A Definitive Volume on Temperament

Abstract

Reviews the book, Handbook of temperament edited by Marcel Zentner and Rebecca L. Shiner (see record 2012-22484-000). If you wanted to predict whether a 5-year-old child would have a healthy life, earn a large income or be admitted to Harvard, what data would you use? Would it help most to know their genome, have a brain scan or ask the parent to fill out a temperament questionnaire? Based on the new Handbook of temperament the somewhat surprising answer might be that a temperament measure of effortful control might be the best predictor. It would also save you the one to two thousand dollar cost of the other measures. The major sections of this volume are labeled Foundation, Basic Temperament Traits, Measures of Temperament, Biological Perspectives, Temperament in Context, Clinical and Applied Perspectives and Integration and Outlook, thus this volume covers pretty much all aspects of the field. Temperament scales as derived from observation or questionnaires seem to provide an important summary of human commonalities and differences. There are many issues involved in their collection and interpretation. This book does an admirable job of making clear both the complexity and the opportunities such scales provide. While the casual reader may be put off by the 750 pages and 32 chapters, I would highly recommend it as a rewarding read for the many of us who want to understand how two children raised by the same parents in one culture can differ so much. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)