The Long Shadow of Temperament

“This work has the potential to function as a bridge between more humanistic theories of human development and contemporary research and perspectives that are more thoroughly grounded in the natural sciences… [This] new book stands alongside Kagan’s previous works in terms of being thoughtful and stimulating. Regardless of the extent to which one agrees with Kagan and Snidman‘s assertions about the role of temperament, their concept of how it interacts with parenting and context, or their ideas regarding the degree to which it is genetic, the authors are always interesting and thought provoking. Together, Kagan and Snidman have provided a timely work on the relationship between biology and psychology that many readers will find provocative.”—John Snarey and Lynn Bridgers, PsycCritiques

“Jerome Kagan and Nancy Snidman resolve many puzzling observations and theoretical controversies about the importance of innate vs. environmental factors in child development, in a book that is both intellectually satisfying and a pleasure to read. The Long Shadow of Temperament is a great delight.”—John T. Cacioppo, Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Chicago

“A highly readable and comprehensive summary of a remarkable twenty-five year program of research on the nature and consequences of temperament. Broad, incisive and provocative, this volume should be mandatory reading for any student of development, personality or psychopathology.”—Richard J. Davidson, William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin–Madison

“For forty years, Jerome Kagan and his colleagues have done research that has allowed us to follow children’s lives over time. In this new book with Nancy Snidman, he traces children’s temperament and personality, from their reactivity in early infancy to their behavior and biology at age eleven. The reader will find surprising outcomes and exciting new links between psychology and biology that will be sure to influence future research in psychology.”—Mary K. Rothbart, Distinguished Professor Emerita of Psychology, University of Oregon

“Jerome Kagan is one of the major thinkers in developmental psychology today and a new book by him is always to be welcomed. He has always taken provocative positions and he does it so well that his readers rethink their old ideas and look at the world in a new way.”—Michael Rutter, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London