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TEMPERAMENT AS A REGULATOR OF BEHAVIOR

After Fifty Years of Research

JAN STRELAU
Warsaw School of Social Psychology
Warsaw, Poland

From the Foreword . . .

“Psychology can be a faddish field, not really solving problems but tiring of them and then running after a new fad. What I admire most is the systematic nature of Strelau’s fifty-year program of research. This book demonstrates the value of such long-term dedication to a systematic program of research.”
Robert Plomin, King’s College London

From the reviews . . .

“Jan Strelau chronicles his courageous 50-year-long investigation of temperament . . . culminating in . . . the regulative theory of temperament. . . . Strelau’s focus on the regulative aspect of temperament offers important insights for further research to advance our understanding of how temperament affects our actions, especially in stressful circumstances.”
Patricia T. Ashton in PsycCRITIQUES

“The importance of Strelau’s research . . . makes this book indispensable. . . . Strelau has managed the rare achievement of bequeathing a theory of which not only he and his students, collaborators, and disciples can be proud, but indeed the entire field of differential psychology.”
K. V. Petrides in Personality and Individual Differences

“[A]n impressive and powerful book . . . . Strelau . . . has avoided the temptation to temper and alter his theory as psychology has waxed and waned with theories of personality . . . . This is a must read for anyone interested in the history of the discipline and/or working in the arena of personality psychology.”
R. E. Osborne in Choice

Prepublication praise . . .

“In this exciting new book, Jan Strelau continues to carry on the tradition begun by Ivan Pavlov on temperament. Strelau’s writing and the important research described in the book illuminate our understanding of temperament and show us how to apply this understanding to our work and life. Highly recommended to all in the areas of temperament, personality, and individual differences.”
Mary K. Rothbart, University of Oregon

“Jan Strelau’s book is of considerable importance to all scientists who study the biological and behavioral bases of individual differences in temperament. His Regulative Theory of Temperament and the resulting FCB-TI for assessing temperament provide a rich and dynamic framework for the study of temperament.”
Donald H. Saklofske, University of Calgary

CONTENTS

Foreword by Robert Plomin

Introduction

Chapter 1
Experiments on the diagnosis of the basic properties of the nervous system as Pavlov understood them: The forerunners of the Regulative Theory of Temperament

Chapter 2
Diagnosis of the basic properties of the nervous system by means of questionnaires

Chapter 3
An outline of the Regulative Theory of Temperament and the first stage of research on the functional role of temperament

Chapter 4
The Regulative Theory of Temperament: A theoretical framework for temperament research at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

Chapter 5
The structure of temperament and a psychometric instrument with which to measure it

Chapter 6
Temperament as a moderator of stressful phenomena

Chapter 7
Temperament and extreme stress

Chapter 8
Research based on the behavior genetic paradigm conducted within the framework of the Regulative Theory of Temperament

Postscript

References

Index

ISBN 978-0-9752738-9-0/hardcover/284 pp./illus./May 2008/$85.00
ISBN 978-0-9797731-6-7/paperback/286 pp./illus./November 2010/$39.95