#278 Jerome Kagan: Temperament, Feelings, Emotions, and Personality
RECORDED ON OCTOBER 23rd, 2019.
Dr. Jerome Kagan is Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Harvard University. Professor Kagan’s research, on the cognitive and emotional development of a child during the first decade of life, focuses on the origins of temperament. He has tracked the development of inhibited and uninhibited children from infancy to adolescence. Dr. Kagan’s research indicates that shyness and other temperamental differences in adults and children have both environmental and genetic influences. A shy adult is more likely to have been high-reactive (fearful) in infancy and childhood than their bold and sociable counterparts, who were most likely low-reactive. He has served on the National Institute of Mental Health and on the National Research Council. His books include Galen’s Prophecy: Temperament in Human Nature and Three Seductive Ideas.
In this episode, we focus mostly on the study of temperament. We talk about what temperament is, what temperamental traits are, and the reactivity trait. We also distinguish between feelings and emotions, and how emotions are culturally constructed. We discuss the relationship between temperament, feelings, moods, worldviews, and personality traits. Dr. Kagan explains why the second year of life is so important in human development, and the kinds of traits that distinguish us from other primates – inference, language, morality, and self-consciousness. Finally, we talk about how the words we use for emotions might contaminate psychological research, how to improve the ways we study feelings, and how culture influences emotions.
Time Links:
What is temperament?
The limitations with studying temperament
Reactivity
The distinction between feelings and emotions
The relationship between temperament, feelings, moods, and worldviews
Can people change their temperament?
About personality
The importance of the second year of life
How the words we use for emotions might contaminate psychological research
How to study feelings in a more objective manner
Emotions in a cultural context
How psychology can make more rapid progress
Follow Dr. Kagan’s work:
Faculty page: http://bit.ly/2kjxKNc
ResearchGate profile: http://bit.ly/2Jflarq
Amazon page: https://amzn.to/2lyDB1g
The Temperamental Thread: How Genes, Culture, Time and Luck make Us Who We Are: https://amzn.to/2N3Sgvz
Three Seductive Ideas: https://amzn.to/2JhJdpD
The Second Year: https://amzn.to/31DoHWP
Galen’s Prophecy: Temperament In Human Nature: https://amzn.to/31Bngs5