ABSTRACT
In summing up the effects of life events on individuals, the grand old man of personality theory, Gordon Allport, is reported to have said, "The same fire that melts the butter, hardens the egg." This statement puts individual differences in temperament at the center of any attempts to understand the behavior of an individual who is confronted with adversity. For many decades, this approach was attacked both from psychodynamic and behaviorist positions as being excessively particular. It was seen as unhelpful in the development of a general, scientific understanding of behavior.
