ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the concept of temperament and emotion and considers how these concepts are commonly defined. Assessment of temperament is generally done during infancy, a time when stable traits predictive of later behavior are identified. Nine dimensions of temperament were identified during the New York Longitudinal Study (NYLS). The dimensions include activity level, adaptability, approach to or from new stimuli, sensory threshold, distractibility, persistence/attention span, rhythmicity of biological function, and predominant quality of mood. Theorists agree neither on a universal definition of temperament nor on the traits or dimensions that make up temperament. Some temperament measures have been developed to identify infants with difficult temperaments, and other scales are used to assess the relationship between early temperament and social and cognitive development. Three methods are used to measure infant temperament: parent reports, infant observations at home, and observations in controlled laboratory situations. Measures of infant emotion have primarily focused on assessing emotional availability and emotional regulation within caregiver-infant interactions.
