Second, reactive temperament contains a variety of subtypes, such as fear, shyness, anger/frustration, sadness and so on.
Children with a fearful temperament tend to show inhibition, fear, and distress in response to new objects, situations, and people. To unravel the development of childhood anxiety, it is relevant to explore the development of its precursors, such as a fearful temperament (Dougherty et al., 2013. (2013).
Behavioral inhibition: the cautious/fearful child
Behavioral inhibition is a specific temperament trait first identified and described by Jerome Kagan in the 80's. Children with an inhibited temperament are cautious, restrained and even fearful in response to unfamiliar people, objects and situations.
The word “temperament” refers to the way we approach and react to the world. It is our own personal “style” and is present from birth. There are three general types of temperaments: easy-going, slow-to- warm, and active.
Active or feisty: Children with this temperament may be very active, fussy, and have intense positive or negative reactions to a variety of situations. They may also have irregular sleeping and eating habits.
The four temperaments described individuals as sanguine (optimistic, social, and associated with the element of air), melancholic (analytical, quiet, earth), choleric (short-tempered, irritable, fire), and phlegmatic (relaxed, peaceful, water) (Buckingham, 2002).
Difficult temperament describes children who are characterized by negative mood, withdrawal, low adaptability, high intensity, and low regularity (Thomas, Chess, Birch, Hertzig & Korn, 1963).
Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess, researchers, found that temperament is influenced by nine temperament traits: activity, regularity, initial reaction, adaptability, intensity, mood, distractibility, persistence-attention span, and sensory threshold.
Cholerics are of the opinion and belief that they know what is best for those around them, and what is acceptable behavior according to them. They have a severe problem with anger; “the angry temperament”. Cholerics have a tendency to seldom express other emotions such as love, tenderness, warmth and compassion.
History of the Four Interaction Styles
Such holistic sorting of behavior patterns has been recorded for at least twenty-five centuries. Ancient philosophers described four dispositions called temperaments—a choleric, a phlegmatic, a melancholic, and a sanguine temperament.
fearful, apprehensive, afraid mean disturbed by fear. fearful implies often a timorous or worrying temperament. the child is fearful of loud noises. apprehensive suggests a state of mind and implies a premonition of evil or danger.
Research has indicated that individuals with high emotional reactivity (high neuroticism) and introverted tendencies (low extroversion) are more likely to experience anxiety than other personality types [101].
Frequent, intense fear responses when there is not an actual threat can be a sign of anxiety. If you find that you avoid situations that are not actually dangerous due to fear, get into frequent arguments, or put others' wants and needs ahead of your own to your detriment, you might be experiencing fear responses.
A fearless person is someone who's aware, objective, and realistic. They're unconventional, self-confident, and mindful. They're thankful, but they know when to relish control.
Most fears are a normal, natural part of childhood. However, if a child is afraid all the time, or has fears that stop them from having fun or interfere with their daily life, this could be a sign of anxiety and it may be time to get some professional help.
Sanguine: Sociable in temperament, the 'sanguine' child will also be playful, talkative, lively, and imaginative. You may notice a flair for arts and crafts and a real inquisitive nature in a child possessing sanguine-like characteristics.
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. Their heightened, ever-changing emotions can cause their mood to take a quick turn.
Probably the best that can be said is that it is easiest to make the case for the INFP, INTP, or ISTP as the most introverted personality type.
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.
INFJ is the rarest personality type across the population, occurring in just 2% of the population. It is also the rarest personality type among men. INFJ stands for Introversion, Intuition, Feeling, and Judging. This unique combination is hard to find in most people.
Within the personality field, Eysenck's influential Big Three model defines three core personality traits: extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism.
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.
The Phlegmatic is the most stubborn of all the temperaments when it comes to making changes.
NE is characterized by a tendency to experience negative emotions such as sadness, anxiety, fear, and anger. PE and NE are hypothesized to be orthogonal dimensions (Clark & Watson, 1999; Watson & Tellegen, 1985); therefore, an individual can be high or low on one, the other, or both.
Sanguine
The most common temperament style, it can be found in men and women equally. Sanguine are usually people-oriented, outgoing, extroverted, talkative, and social. They are also the ones who do good things to others and encourage them to work in a team.