…psychologist Jerome Kagan has found that children with pale pigment, in particular children with blue eyes, are far more likely to be shy and inhibited than dark-eyed children. They are the most likely to be fearful of new situations, hesitant in approaching someone, quiet with a new person, and the most likely to stay close to their mothers.

“I am large, I contain multitudes.” -Walt Whitman.

Between reading Susan Cain‘s book Quiet, excerpts from Edge.org‘s not so wonderfully titled This Will Make You Smarter, and analyzing my own Myers Briggs INFJ personality type, I have been contemplating the complexities of human personality and human choice quite a lot in the past few weeks.

Quiet explains that personality is a combination of biologically based temperament and character traits stemming from experience. Introverts are high-reactive and extroverts are low-reactive with regards to external stimuli. Cain focuses on the research of Jerome Kagan to discuss how we all grow into our introvert, extrovert, and ambivert selves. High-reactive children pay “alert attention,” showing higher levels of eye movement to compare choices before making a decision. Often deeper processors of information, high-reactive children typically spend more time on tasks and are also more likely to make the correct selection in the end. I relate to this kind of behavior, myself, and I can’t help but wonder if intensive focus and deep processing shapes as many nonconformists as conformists.

Reward sensitivity is another biological basis for introversion. Extroverts’ dopamine pathways are more active than those of introverts. Introverts have a smaller response to the reward system, it seems.

In This Will Make You Smarter, Evolutionary Psychologist Geoffrey Miller asks us all to rethink how rigidly we define the distinction between Personality and Insanity. Mental disorders are often associated with maladaptive extremes of the “Big Five” personality traits. The “Big Five” personality traits resulting from temperament + character are: 1) openness 2) conscientiousness 3) extroversion 4) agreeableness 5) emotional stability. Extremely low or high levels of these traits predict everything from compulsive disorders, drug addiction, depression, anxiety, and paranoid personality disorder. But as Miller writes, “the new field of positive psychology acknowledges [that] we are all very far from optimal mental health, and we are all more or less crazy in many ways.”

And then I started thinking about the Myers Briggs test and Horoscopes, and how satisfying the answers can be. They both rely on a small set of rather generic pieces of information which are shuffled in different combinations.

But it is important to consider that while re-inventing one’s personality is possible, in part, if new attributes counter one’s natural temperament, it will be exhausting to maintain. This is why Myers Briggs tests give me some solace when they recommend careers that sound like fulfilling and challenging options–but not uncomfortably challenging.

I encourage you to take a closer look at the people you love and pay attention to their natural reactions to stimuli. Consider their parents’, friends’, and former classmates’ character traits. It’s kind of fascinating when you begin to pay closer attention to other people’s biology + values.

I danced to this song as a 6 or 7-year-old. Will never forget it. “Personality” by Lloyd Price.

Image via Wikipedia

I’m continuing with  insights from the article on Highly Sensitive People from Psychology Today.

I feel that many of those with weight issues are highly sensitive to the feelings of others and their surrounding. Maybe that is why certain people are called thin-skinned. When you have thin boundaries, little things and small events can be magnified and “get to you”. 

Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan found that this sensitivity shows up in infants. He said that these infants run the risk of growing up into “inhibited” children who tend to withdraw from experiences as a defence and are at a high risk of anxiety. 

Kagan noted that this sensitivity can be seen in brain imaging studies showing a distinct biological feature: a hyper-responsive amygdala, the brain center that assesses threats and governs the fear response. He goes on to say that unexpected events-from a blizzard to a pop quiz-set off the alarm system embedded in their naturally touchy amygdala, keeping them on the constant lookout for danger.

Being highly sensitive would make a person prone to having anxious feelings about all kinds of situations. If you grow up not learning how to deal with the anxiety you could turn to food, sex, gambling, risk taking behavior or other ways of relieving the anxiety.

On of the easiest ways of relieving anxiety is to take in 5 deep breaths and to exhale fully and completely with each breath. Practice this way of deep breathing when you aren’t anxious. Then you’ll be prepared the next time you feel stressed about something little.This will keep the stress from building up and cause you to grab a sugary snack later.

Related articles

• What I’ve Learned About Coping With Anxiety (counselorcarmella.wordpress.com)
• Good vs. Bad Anxiety (lifelongaes1.wordpress.com)
• Being Present! (learningfromdogs.com)
• Using Your Body to Ground Yourself (faithallen.wordpress.com)
• Introspection and shyness – evolutionary tactic? (mindblog.dericbownds.net)
• How Fear Gives Birth to Memories (orangeroomstudios.wordpress.com)

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“Latent in every man is a venom of amazing bitterness, a black resentment; something that curses and loathes life, a feeling of being trapped, of having trusted and been fooled, of being the helpless prey of impotent rage, blind surrender, the victim of a savage, ruthless power that gives and takes away, enlists a man, and crowning injury inflicts upon him the humiliation of feeling sorry for himself.”  - Paul Valery

There are many habits good and bad incorporated into work life. The good habits qualify as productive, effective and conducive to one’s ability to get her work done, progress through the ranks, and receive the respect of her colleagues. Conversely, negative behavior can impact work productivity, reputation and relationships with others to the point of sabotaging one’s career. Steven Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, a habit as the “intersection of knowledge, skill and desire.” According to him, one must have all three to build a pattern of behavior into a habit.

more…

At the core of the habit is temperament or a person’s nature. “In psychology, temperament refers to those aspects of an individual’s personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learned. A great many classificatory schemes for temperament have been developed; none, though, has achieved general consensus in academia.”[1] (Wikipedia) However social scientists categorized temperament in five major types: introversion, extroversion, emotionality, psychic involvement in work and responsibility-impulsivity.

Behavioral scientists agree that temperament affects internal choices people make that create patterns of behavior into habits. In her article, “Thinking About Wellness,” Dr. Dawn Elise Snipes, a mental health counselor, writes, “Temperament affects how we learn, interact with others, approach and deal with situations and generally manage our time and our lives.”

“Temperament conventionally refers to stable behavioral and emotional reactions that appear early and are influenced in part by genetic constitution.” This definition is found in Galen’s Prophecy Temperament in Human Nature by Jerome Kagan. Recent studies, understanding the role that temperament plays in human cognition, have helped to diminish the extreme view that “environmental events explain all forms of psychological variation – thought and emotion as well as habit,” according to Kagan.

However, he does argue that temperamental differences are malleable by experience. “There is no rigid determinism between the inheritance of a particular temperament and a later behavioral profile,” he writes.

Snipes further supports the influence of temperament upon personality when she writes, “The people dimension is concerned with how we relate to others and interact with the world in general. Understanding people’s preferences in this dimension will help you understand what sorts of environments and situations they will prefer and what will cause them stress.”

Covey suggests that by focusing on the motivations driving the actions one is able to “break through old paradigms that may have been a source of pseudo-security for years.” Breaking bad or outmoded habits is a personal growth shift. Covey identifies these breakthroughs as progressive movements along a “maturity continuum.”

Therefore, according to Covey, it is not good enough to be independent. It is equally necessary to be able to interact well with others. Good habits, according to experts, are demonstrated with how well a person is able to integrate responsibilities, relationships and emotional reactions into each other for overall well being and happiness.

Many good habits are self-rewarding, though they may not be easy to cultivate. Habits such as working well with others, efficiently managing one’s time, consistently setting obtainable goals, ethically meeting responsibilities are all forms of good habits. It is the bad habit and negative behavior that must be tamed. Without self-control, destructive behavior can cost a person a career.

The Dirty Dozen: Career Paralyzers You Should Avoid by Kathy Simmons highlights some bad habits and harmful behaviors to avoid in the workplace. She identifies the following:

• “We-They” thinking toward management – Referring to management as ‘they’ creates barriers that prevent positive exchange and openness between management and staff.
• Taking advantage of company policy – Malingering by using sick time indiscriminately, conducting personal business during company time and incorrect reporting on expense reports are all opportunistic activities that point to unethical behavior.
• Behaving like a professional critic – Criticizing and identifying problems rather than focusing on solutions breeds negativity. It is better to be known for your ability to change things for the better than for your whining skill.
• Taking credit for other’s ideas – This bad habit can create untold resentment from your co-workers. Instead, generate a few great ideas of your own and do not neglect to give enthusiastic credit where credit is due.
• Refusing to set goals – Others can not set your career goals for you. Goals are important and yet, according to research, an estimated five percent of people actually write down their goals. Goals provide focus and career growth.
• Dropping the ball – Biting off more than you can chew is a common tendency for ambitious people. If you fail to follow through on your promises to others the damage to your credibility can have lasting repercussions. The best advice is to make promises sparingly and be sure to keep them.
• Using profanity – Rather than risk offending those you work with, stay away from profanity and express your thoughts in a more professional manner.
• Fading into the background – Corporate America is full of people who quietly do a good job every day and wonder why they are not further ahead. To move forward, you have to be noticed. Do not be afraid to take risks, get out of your comfort zone, and toot your horn occasionally. Management likes shakers and movers, and they are invariably the ones who end up getting promoted.
• Not supporting your team –Troublemakers who undermine their own team cannot be trusted. Loyalty should be established and protected with other members. Without the trust of co-workers, roadblocks, born from distrust and suspicion, can create formidable challenges that prevent productivity.
• Failing to take care of the customer – Most customers leave companies because of lack of concern shown by personnel. People will not stay if they do not feel valued. Make sure you are never the cause of ill will between your company and a customer.
• Dodging responsibility – Do not blame others or make excuses for failing to do your job. Equally, do not play the victim. Shifting the blame to others or situations beyond your control relinquishes your power to affect change and grow from the experience.
• Allowing your moods to take control – Moodiness is not a good professional trait. Unpredictable and erratic mood swings cause people to avoid you. It is a poor reflection on your self-discipline if you are prone to bad moods or behave impulsively.
• Holding a grudge – “The problem with grudges at work is that they’re a lose-lose proposition. They take your energy away from getting the job done and can hurt you not only emotionally but financially, by damaging your reputation,” writes, Ronna Lichtenberg in her article, “Keeping the Peace: How to Handle an Office Grudge“.

The work place is filled with opportunities to build good and bad personal habits. The key to success is how mindful a person is about whatever she is doing. Self-awareness is at the core of improving emotional maturity and positive interactions with others.

“As the fletcher whittles and makes straight his arrows, so the master directs his straying thoughts.” – Buddha

“Breaking deeply imbedded habitual tendencies such as procrastination, impatience, criticalness, or selfishness that violates basic principles of human effectiveness involves more than a little willpower and a few minor changes in our lives.” – Steven Covey, author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People

There are many habits good and bad incorporated into work life. The good habits qualify as productive, effective and conducive to one’s ability to get their work done. Other less positive habits also exist. Negative behavior can impact work productivity, reputation and relationships with others. The new year has people reflecting upon habits and forming resolutions to do something about them. Learning how to cultivate the skills to channel energy toward positive rather than negative behavior is a tremendous talent in self-awareness. Covey defines a habit as the “intersection of knowledge, skill and desire.” According to him, one must have all three to build a pattern of behavior into the form of a habit.

more…

At the core of the habit is temperament. Behavioral scientists agree that temperament affects internal choices people make that create patterns of behavior into habits. In her article, “Thinking About Wellness,” Dr. Dawn Elise Snipes, a mental health counselor, writes, “Temperament affects how we learn, interact with others, approach and deal with situations and generally manage our time and our lives.” Scientists categorized temperament in five major types: introversion, extroversion, emotionality, psychic involvement in work and responsibility-impulsivity.

“Temperament conventionally refers to stable behavioral and emotional reactions that appear early and are influenced in part by genetic constitution.” This definition is found in Galen’s Prophecy Temperament in Human Nature by Jerome Kagan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Kagan Recent studies, understanding the role that temperament plays in human cognition, have helped to diminish the extreme view that “environmental events explain all forms of psychological variation – thought and emotion as well as habit,” according to Kagan.

However, he does argue that temperamental differences are malleable by experience. “There is no rigid determinism between the inheritance of a particular temperament and a later behavioral profile,” he writes.

Snipes further supports the influence of temperament upon personality when she writes, “The people dimension is concerned with how we relate to others and interact with the world in general. Understanding people’s preferences in this dimension will help you understand what sorts of environments and situations they will prefer and what will cause them stress.”

Covey suggests that by focusing on the motivations driving the actions one is able to “break through old paradigms that may have been a source of pseudo-security for years.” Breaking bad or outmoded habits is a personal growth shift. Covey identifies these breakthroughs as progressive movements along a “maturity continuum.”

“True independence of character empowers us to act rather than be acted upon,” writes Covey. “Independence without the maturity to think and act interdependently with others will not allow a person to be a good leader or team player.” Therefore, according to Covey, it is not good enough to be independent. It is equally necessary to be able to interact well with others. Good habits, according to experts, are demonstrated with how well a person is able to integrate responsibilities, relationships and emotional reactions into each other for overall well being and happiness.

Many good habits are self-evident even if they are not easy to cultivate. Habits such as working well with others, efficiently managing one’s time, consistently setting obtainable goals, ethically meeting responsibilities are all forms of good habits. It is the bad habits and negative behaviors that must be tamed. Without self-control, destructive behavior can cost a person his or her career.

“The Dirty Dozen: Career Paralyzers You Should Avoid” by Kathy Simmons found at www.black-collegian.com highlights some bad habits and harmful behaviors to avoid in the workplace. She identifies the following:

• “We-They” thinking toward management – Referring to management as ‘they’ creates barriers that prevent positive exchange and openness between management and staff.
• Taking advantage of company policy – Malingering by using sick time indiscriminately, conducting personal business during company time and incorrect reporting on expense reports are all opportunistic activities that point to unethical behavior.
• Behaving like a professional critic – Criticizing and identifying problems rather than focusing on solutions breeds negativity. It is better to be known for your ability to change things for the better than for your whining skill.
• Taking credit for other’s ideas – This bad habit can create untold resentment from your co-workers. Instead, generate a few great ideas of your own and do not neglect to give enthusiastic credit where credit is due.
• Refusing to set goals – Others cannot set your career goals for you. Goals are important and yet, according to research, an estimated five percent of people actually write down their goals. Goals provide focus and career growth.
• Dropping the ball – Biting off more than you can chew is a common tendency for ambitious people. If you fail to follow through on your promises to others the damage to your credibility can have lasting repercussions. The best advice is to make promises sparingly and be sure to keep them.
• Using profanity – Rather than risk offending those you work with, stay away from profanity and express your thoughts in a more professional manner.
• Fading into the background – Corporate America is full of people who quietly do a good job every day and wonder why they are not further ahead. To move forward, you have to be noticed. Do not be afraid to take risks, get out of your comfort zone, and toot your horn occasionally. Management likes shakers and movers, and they are invariably the ones who end up getting promoted.
• Not supporting your team –Troublemakers who undermine their own team cannot be trusted. Loyalty should be established and protected with other members. Without the trust of co-workers, roadblocks, born from distrust and suspicion, can create formidable challenges that prevent productivity.
• Failing to take care of the customer – Most customers leave companies because of lack of concern shown by personnel. People will not stay if they do not feel valued. Make sure you are never the cause of ill will between your company and a customer.
• Dodging responsibility – Do not blame others or make excuses for failing to do your job. Equally, do not play the victim. Shifting the blame to others or situations beyond your control relinquishes your power to affect change and grow from the experience.
• Allowing your moods to take control – Moodiness is not a good professional trait. Unpredictable and erratic mood swings cause people to avoid you. It is a poor reflection on your self-discipline if you are prone to bad moods or behave impulsively.

The work place is filled with opportunities to build good and bad personal habits. The key to success is how mindful a person is about whatever he or she is doing. Self-awareness is at the core of improving emotional maturity, habit forming behavior and interactions with others.

“As the fletcher whittles and makes straight his arrows, so the master directs his straying thoughts.” – Buddha

Today’s Hump Day Quote Day theme is an exploration of the Ego. You can check out the last hump day theme, Design, here. The next quote theme will be Ambition.

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What is the ego?

Source: The Free Dictionary
 

The Ego According to Freud:

Image via Wikipedia

Sigmund Freud proposed that the human psyche could be divided into three parts: Id, ego, and super-ego. Freud discussed this model in the 1920 essay Beyond the Pleasure Principle, and fully elaborated upon it in The Ego and the Id (1923), in which he developed it as an alternative to his previous topographic schema (i.e., conscious, unconscious, and preconscious). The id is the impulsive, child-like portion of the psyche that operates on the “pleasure principle” and only takes into account what it wants and di sregards all consequences. The term ego entered the English language in the late 18th century; Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) described the game of chess as a way to “…keep the mind fit and the ego in check”. Freud acknowledged that his use of the term Id (das Es, “the It”) derives from the writings of Georg Groddeck. The term Id appears in the earliest writing of Boris Sidis, in which it is attributed to William James, as early as 1898.

Source: Wikipedia
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Let the Quotes Commence:

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Our own self-love draws a thick veil between us and our faults.

- Lord Chesterfield

Thinking is often regarded as an extension of the ego. Clever children in school base their egos on being clever and on being right all the time. They dislike group work because they cannot then show the rest of the class where the good idea originated. When the ego and thinking are treated as the same thing there is a reluctance to be wrong and a need to defend a point of view rather than to explore the situation. A person should be able to treat his thinking much as a tennis player treats his strokes: he should be able to walk off the court complaining that his backhand was not working very well on that occasion or that it required more practice. The new meta-system is very much in favour of the self, but a self that is based on a proper sense of dignity, not an inflated ego.  A person who dare not admit he is wrong inflates his ego but weakens his self.

- Edward De Bono

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.

- Colin Powell

An inflated consciousness is always egocentric and conscious of nothing but its own existence. It is capable of learning from the past, incapable of understanding contemporary events, and incapable of drawing right conclusions about the future. It is hypnotized by itself and therefore cannot be argued with. It inevitably dooms itself to calamities that must strike it dead.

- Carl Gustav Jung

Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.

- Frank Leahy

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How does this relate to the Art Department?

In the Art Department, no matter what the position, we are constantly working with creative and differing personalities. The film and television industry is a high stress and highly skilled field of work. Put those together and you have the perfect storm for ego eruptions on a daily basis. The ego often manifests itself in power struggles, intense defense mechanisms and the ever seductive blame game. When it comes right down to it people just don’t want to be embarrassed or admit wrong-doing, especially in an industry where there is always someone stepping on your heels ready and willing to take your job. I am no stranger to this myself but I’m not the only one and I take great solace in that (and that’s probably my ego talking).

It is incredibly hard to keep your ego in check when you have many people asking for your time, opinions, and skills all at once but awareness is the first step. I find what has helped me overcome battles recently is to take a well-timed bathroom break and take a step back. Even if just for 5 minutes. Look at the situation from 5 different people’s point of view in hopes to unbias yourself from what is going on. If you find you have done wrong or even something as simple as, for example, not considering someone else’s ideas or suggestions because they aren’t your own, go back, admit wrong, and apologize as professionally as possible. In the end you’ll manifest things differently the next time and you’ll earn more respect from your colleagues after apologizing or admitting you were wrong than being the egotistical jerk through and through. Examine your process and you’ll find a better way to deal with your ego. I guarantee it. After all the Art Department is a team like any other and as the saying goes, “There is no ‘I’ in Team”.

Rose XO.

   Way back in the 1940s Jerome Kagan performed a classic study on personality in which he formed a core concept that rooted at least part of the mind in biology.  This was an incredible breakthrough in understanding that certain perceptions and reactions can be rooted in inherited traits.  What Dr. Kagan did was observe a bunch of children as eight month old infants.

     He was interested to not that certain infants were easily upset, particularly when in new environments or seeing new faces.  They cried more often, required more soothing, disliked noise and reacted to it sooner. 

     Another group of infants was incredibly easygoing, not bothered by strangers or new places and things.   They sle0pt through anything.  It took much more to get them crying. They didn’t mind loud noises or bright lights.

       Being infants, these differences clearly were native to what the babies were.  Their environment and learning had not had a chance to shape their reactions yet.  Kagan wanted to know if this tendency to be overwhelmed by stimuli, or to stay very calm in the face of stimuli, changed with learning, so he observed what happened over time. 

       A decade later, Kagan interviewed all the children and put them through extensive personality tests.  He found many different interests and personality types in both groups.  They were not mutually exclusive.  He found that one characteristic was constant regardless of personality type.

     Those that cried easily as babies still preferred relative peace and quiet.  They found it soothing and actively looked for it in recreation.  They presferred quieter music.  They enjoyed curling up with a book.

   On the other hand, those who were the easygoing babies reported easily getting bored and a need to seek out novel experiences and stimulation.

      Kagan dubbed this difference Temperament.  It can be concieved of as having a nervous system that is incredibly active and charged by stimuli, resulting in easy overload of the system, or having nerves that take relatively more stimulus to respond, needing stronger input for the same response as the other group. 

     This high threshold group then is be drawn to the types of  experiences that would overstimulate the other group, just to feel what the others do with relatively little stimulus.

  This openned the floodgates to biological psychology.   We learned that a basic reaction experiences within each of us is fundamentally biologically determined.  As scientists are wont to do, they ran fast and furious with this.

     Kagan himself has fought through his career to minimize the idea that our mind is biologically determined, even writing several books.  He notes that a labrador and a Rottweiler have different temperaments, yet you can tame a Rottweiler, and abuse and training can make a Labrador plenty mean.  Biology influences, but the mind transcends biology alone.  

   His other work has shown that personality can change through life experience, an idea that ran counter to the psychologic ideas of his time.  He fought hard against dogmatic assertions by others that childhood set who you are in stone, immutable and unchangeable.

     His work and countless others have shown that we can change or be changed through our thoughts and experience.  In this way he also firmly grounded personality theory in our external and internal environment as much as biology. 

    He gave a fascinating interview with Natasha Mitchell in the All in the Mind Podcast years back and articulates all this better than I do.   When asked if who we are is determined more by our experience or our biology he explains,

   ‘the development of a person is like a cloth that appears to us to be grey but it’s composed of infinitely tiny black threads – biology – infinitely tiny white threads – experience – but you don’t see any black and white threads, all you see is the grey cloth.’ A person is that cloth and it’s combined of both and to ask which is more important is like asking about a Christmas blizzard – which is more important the temperature or the humidity? The answer is they are both important.”

  His answer to those who wanted to understand consciousness and all the inner workings of the mind through study of the brain is that it is simply isn’t going to happen.  He likens these scientists to hunters.

They had a very strong need to discover an unambiguous fact, this is a permanently true fact, and I call them hunters because that’s like you go out, you’re going to get a moose and that trophy is put up on the wall and there it is – forever.

He classifies himself, as a child development specialist, more of a butterfly chaser.

Butterfly chasers fall in love with a certain aspect of nature, they know that all facts are transient, science is always changing but they’re in love with this aspect of nature. And they want to find out something about it, even if it’s a brief glimpse. So they’re in a forest, they’re looking for a particular butterfly and if they find it and can see it for 30 seconds, that’s enough for them. 

   I think this certainly applies to doctors as well.  Many of us are prime hunters.  The surgeon is the ultimate hunter.  find the problem, go in, cut it out, problem solved, replete with trophy. 

    Living with ambiguity can be much more difficult, but for those like myself, its much more fascinating.  Like Kagan, I, too, am fascinated by the mystery of child development.   To specialize in this, I have to be comfortable with a certain amount of ambiguity.  I have heard a few of  my frustrated adult counterparts insult what we do as “veterinary medicine.” 

     The adult neurologist loves, loves, LOVES to localize a problem.  They are exacting in their physical examination and history taking.  They are diagnosticians, and hunters, of the highest order. 

     Kids don’t cooperate with this so well.  They aren’t as good at explaining what is going on.  We pediatric neurologists like that.  We like the mystery.  We deal with ambiguity. 

    Traditionally, neurology has focused on the understandable and functionally identifiable parts of the brain.  The mysterious mind is for psychiatrists.  Thanks to the work of Jerome Kagan and countless other scientists, that distiction seems to be getting muddier. 

   As Kagan says, we can’t understand the mind without understanding the brain.  However, when we hijack terms of mind for describing the brain, we cause a whole new set of problems.

  For example, Kagan argues fear is not electrical stimulation of the amygdala, fear is fear.  Its a subjective experience, not the physiologic and measurable effects or triggers of that experience.  This drives hunters batty, but I think it’s fascinating. 

It was a computer scientist, Emerson Pugh, who stated, “  If the brain was so simple that we could understand it, then we would be so simple that we couldn’t.”

     Which is a paradox in itself.  Is the problem simply that we are simple, not as intelligent as we like to think we are, or is our brain just too vastly comples?  Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in between.  I’ll let you ponder that one on your own for a while.  Then you can check out more of what Dr. Kagan has to say if you’d like.

When I was one year old, I was subjected to my very first multiple choice test. My parents placed four objects in front of me, a pair of weighing scales, a gold coin, a toy hammer, and a book. My future career depended on the choice. If I chose the weighing scales, I would become a lawyer; if I chose the gold coin, I would be a businessman; if I chose the toy hammer, I would be a labourer; and if I chose the book, I would be a scholar. Well, I chose the book, which explains why to this day, I remain a poor scholar. The origin of this Chinese custom can be traced back to the Northern and Southern Dynasties (AD 386-589), and it persists to the present day.

Throughout our lives we are set a myriad of tests which can determine our future. Daniel Goleman devised the Marshmallow Test. A four-year-old child was given a marshmallow by the tester. The kid was informed that the tester would leave the room for a few minutes. If, when the tester returned, the marshmallow remained uneaten, the child would be given an extra marshmallow as reward. Many such children were tested and followed up all the way to high school. It was found that those children who could restrain their desire in favour of the greater reward later, were far more successful both socially and academically, compared to those kids who needed instant gratification.

Harvard psychologist, Jerome Kagan, developed a new test for four-month-old babies, as reported by the Boston Globe of 29 August 2004. Kagan showed over 450 children a series of colourful new toys for twenty seconds at a time. Their reactions were noted. There were two main groups of responses. The first were the babies who cried madly and shook their arms and legs, and were referred to as the high reactive infants. The second group consisted of rather subdued children and were dubbed the low reactive infants.

These children were followed up until they reached junior high school. The high reactive group was more likely to have serious anxiety with social interactions. These individuals were shy, sensitive to criticism, preferring to stay at home rather than attend a school dance, and would generally be unhappy with life. Such children were more likely to become brilliant solitary researchers or melancholic poets.

On the other hand, the low reactive infants who just stared sedately at the toys, would grow up to be calm on dates, but they would also be at slightly greater risk of becoming delinquent, because parental threats would not intimidate them. They would become Clint Eastwood types.

The 5th Century BC Greek physician, Hippocrates, identified four temperaments: Choleric, Melancholic, Sanguine, and Phlegmatic. Kagan’s two groups would best fit into the Melancholic and Sanguine categories. It appears that the blueprint for temperament is established at a very young age and determines behaviour for many years, perhaps for life.

Can you imagine a brave new world where your future can be predicted by a test at the age of four months? Are you destined to become a worker, a drone, or a queen bee?

At the age of one year, I already made up my mind that I would be a scholar. What if I had chosen differently? Would I be happier? But these questions are irrelevant because in reality I had no choice. Everything is predestined!