Explorations in temperament : international perspectives on theory and measurement

The growing interest in research on temperament during the last decade has been re­ corded by several authors (e. g. , R. Plomin; J. E. Bates) from such sources of informa­ tion as the Social Sciences Citation Index or Psychological Abstracts. The editors' inquiry shows that the number of cases in which the term temperament was used in the title of a paper or in the paper's abstract published in Psychological Abstracts reveals an essential increase in research on temperament. During the years 1975 to 1979, the term temperament was used in the title and/or summary of 173 abstracts (i. e. , 34. 6 publications per year); during the next five years (1980-1984), it was used in 367 abstracts (73. 4 publications per year), whereas in the last five years (1985 to 1989), the term has appeared in 463 abstracts, that is, in 92. 6 publications per year. Even if the review of temperament literature is restricted to those abstracts, it can easily be concluded that temperament is used in different contexts and with different meanings, hardly allowing any comparisons or general statements. One of the consequences of this state of affairs is that our knowledge on temperament does not cumulate despite the increasing research activity in this field. This situation in temperament research motivated the editors to organize a one­ week workshop on The Diagnosis of Temperament (Bielefeld, Federal Republic of Germany, September 1987). Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Introduction....Pages 1-12 Front Matter....Pages 13-13 Temperament and the Concept of Goodness of Fit....Pages 15-28 The Functional Significance of Organismic Individuality....Pages 29-42 The EAS Theory of Temperament....Pages 43-60 Temperament....Pages 61-74 Outline of a General Emotion-Based Theory of Temperament....Pages 75-86 Dimensions of Personality....Pages 87-103 The Neuropsychology of Temperament....Pages 105-128 Biotypes for Basic Personality Dimensions?....Pages 129-146 Biochemical Variables in the Study of Temperament....Pages 147-161 Temperament and the Person-Situation Debate....Pages 163-175 The Concepts of Personality and Temperament....Pages 177-188 Front Matter....Pages 189-189 What Can We Learn from the Discussion of Personality Questionnaires for the Construction of Temperament Inventories?....Pages 191-204 Questionnaire Measurement of Infant and Child Temperament....Pages 205-234 Mother-Father Agreement in Temperament Ratings....Pages 235-248 Contemporary Instruments for Assessing Early Temperament by Questionnaire and in the Laboratory....Pages 249-272 Reactivity and Anxiety in the Laboratory and Beyond....Pages 273-286 Correlations between Psychometric Measures and Psychophysiological as Well as Experimental Variables in Studies on Extraversion and Neuroticism....Pages 287-315 Differential Psychophysiology and the Diagnosis of Temperament....Pages 317-333 Front Matter....Pages 335-335 Renaissance in Research on Temperament Where To ?....Pages 337-358 Back Matter....Pages 359-365 "The growing interest in research on temperament during the last decade has been reƯ corded by several authors (e. g., R. Plomin; J.E. Bates) from such sources of informaƯ tion as the Social Sciences Citation Index or Psychological Abstracts. The editors' inquiry shows that the number of cases in which the term temperament was used in the title of a paper or in the paper's abstract published in Psychological Abstracts reveals an essential increase in research on temperament. During the years 1975 to 1979, the term temperament was used in the title and/or summary of 173 abstracts (i. e., 34. 6 publications per year); during the next five years (1980-1984), it was used in 367 abstracts (73. 4 publications per year), whereas in the last five years (1985 to 1989), the term has appeared in 463 abstracts, that is, in 92. 6 publications per year. Even if the review of temperament literature is restricted to those abstracts, it can easily be concluded that temperament is used in different contexts and with different meanings, hardly allowing any comparisons or general statements. One of the consequences of this state of affairs is that our knowledge on temperament does not cumulate despite the increasing research activity in this field. This situation in temperament research motivated the editors to organize a oneƯ week workshop on The Diagnosis of Temperament (Bielefeld, Federal Republic of Germany, September 1987)"--Font no determinada