The Phenomenon of Inborn Temperament


           Since the end of World War II, a small number of scientists in various parts of the world have been
working on the issue of inborn components to personality. And a very great deal of progress has been
made on this subject. Specifically, temperament can be defined as those elements of personality that are
inborn, whereas personality can be defined as representing those comparatively stable elements of our
behavior patterns that are learned.
        Up to now, the five most important researchers on this subject have been (1) Hans J. Eysenck of
the University of London, (2) Alexander Thomas of New York University, (3) Jerome Kagan of Harvard
University, (4) Thomas J. Bouchard’s University of Minnesota study on identical twins reared apart, and
(5) David V. Sheehan’s work on “anxiety disease”, This chapter will endeavor to present the prime
essence of their findings. I believe that their work holds indispensable significance for any truly valid
and meaningful understanding of love-shyness. In the absence of an understanding of inborn
temperament or of the genetic/biological basis of human personality differences, one cannot pretend
to any reasoned understanding as to how love-shyness (or any other kind of shyness) develops. Without
an accurate understanding as to how shyness develops, there can be no hope of effectively preventing
the phenomenon from developing in the first place. And there can be no truly viable means of therapy.

Puppies and Babies

        For many generations obstetrical nurses and midwives have known that all people are not born
alike in terms of personality. A person can observe a large number of newborn babies, all of which are of
the same gender. And he or she will quickly notice that some of the infants cry a great deal more than
others do. Some are exceedingly noisy whereas others tend to be remarkably quiet. Some infants wriggle
around a very great deal and are quite restless. Others, on the other hand, tend to remain near motionless
over long periods of time.
        These and myriad other differences in behavioral reactions cannot be attributed to differences in
quality of mothering, cleanliness care, medical attention, feeding, or gender. Environmental and learning-
related factors have been carefully controlled by many different researchers. Yet no matter how carefully
the various extraneous factors are controlled, male babies of the same very young age behave very
differently from one another. And indeed the same applies to female babies of the same very young age.
The important point is that these quite substantial differences in behavioral reactions have been
observed in healthy, well-loved and cared for infants long before any differential learning could possibly
have taken place.
        Psychologists, despite the widespread unwillingness among them to recognize the phenomena of
inborn temperament in humans, often raise strains of white rats and mice for high aggression or low
aggression, friendliness or seclusiveness, high versus low intelligence, etc. Psychologists’ rat
experiments often call for rats with a certain type of inborn temperament. Animals with the sort of native
temperament appropos to experimental requirements are often bread; this can be accomplished rather
easily in view of the comparatively short lifespan that characterizes the rat.
        Doubtless many readers of this book have a strong interest in dogs. And whereas there is a
variety of differences in modal temperament among the 125 A.K.C. recognized canine breeds, a person
can take any one of these breeds and find highly substantial differences in temperament among the
puppies of a newly born litter. For example, take a litter of newly born golden retrievers. Right at the
outset some of the dogs will behave more assertively than others. Some will behave more sociably and
fearlessly than others. Generally speaking the more assertive animals will get more food. And so after a
comparatively brief period of time they will appear larger and healthier than their same-sexed litter mates.
        Most dog manuals recommend that dog purchasers deliberately select the largest, most highly
assertive, sociable animal from within a litter. It is believed that such a puppy has a head start towards
developing into a happy, healthy animal--an animal that will adapt well to life among humans. In
psychological terms it can be said that the highly sociable member of the litter has a strongly positive
social stimulus value vis-a-vis the educated humans who are trying to make a decision as to which
member to purchase of the seven or eight member litter. This concept of social stimulus value is of
enormous importance from the stand-point of enabling us to correctly understand the development of
chronic love-shyness in humans. And I shall return to this matter shortly.