Aim: To discover whether individuals are constant in ways they respond to the environmnet throughout life.
Method: They studied 133 children form infancy to early adulthood. The childrens behaviour was observedand their parents interviewed. The parents were asked about their child's routine and reaction to change.
Results: They found that the children fell into 3 types: easy, difficult and slow to warm up to. The easy children were happy, flexible and regular. The difficult children were demanding, inflexible and cried a lot. The slow to warm up to children did not respond well to change to begin with but once they adapted they were usually happy.
Conclusion: These ways of responding to the environment stayed with the children as they developed. They therefor concluded that temperament is innnate.
Evaluation
Can't generalise to other social classes as all children where from mid-class and lived in NY. Parents may have been biased to their childrens behaviour. longitudinal study.
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