What is temperament?

What does temperament mean in psychology?

In research use, temperament is a specific and fairly narrow idea. It means the individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation that appear early in life, rest on biology, and are then shaped over time by experience (Rothbart, 2007). Reactivity is how quickly and how strongly someone responds: how easily a baby is startled, how readily a toddler approaches a stranger. Self-regulation is what a person can do about that response: how well attention shifts away from something distressing, how long an impulse can be held before it is acted on.

Both halves matter. A child who reacts strongly but regulates well looks different from a child who reacts strongly and regulates poorly, even though the raw reactivity is the same. That pairing is the core of the modern definition, and it is why temperament research talks about dimensions rather than a single trait called excitability or calmness.

What are the main dimensions of temperament?

Temperament researchers generally work with a small number of broad dimensions rather than a type or a box. Three come up again and again in the literature that traces temperament through to adult personality (Rothbart, 2007). Effortful control is the capacity to focus and shift attention on purpose, to inhibit an impulse, and to plan; it is tied to the brain networks that support executive attention. Negative affectivity is the ease and intensity of distress, fear, sadness and frustration. Surgency is the pull toward approach, activity and pleasure: how much a person seeks stimulation and enjoys it once they find it.

None of the three maps onto its adult trait with perfect precision, and the mapping is a reading rather than a strict equation. It shows that the constructs used to describe a two-year-old and a forty-year-old are recognisably the same family of differences, measured with different tools at different ages.

How does temperament relate to adult personality traits?

Childhood temperament and adult personality are continuous with one another rather than separate. Individual differences in temperament that are visible early can be measured reliably and organised into a taxonomy, and the processes by which they are elaborated into adult personality structure are describable, even where the research on those processes still has gaps (Shiner & Caspi, 2003). A child who reacts strongly and regulates well does not stop being that kind of person at eighteen. The reaction and the regulation get folded into habits, self-concept, relationships and work, and what started as temperament becomes recognisable as personality.

That continuity is partial, not total. Shiner and Caspi's review also connects early temperament differences to later outcomes into adulthood, one reason researchers keep tracking temperament past infancy (Shiner & Caspi, 2003). Temperament is a starting position. It shapes what comes next without fixing the outcome.

Is temperament the same as the four humours?

In everyday speech, temperament usually means something closer to the old theory of the four humours: sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic, a scheme built by Hippocratic and Galenic medicine out of four bodily fluids. That theory is folk history now, not a live model in psychology, but the words survive because people found the descriptions recognisable. The full history of that scheme is worth reading if you want to see where the four boxes came from and what they got right.

The research use and the everyday use share a subject but not a method. Personality description converges on a handful of broad factors built from how people actually differ, not four and not two (Goldberg, 1993). And when a type scheme is checked against trait measures directly, the pattern underneath behaves as continuous dimensions with people spread along them, not separate boxes with real gaps between them (McCrae & Costa, 1989). A four-way split can be a handy shorthand, but it is a coarse reading of dimensions research measures far more finely.

How is temperament different from personality?

Temperament is the earlier and narrower term. It covers the biologically grounded differences in reactivity and self-regulation visible from infancy (Rothbart, 2007). Personality is the fuller adult pattern those differences grow into, once habits, values, self-concept and a lifetime of experience are folded in on top. Two children with similar early temperaments can grow into adults with different personalities, because temperament sets a starting range rather than a fixed script (Shiner & Caspi, 2003).

For a side-by-side comparison of the two terms, see personality versus temperament. For the broader question of what personality itself means, see what is personality.

How does Wellington measure this?

Wellington is a science-based personality assessment from Therabot Labs LLC. It measures personality as continuous traits, built on the Big Five and HEXACO models, and writes the results back as a personal report rather than a type.

Wellington does not report a temperament, since that is a childhood construct. It measures the adult traits research connects to temperament: the free Snapshot asks 60 questions, takes about 7 minutes, and scores 6 dimensions, the Big Five and Honesty-Humility, including Extraversion, Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability, the traits surgency, effortful control and negative affectivity grow into. You answer the first ten questions straight away, then sign in with an email so your answers are saved. There is no card.

Every trait is reported as a percentile against the reference sample. The three bands, Quiet below the 30th percentile, Balanced to the 70th, High above, and the Portrait names built from them exist to make the result easier to talk about; the percentile is the measurement, and it is always shown alongside. Norms stay provisional until the norming sample is complete.

The Wellington Membership adds the Portrait, 336 questions in 4 chapters, to reach 90 traits, including every facet beneath the six dimensions and the 24 VIA character strengths. See how the scores are built in the methodology. Wellington is a wellness tool for reflection, not a medical or psychological diagnosis, and it does not replace care from a qualified professional. It is not designed for hiring, and you can export or delete your data at any time.

Questions people ask

What is the simplest definition of temperament?

Temperament is the set of individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation that appear early in life, rest on biology, and are then shaped by experience (Rothbart, 2007). Reactivity is how strongly someone responds to what happens; self-regulation is what they can do about that response. Together the two describe a starting disposition rather than a fixed script.

Is temperament the same as personality?

No, though the two are continuous with one another. Temperament is the earlier, narrower term for biologically grounded reactivity and self-regulation visible in childhood. Personality is the fuller adult pattern those differences grow into once habits, values and life experience are added (Shiner & Caspi, 2003). See personality versus temperament for the full comparison.

Are the four temperaments, sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic, still used in psychology?

Not as a working model. The four humours were a piece of ancient medicine, not a theory built from measured differences between people. Personality description converges on a small set of broad factors built from how people actually differ (Goldberg, 1993), and checking a four-way split against trait measures shows continuous dimensions underneath, not separate boxes (McCrae & Costa, 1989).

Can temperament change over time?

The early pattern is a starting position, not a fixed outcome. Childhood differences in reactivity and self-regulation can be measured reliably, and the processes that carry them into adult personality leave room for change along the way (Shiner & Caspi, 2003). What changes most is how the underlying reactivity gets expressed and managed, not the raw sensitivity itself.

Does Wellington measure temperament?

It measures the adult traits temperament research connects to childhood dimensions, mainly Extraversion, Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability, not temperament itself, which researchers use for children. The free Snapshot scores those alongside Agreeableness, Openness to Experience and Honesty-Humility, each shown as a percentile with a band and a Portrait name.