. My parents took me to all sorts of places and never kept me on a strict schedule. I never had a bedtime, they would let me go to bed when I got tired which was usually a normal time unless I napped a lot that day. I was generally happy. The only time that I would get anxious was when there were a lot of new people around me and I was the center of attention. All throughout school my parents never had to tell me to do my homework, I would just do it. I never threw a temper tantrum or constantly asked my parents for things. I think that the category of an "easy" child is too narrow considering how everyone is different.