Temperament

These are the parts of your character that you have at birth, rather than the aspects of you that have been learned on your way through life. Below are the nine different types of temperament that Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess came up with from their study of children in the 1950s.

1. Activity: how much movement do you do, and how much energy do you have?
2. Distractibility: how much do things that happen around you distract you or change the direction of your actions?
3. Responsiveness: how much stimulation do you need to have before you have a response to something?
4. Mood: how would you describe your general mood – cheerful or glum?
5. Attention span: how long can you keep your focus on a subject before your attention is diverted elsewhere?
6. Biological rhythm: how regular are you with sleeping, feeding and visits to the toilet, etc.?
7. Adaptability: how easy is it for you to adapt to change?
8. Initial reaction: how do you respond to new situations and new people – are you curious or withdrawn?
9. Sensitivity: how strongly do you react to different situations?

Where would you place yourself on a scale between highly activity vs inactive? Easily distracted vs fully focused? Curious vs hesitant? Eager vs withdrawn? Adaptable vs inflexible? High attention span vs low attention span? Very regular vs irregular? Responsive vs unresponsive? Positive outlook vs negative outlook? Overly sensitive vs insensitive?

Remember there is no right or wrong answers to these questions. This is all about gaining information that can help us to create insights about ourselves.