Temperaments can change, especially when children are very young and still having their first experiences and interactions with people and situations. But by the time they reach school age, their temperaments are fairly well-defined.
However, it is also now recognized that temperament can show substantial rank-order change over time. Understanding the degree and nature of this change in temperament over time is important for several reasons.
You can't change your child's temperament. Your child is who they are, and that's great. But you can nurture your child's development by adapting your parenting to your child's temperament. You can help your child develop the positive parts of their temperament.
Choleric: This is the rarest temperament, especially for women. People who fall into this group are more task-oriented than people oriented; they're driven by results. Most Cholerics are confident, independent, and like to work alone rather than in a group.
For the most part, temperament is an innate quality of the child, one with which he is born. It is somewhat modified (particularly in the early years of life) by his experiences and interactions with other people, with his environment and by his health.
Scientists estimate that 20 to 60 percent of temperament is determined by genetics. Temperament, however, does not have a clear pattern of inheritance and there are not specific genes that confer specific temperamental traits.
Temperamental stability may increase over time. Using test-retest correlation, Roberts and Del Vecchio (2000) found that correlation coefficients for consistency increased from a mean of 0.31 in childhood to 0.54 in early adulthood (college years), to 0.64 at age 30. This rose to 0.74 for those aged 50 – 70.
The temperaments are determined by the balance of these emotions. For example, the choleric temperament is more prone to anger than the other temperaments.
For women, however, the rarest personality type is INTJ and ENTJ. Just 1% of women type as INTJ and ENTJ respectively. Among women, INFJ is only the third rarest personality type with approximately 2% of women categorized as INFJ. Both INTJ women and ENTJ women are extremely rare in the general population.
For example, highly intense people can be attracted to people who seem calm. While low intensity individuals tend to be attracted to people who are energized and bring forth what they lack. The two polar opposites tend to avoid each other, but it's a natural attraction to find someone that fills those "little" gaps.
Temperament may have a genetic link, while personality is formed from life situations. In this sense, your temperament tends to stay the same throughout life while your personality can change.
Although people with melancholic temperaments may tend to keep their emotions guarded, they can still be emotional individuals. They may be the most emotional of all the temperament types.
Further research has linked trauma to quantifiable changes in personality. In a comparison of late-onset personality pathology due to wartime trauma with prior personality disorders, 24.3% of patients had a personality disorder develop only after exposure to catastrophic events.
A person's temperament is how they behave and represent themselves based on personality traits and impactful experiences. Temperament remains constant and serves as a means to help you determine how you will react to situations. It's a way to recognize consistent personality traits.
The traits of temperament are mostly innate traits that we are born with, although they can be influenced by an individual's family, culture or their experiences. A person's temperament style plays a role in how they behave and interact with other people and within their world.
ESFJ. Those who are extroverted, sensing, feeling, and judging are often identified as one of the kindest types by experts. "ESFJs have extroverted feeling as a dominant cognitive function," Gonzalez-Berrios says. "This makes them rule by their hearts.
Which Types Ranked as the Least Happy? Sadly, INFPs ranked the lowest for happiness as well as the lowest for life-satisfaction. According to the third edition of the MBTI® Manual, these types also ranked second highest in dissatisfaction with their marriages and intimate relationships.
The INFJ. The INFJ is one of the rarest and most misunderstood personality types. These types are often seen as mysterious, daydreamy, and even confusing.
The Type A personality is characteristically impatient, but any of the types can tend towards impatience. (Read more about the four overall personality types.)
In this schema, the choleric and melancholic are characterized by strong emotion (unstable) in contrast to the sanguine and phlegmatic that are characterized by weak emotions (stable).
A phlegmatic is the most stable temperament. They are calm, easy-going, and they don't have emotional outbursts, exaggerated feelings, unforgiveness, or bitterness. A phlegmatic personality tends to be quiet and peaceful and they are sympathetic and care about the emotions of others.
This ability develops rapidly in the first four years of life, with marked improvements occurring in the third year.
New research indicates that our personalities become increasingly stable as our 20s melt into our 30s, 40s and even 50s, but that that stability then often begins to taper off in old age, Research Digest reports.
According to a new study, the relationship between happiness and personality is more complex than we thought. Extraverts are happier, and so are the emotionally stable, personality researchers tell us. It also pays to be more open to new experiences, more agreeable, and more conscientious.
The “mix” between parents' and children's temperaments has a strong effect on family life, sometimes leading to positive interactions, sometimes to frustrations, and sometimes even to conflicts.