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Sanguine and Melancholic Temperaments in Children
By Martha Ellis, Ph.D.
Collin County Community College
McKinney, TX
- This update is provided courtesy of APA's Community College Working Group. It is based on the work of: Kagan, J. (Dept. of Psychology, Harvard University) (1996). Sanguine and melancholic temperaments in children. The Harvard Mental Health Newsletter, 13, 4, 4-6.
With advances in neuroscience and long-term child development studies, the concept of temperament is once again being employed to describe children's physiological, emotional, and behavioral characteristics that are under genetic influence. The author relates uninhibited and inhibited personality types to the sanguine (sociable, confident, and fearless) and melancholic (anxious, sad, and timid) types first described by the Greek physician Galen of Pergamon.
Kagan studied healthy four-month-old infants finding 40% are uninhibited (low fear and extroverted) and 20% are inhibited (fearful, subdued, and introverted). By age five, 20% of each of the aforementioned groups maintained the temperament exhibited at four months of age.
The author describes physiological characteristics that differentiate groups of uninhibited and inhibited infants. Kagan suggests that uninhibited and inhibited infants may differ in the neurochemistry of the amygdala (the part of the brain's limbic system that governs emotional reactions). The author and his colleagues have found that uninhibited and inhibited infants differ in the physical responses of the sympathetic nervous system. The influence of the messages from the limbic system on the sympathetic nervous system may lead to increased heart rate and other physical symptoms of fear. Throughout infancy, the inhibited children have higher heart rates while sleeping, rises in blood pressure and larger dilations of the pupils than uninhibited children. Kagan has found that the heart rate of a fetus three weeks prior to birth predicts high (inhibited) or low (uninhibited) reactivity at four months.
The implications for mental health of children who are consistently inhibited during their first five years include a higher risk of developing anxiety disorders encompassing social phobias, panic disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Children who are consistently uninhibited show little fear and high exhilaration. Raised in an environment with few controls or with higher provocations for violence, these uninhibited children have a higher risk of delinquency and violence. Although genetic inheritance influences development, the contribution of environment on children is also an important influence as evidenced by the finding that only 20% of either the uninhibited or inhibited children develop prototypical sanguine and melancholic personalities.
Possible activities for Introductory Psychology students:
- When the topic of nature vs. nurture is introduced, read the following statements (or develop some of your own):
- A person's genetic inheritance determines his/her personality;
- The socioeconomic environment in which a person is raised determines his/her personality;
- What you are born with is more important than where you are born;
- The combination of genetics and environment impacts personality development.
- Have students move within the room to stand under signs that represent their opinion of these statements (such as "strongly agree", "agree", "disagree", and "strongly disagree"). Briefly have one or two students who are standing under each response sign explain why they chose that response. Repeat this process for each of the statements.
- Following this exercise, distribute copies of Kagan's article and Eysenck's article that appears in this issue of PTN. Have students write a reaction paper to these articles discussing what they have learned including what the authors are proposing to be genetically predisposed and what questions are left unanswered by these articles. At the beginning of the next class period, have students break into small groups and discuss their papers. While in their groups, have them compile a list of environmental factors that influence personality development. Have each group report back to the class.
The above article was originally published in the March/April 1997 issue of The Psychology Teacher Network. The article is reprinted here with the permission of the Education Directorate of the APA. Further publication of the article is not permitted without the express written consent of the Education Directorate.
For information on subscribing to The Psychology Teacher Network, write to:
- Psychology Teacher Network
Education Directorate
APA
750 First Street, NE,
Washington, DC 20002-4242
