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PERIOD: 6-11 years RESEARCH: Kagan, J., Reznick, J.S., & Gibbons, J. (1989.) Inhibited and uninhibited types of children, Child Development, 60, 838-45. Kagan, Jerome. (1994.) Galen's prophecy. New York: Basic Books. Jerome Kagan has been studying human development since 1964 and is one of the most respected scholars in the areas of children's cognitive, social, and emotional development. He is currently the Daniel and Amy Starch Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. For the past 16 years, Kagan has been studying temperamental dispositions that are inherited by infants. The two categories he has studied extensively are shy/timid/cautious children and bold/outgoing/sociable children. He has studied the way in which culture influences these inborn characteristics. Over the past 35 years, Kagan has studied various aspects in the emergence of shyness or sociability with various colleagues and graduate students. In research he conducted with Reznick and Gibbons in 1989, 100 children were observed at 14, 20, 32, and 48 months in unfamiliar rooms with unfamiliar objects, people, and events. They studied several major factors that distinguish between inhibited and uninhibited behaviour: hesitancy in approaching unfamiliar objects, time spent near the mother, and spontaneous speech with other children or adults. Observation and recording of these behaviours can form an index of inhibition that measures the degree of shyness or sociability in toddlers and children. Kagan and his colleagues found that there was consistency in either inhibited or uninhibited behaviour only for those toddlers who fell in the upper or lower 15 to 20 percent of the index of inhibition in the second year. Furthermore, this early temperamental quality predicted how restrained these children would be in talking or playing with unfamiliar children when they were 5 ½ to 6 years old. This restraint was found to continue through middle school into high school. This finding supported the claim that there is a powerful link between restraint of spontaneous speech with unfamiliar people and a temperamental bias to be inhibited. Despite the fact that this research has been going on for over 30 years, Kagan's work currently has a growing impact on our understanding of parenting and temperament. His research has shown that we each inherit a physiology and inborn disposition that, in turn, affect our moods. About 15 percent of children are born with a physiology that predisposes them to be shy when they meet new children or adults or go to unfamiliar places. Another 15 percent are uninhibited--they seem to be fearless in meeting new people and going places. However, these qualities may not be permanent. Genetics is not destiny--it merely gives a push to behaviour. The current importance of Kagan's research is in discovering ways that parents, teachers, and counsellors may help children to modify these inhibited behaviours. As Kagan writes: "There's nothing permanent. Children don't like to be shy and fearful. They try to change. Many parents don't like such children. They goad them. They try to get them to overcome their fears. These attempts are often successful." There are many things that parents blame themselves for in their children's lives today. Kagan states that parents often blame themselves for having a shy child--as though something they did inhibited their child. In a culture such as ours, where everyone hopes for the "perfect" child, it is important for parents, teachers, and shy children themselves to recognize that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the shy temperament. It is simply the way that child is. As Kagan notes, such behaviour can be changed if it is really bothersome. However, if the parents remain unbothered by this behaviour, there is nothing to suggest that a shy child will ultimately be any less intelligent or successful in life than an extraverted child. Web sites: http://www.temperament.com/ http://www.shyness.com/ http://www.hmcnet.harvard.edu/psych/redbook/83.htm
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