Temperament in children

The study of temperament is a recent and rapidly growing area in psychology. Developmental research has been increasingly informed by our understanding of individual differences, and the study of temperament has provided a major framework for that understanding. The role of temperament in influencing developmental pathways and outcomes has now been recognized, even in areas that have traditionally been seen as almost exclusively the result of socialization, such as early morality. Temperament constructs bring cognitive and emotional processes together and integrate them with an understanding of basic psychological and brain mechanisms. This chapter argues that recent advances in the field allow us to make rich connections with animal studies and affective neuroscience, research in social development, and research on adult temperament and personality. At the same time our field has suffered some growing pains, and some of these problems are considered here. The chapter concludes with some promising directions for the future.