Waubonsee Community College

The temperamental thread, how genes, culture, time and luck make us who we are, Jerome Kagan

eng

Includes bibliographical references (p. 231-239) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

The temperamental thread

bibliography

465680036

Jerome Kagan

how genes, culture, time and luck make us who we are

Temperament is the single most pervasive fact about us and our fellow travelers in life. We notice it; we gossip about it; we make judgments based on it; we unconsciously shape our lives with it. In this work, the author, a developmental psychologist draws on decades of research to describe the nature of temperament, the in born traits that underlie our responses to experience. Along the way he answers such questions as, How does the temperament we are born with affect the rest of our lives? Are we set at birth on an irrevocable path of optimism or pessimism? Must a fussy baby always become an anxious adult? He paints a picture of temperament as a thread that, when woven with those of life experiences, forms the whole cloth of personality. He presents solid evidence to show how genes, gender, culture, and happenstance contribute to temperament as well as influence and shape a mature personality. He explains how temperament sets the stage for the myriad of personality variations, from the dazzling to the desperate, that we see all around us. Temperament research, powered by the new tools of neuroscience and psychological science, will be an important source of tomorrow's ideas, as well as enriching our understanding of others in every context, from our closest relationships to those in workplaces, schools, and even causal encounters

Introduction : what are human temperaments? -- Reacting to the unexpected -- Experience and inference -- Temperament and gender -- Temperament and ethnicity -- Temperament and mental illness -- What have we learned?