Measuring Temperament in Developmental Research: A Thin-Slice Approach to Capturing Temperament in Infants and Toddlers
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| Title: | Measuring Temperament in Developmental Research: A Thin-Slice Approach to Capturing Temperament in Infants and Toddlers |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Sarah C. Kucker (ORCID |
| Source: | Developmental Psychology. 2025 61(1):168-178. |
| Availability: | American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 11 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: | Personality Assessment, Test Validity, Test Reliability, Infants, Toddlers, Personality Traits, Language Skills, Measures (Individuals), Child Behavior, Research Methodology, Caregiver Attitudes, Laboratory Experiments, Evaluation Methods |
| Assessment and Survey Identifiers: | MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories |
| DOI: | 10.1037/dev0001866 |
| ISSN: | 0012-1649 1939-0599 |
| Abstract: | Temperament is a key factor in early development and predicts several key developmental outcomes. The ability to capture temperament in a variety of settings and ages is thus increasingly useful. Recent work has demonstrated the utility, reliability, and validity of thin-slice assessments in which brief snapshots of children's behavior are used to make inferences about general traits (Tackett et al., 2016). Thin-slice has been effective for assessing personality in older children (over 7-years; Tackett et al., 2016, 2017) and preschoolers 3-6 years old (Whalen et al., 2021) when engaging in lab tasks or clinical assessments. However, no work has examined the use of thin-slice for temperament in younger, typically developing infants/toddlers during lab-based tasks. The present study aims to test a downward extension of a modified thin-slice approach to assess temperament using archived videos of 516 infants/toddlers (n[subscript female] = 255; M[subscript age] = 27.51 months, Range[subscript age] = 17-47 months). Children were originally recruited from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds across the central United States and completed a short play session, which incorporated standard language and cognition tasks that were not designed to elicit temperament; caregivers also reported their children's temperament using the Early Child Behavior Questionnaire (Putnam & Rothbart, 2006). Naive raters scored the videos using a modification of the thin-slice approach. We find evidence of good reliability and validity for temperament scores using this approach suggesting thin-slice assessments are another method for measuring temperament in infants and toddlers. Moreover, thin-slice allows for post assessment of temperament even when it had not been formally assessed. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Notes: | https://osf.io/jex53/?view_only=69007e0513e54f3fa7f3ac792ea67f34 |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1502236 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Temperament is a key factor in early development and predicts several key developmental outcomes. The ability to capture temperament in a variety of settings and ages is thus increasingly useful. Recent work has demonstrated the utility, reliability, and validity of thin-slice assessments in which brief snapshots of children's behavior are used to make inferences about general traits (Tackett et al., 2016). Thin-slice has been effective for assessing personality in older children (over 7-years; Tackett et al., 2016, 2017) and preschoolers 3-6 years old (Whalen et al., 2021) when engaging in lab tasks or clinical assessments. However, no work has examined the use of thin-slice for temperament in younger, typically developing infants/toddlers during lab-based tasks. The present study aims to test a downward extension of a modified thin-slice approach to assess temperament using archived videos of 516 infants/toddlers (n[subscript female] = 255; M[subscript age] = 27.51 months, Range[subscript age] = 17-47 months). Children were originally recruited from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds across the central United States and completed a short play session, which incorporated standard language and cognition tasks that were not designed to elicit temperament; caregivers also reported their children's temperament using the Early Child Behavior Questionnaire (Putnam & Rothbart, 2006). Naive raters scored the videos using a modification of the thin-slice approach. We find evidence of good reliability and validity for temperament scores using this approach suggesting thin-slice assessments are another method for measuring temperament in infants and toddlers. Moreover, thin-slice allows for post assessment of temperament even when it had not been formally assessed. |
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| ISSN: | 0012-1649 1939-0599 |
| DOI: | 10.1037/dev0001866 |
