Tamis-LeMonda-05-14-2021-7

Social and Cultural Contexts of Emotional Development and Temperament 263

What accounts for stability from early to later temperament? The answer lies in the interaction between a child’s biology and environmental experiences. The term evocative effects refers to a type of gene-environment association (see Chapter 2) in which a child’s inherited characteristics evoke strong responses from others that strengthen the child’s characteristics. For example, an infant may become highly distressed when being changed, meeting new people, hearing loud noises, being put down to sleep, and so forth. The infant’s negativity can make it difficult for parents to interact sensitively and calmly. If the infant’s parents become irritable and abrupt in their interactions, the infant’s negativity may strengthen over time. CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING 7.11 1. What evidence suggests that temperament is stable? 2. Provide an example of how biological factors may interact with experience to influence temperament over time. ✓

Infant Temperament Negative reactivity Orienting regulation Effortful control Surgency

Adult Personality: Big Five Openness to experience Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism

FIGURE 7.14 Toddler temperament predicts adulthood traits. Mary Rothbart and colleagues identified stability from early temperament to later personality. The temperament component of negative reactivity predicted adult neuroticism; the temperament component of orienting/regu- lation predicted openness; the temperament component of effortful control predicted consci- entiousness; and the temperament component of surgency predicted extraversion. (After D. E. Evans and M. K. Rothbart. 2007. J Res Pers 41: 868–888.)

Social and Cultural Contexts of Emotional Development and Temperament

Tamis-LeMonda Child Development: Context, Culture, and Cascades 1E Sinauer Associates/OUP Morales Studio TL1e_07.14 04-20-21 goodness of fit The extent to which a person’s temperament matches the requirements, expec- tations, and opportunities of the environment PROPERTY OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS All infants grow in their understanding, expression, and regulation of emotions, and show temperamental differences that are stable over time. However, parenting and cultural contexts continually sculpt infants’ emo- tional development and temperament, thus molding the person an infant will one day become. Contexts of Infant Temperament and Goodness of Fit LEARNING OBJECTIVE 7.12 Explain the concept of goodness of fit and why an infant’s temperament should be studied in the context of social and cultural influences. We learned that temperament is stable. However, this does not mean that an infant’s initial disposition fully determines later personality, or that changes in temperament do not occur. In fact, the strength of associations from early temperament to later outcomes is relatively low (Putnam, Sanson, & Roth- bart, 2002). That’s because many factors contribute to later personality. An infant who is initially high in negative reactivity can eventually learn how to regulate emotions just as an infant who is frightened by unfamiliar situations may eventually welcome new experiences. Indeed, infants’ early experiences and temperament work together to grow a personality (Rothbart, 2007). Social influences on temperament are best understood under the frame- work of goodness of fit —the extent to which a person’s temperament matches the requirements, expectations, and opportunities of the environ- ment (Chess & Thomas, 1991). Specifically, childrearing practices can modify a child’s temperament for better or for worse: harsh parenting can lead to escalating negative reactivity in children just as supportive parenting can teach children how to regulate their negative reactions. Consider how goodness of fit may play out in infants’ everyday experi- ences. Imagine that an infant reacts with high negativity to a new situation, such as a family reunion at an unfamiliar home. If the infant is forced into the arms of strange relatives, the infant’s negative reactions may escalate. In contrast, if the infant is allowed some time to adjust to the new environment, the infant will be more likely to positively engage with others. In the latter evocative effects A type of gene- environment association in which a child’s inherited characteristics evoke strong responses from others that strengthen the child’s characteristics