On 6 November 2009 Joan Warmbold wrote: > I'm most concerned about how and when temperament is > measured, as I stated in an earlier post. It's usually around > 4 months of age and at that point the quality of care that an > infant has received has already made an impact on how they > behave. And, as I also stated, most studies that measure > infants' temperaments ask parents to make the call by responding > to a questionnaire and the validity of parents perceptions has > been called into question.
No doubt other TIPSters have more knowledge of this subject than I do, but I know that Gopnik et al (1999) describe experimental work on babies from new-borns onward. I would think that differences of behaviour in the first few months would have some relation to individual temperament. I'd be surprised if other researchers haven't been doing similar work since then. Reference Gopnik, A. et al. (1999), *The Scientist in the Crib: Minds, Brains, and How Children Learn*. New York: William Morrow. Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London http://www.esterson.org ------------------------------------------------- Joan Warmbold <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Article in WSJ on study how brain develops "without Dad." Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 11:57:00 -0600 (CST) That was a typo as it's 35%, not 65%, that didn't fit into one of the three categories, as I think most folks know from the classic Thomas/Chess longitudinal study. But John, I'm most concerned about how and when temperament is measured, as I stated in an earlier post. It's usually around 4 months of age and at that point the quality of care that an infant has received has already made an impact on how they behave. And, as I also stated, most studies that measure infants' temperaments ask parents to make the call by responding to a questionnaire and the validity of parents perceptions has been called into question. Infants are processing information and responses from the get-go. Therefore, if we wish to make an accurate measurement of temperament, we need to do so from infants' first week of life AS WELL as measuring from week one how they are responded to. The former is totally within the realm of possibility as demonstrated by Brazelton's measurement of how infants' respond to the ringing of a bell when asleep at 2 days of age. The high reactors wake up and cry loudly whereas the low reactors barely react at all. Those infants that react strongly fit into the "slow to warm" temperament category as their nervous system needs more time to adjust. Joan [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
