Personality and temperament

Personality can be measured using standard instruments such as:

• Big Five Inventory (BFI)
• International Personality Item Pool (IPIP)
• Midlife Development Inventory
• Eysenck’s Personality Inventory (EPI)

Standard measurements of personality are mostly based on the widely supported dimensions of personality known as the OCEAN traits, the ‘Big Five’, or the ‘Five Factor Model’. These are:

• Openness: refers to the willingness to try new things as well as to engage in imaginative and intellectual activities. It includes the ability to “think outside of the box.” Open people will enjoy learning new things, be curious and have a wide range of interests. A more closed person may dislike change, be less imaginative and resist new ideas.
• Conscientiousness: refers to a person’s ability to regulate their impulse control to engage in goal-directed behaviours. It measures elements such as control, inhibition, and persistence of behaviour. Individuals scoring highly on conscientiousness are more likely to be organised, hardworking, and goal driven, and those with a low score may be more impulsive, messy, and perhaps irrational.
• Extraversion: this reflects the extent of and intensity with which individuals seek interaction with their environment, particularly socially. It encompasses the comfort and assertiveness levels of people in social situations. Extraverts will be more likely to seek excitement, enjoy being around others, and be more outgoing; introverts may avoid large groups and situations that involve making small talk.
• Agreeableness: this focuses on people’s orientation and interactions with others, and how kind and helpful they are. It encompasses trust, altruism, and prosocial behaviours. Those scoring highly tend to be more cooperative and compassionate; those scoring low on agreeableness may take little interest in others or be more competitive and stubborn.
• Neuroticism: refers to the overall emotional stability of an individual. It considers how likely a person is to interpret events as threatening or difficult. It is characterised by sadness, moodiness, and emotional instability. By contrast, individuals who score low on neuroticism tend to be more relaxed, less emotionally reactive, and more optimistic.

There are a number of different definitions of temperament (in part depending on the age at which it is assessed), and a range of instruments have been designed to assess aspects of temperament in infancy and childhood. We have included all standard instruments of temperament on the Catalogue, and used these to identify non-standard items as well. Examples of these include:

Infant Behaviour Questionnaire (3-12 months):

• Activity level: movement of arms and legs, squirming and locomotor activity.
• Distress to limitations: fussing, crying, or showing distress when in a confining place or position.
• Soothability: the extent to which the infant/child’s fussing, crying, or distress reduces when the caretaker uses soothing techniques.

Early Childhood Questionnaire (18-36 months):

• Activity/energy level: the rate and intensity of gross motor activity.
• Fear: negative affect, including unease, worry or nervousness related to anticipated distress or perceived threatening situations.
• Shyness: slow or inhibited approach and/or discomfort in social situations involving novelty or uncertainty; versus sociability, for example, seeking and taking pleasure in interactions with others.

Children’s Behaviour Questionnaire (3-7 years):

• Inhibitory control: the capacity to plan and to suppress inappropriate responses in novel or uncertain situations.
• Sadness: the amount of negative affect and lowered mood and energy related to exposure to suffering, disappointment, and loss.
• Anger/frustration: the amount of negative affect expressed when tasks are interrupted or goals are blocked.

The Emotionality, Activity and Sociability (EAS) Scale measures similar temperamental dimensions as those listed above, and we therefore also considered this instrument’s dimensions when identifying non-standard items from studies across the Catalogue. The EAS is designed to identify heritable temperamental traits at any age but is generally used during childhood.

The EAS establishes three main dimensions of temperament:

• Emotionality: an individual’s emotional reaction to environmental stimuli.
• Activity: an individual’s level of energy.
• Sociability: an individual’s level of comfort around, and interaction with, other people.

This is not an exhaustive list but demonstrates the types of measures and dimensions of temperament included on the Catalogue.