Product Code Database
Surgency is a temperament dimension that considers an individual’s disposition toward positive affect. The APA Dictionary of Psychology defines it as "a personality trait marked by cheerfulness, responsiveness, spontaneity, and sociability but at a level below that of extraversion or mania."
There are subtle changes in how surgency is expressed across development. It first emerges during infancy in the form of smiling and laughter. As infants enter childhood, high surgency becomes associated with lower levels of effortful control. A 2003 meta-analysis of gender differences in temperament showed a small to moderate gender difference in surgency levels between boys and girls, with boys showing higher levels of surgency and "generally indicating that boys are slightly more active, less shy, and derive more pleasure than girls from high-intensity stimuli."
In children, surgency is also characterised by high levels of activity and positive emotion, impulsivity, and engagement with their environment. This perceived change in what characterises surgency is likely due to the difficulty of assessing these factors in infants, who lack the complex to reflect impulsivity.
In adulthood, surgency overlaps with extraversion, and includes a high level of sociability, and a low level of inhibitory control.
An alternative approach involves naturalistic or structured observation of children in the home, school, or laboratory settings. In laboratory-based assessments, including the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB), variations in reactions to stimuli are examined. Children are exposed to standardized stimuli, such as novel toys, and their behavioural response (such as frequency of smiling or laughter) is measured and systematically coded. This method attempts to isolate specific behaviours while minimising subjective impressions.
Although laboratory-based methods have been criticized for lacking ecological validity, research by Rothbart et al. (2000) demonstrated a strong correlation between laboratory and parent-report measures of surgency indicators, such as smiling and laughter, across the first year of life.
Another limitation of measuring surgency is that behavioural expressions of surgency undergo significant changes from childhood to adolescence. During infancy, high activity levels are measured by frequently moving around a crib, whereas throughout childhood it is measured by behaviours such as jumping and running in response to environmental stimuli. As children age, activity levels shift from movement to talking, because children gain control over their motor output, and their active need for action becomes satisfied by social activities. This may complicate longitudinal comparisons tracking surgency unless age-appropriate adjustments are made.
More modern researchers emphasise the importance of using a combination of methods to gain a deeper understanding of surgency in developmental psychology. This includes integrating questionnaire data with observational measures to better capture the complexity of the construct across developmental stages.
While surgency is strongly associated with positive affect, different brain mechanisms may be at play depending on the context.
Low-surgency children typically exhibit anxiety in unfamiliar settings and are more likely to monitor their environment and the behaviour of authority figures, such as teachers. This aligns with social cognitive theories, which emphasise learning through observation rather than direct participation.
In contrast, high-surgency children tend to be highly active, sociable, and impulsive, frequently seeking out social engagement and environmental stimulation. They often display a reduced focus on rules or adult cues. Their preference for active exploration over observation may limit their sensitivity to indirect forms of teacher guidance, and increase their reliance on direct interaction for learning.
These differences in behavioural and physiological tendencies suggest that teacher socialisation strategies may have varying effects depending on a child's temperament. Low-surgency children may benefit from observational opportunities, while high-surgency children are more likely to learn effectively through active, direct engagement with teachers.
|
|
