Temperament
 

I have recently been told that the problems that my son has been dealing with in school is due to his "slow-to-warm-up" temperament. He does not have social anxiety disorder, ADHD, or Asbergers. Knowing this, and a little about this temperament, I am better equipped to help him succeed in school and deal with issues that come up at home. This started me thinking. What kind of temperament do I have? does my husband have? does my daughter have? How can I learn about their temperaments and also learn how to get along better with them? My first instinct was to google temperament tests. :oogle: There are WAY too many to choose from! Do I take them all? How do I know which ones are most accurate? Can any of you recommend one?

I think you can gauge your temperament by paying attention to how you react with certain things like getting stuck in traffic or when an old person is slow at the checkout. What sets you off and how easily? What do you do when you're feeling bored? Do you have 100 unfinished projects because your patience was wearing thin or because you felt you couldn't do the task?
I don't know if those online tests are all that accurate. Most give multiple choice answers that aren't necessarily ones that pertain to you. I always end up giving the "closest" answer, but it's not always the correct one because the correct one isn't there.

I just read about this a few weeks ago in my psychology class!

The three temperaments are 'easy,' 'difficult,' & 'slow to warm up.' And they came from a classic study called the 'New York Longitudinal Study" (NYLS).

I don't really see much information on the web regarding this study, except for some books.

Our textbook also mentions another set of classifications called 'The Big Five' or OCEAN for:

Openness
Conscientiousness
Extroversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism

Here's the wiki page on them:
Big Five personality traits - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and there is a test here:
The Personality Project

and here is another one (300 questions - big):
IPIP NEO-PI, Introductory Information

I'm glad you got some answers you can work with. :)

Whoa, that Personality test was way off.
It was accurate somewhat in extrovertive, but I'm not a loner by any stretch; in emotional stability, it said I get emotional very easily, which is only true after a few glasses of wine. The majority of my answers were in the slight-moderate range as I don't think any of what they asked warranted a strong response, yet every aspect I scored under 15%.
There's 30 minutes I'll never get back.....

You have to understand that every exam psychology has to offer is very broad because it is near impossible to achieve you on a personal level, at least for now. That being said, also keep in mind that everything in Psychology as a whole is theory, so it's difficult to accurately analyze someone's personality.

I agree. I have found it difficult, on the whole, to buy into the science of psychology although there are arguments I find to be interesting.

Once you get past the pop psychology crap it gets a lot better :)

An online test will never be a real substitute for a therapist/psychologist.

I agree. Some of the answers I gave due to depression were interpreted by the test as emotional instability.

I dont need to answer 300 questions to know that I am extremely introverted, gloomy, and emotionally volatile.