Becoming Who We Are : Temperament and Personality in Development

What are the basic dimensions of temperament? How does temperament influence children's relationships to their physical and social worlds--and their behavior and adjustment across the lifespan? What are its biological underpinnings? From preeminent researcher Mary Rothbart, this work comprehensively examines the role of temperament in the development of personality and psychopathology. In a direct and readable style, Rothbart combines theory and research with everyday observations and clinical examples. She offers new insights on "difficult" children and reviews intervention programs that address temperamental factors in childhood problems. Dr. Rothbart received the Eleanor Maccoby Book Award from Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) of the American Psychological Association for this book.

Mary K. Rothbart, PhD, is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Psychology at the University of Oregon. Her research has focused on temperament, attention, emotion, and social development, and she has developed several widely used measures of temperament, including parent and self-report questionnaires, home observations, and laboratory observations. Dr. Rothbart’s work with Michael Posner has explored the cognitive skills, attention networks, and attention genes that support effortful control in children. She has coauthored or coedited numerous books and has received numerous awards. Most recently, she received the Eleanor Maccoby Book Award from Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) of the American Psychological Association, for Becoming Who We Are. Dr. Rothbart has also received the Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation, the G. Stanley Hall Award for Distinguished Contribution to Developmental Psychology from the American Psychological Association, and the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Child Development from the Society for Research in Child Development. One of the offshoots of her early temperament research was the founding of Birth to Three, a parent support and education program that has reached thousands of families in the United States and abroad, and which recently celebrated its 30th birthday. Dr. Rothbart is most pleased to have received Birth to Three’s Champion of Children award.