PREDICTING INHIBITED AND UNINHIBITED BEHAVIOR

Research carried out by Jerome Kagan and associates on the temperamental profiles of inhibited and uninhibited behaviour in children has established a strong link between high motor, high cry behaviours in response to novel stimuli at 4 months and inhibited reactions to the unfamiliar at 2 years, and low motor, low cry behaviours in response to novel stimuli at 4 months and uninhibited reactions to the unfamiliar at 2 years. A number of empirical findings and theoretical considerations suggested that Irish infants might be disproportionately more likely than U.S. infants to exhibit inhibited behaviour profiles. A sample of Irish infants (n=107) was assessed for motor and cry reactivity to novel stimuli and categorised into 4 different groups: (1) high motor, high cry, (2) high motor, low cry, (3) low motor, high cry and (4) low motor, low cry. The resulting data were compared to those of a matched U.S. sample. Only 7% of the Irish infants, compared to 23% of the U.S. infants, were placed in the high motor, high cry category, while 53% of the Irish infants and 35% of the U.S. infants were placed in the low motor, low cry category. This sample of 4-month-old Irish infants showed less reactivity to novel stimuli than U.S. infants and therefore would be predicted to have a relatively lower percentage of children categorised as inhibited at a later stage. © 1991, Psychological Society of Ireland. All rights reserved.