The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) is an

inventory Inventory (American English) or stock (British English) refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying the shap ...

for

personality trait In psychology, trait theory (also called dispositional theory) is an approach to the study of human personality. Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of ''traits'', which can be defined as habitual patterns of behaviour, tho ...

s devised by Cloninger et al. It is closely related to and an outgrowth of the

Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) is a personality test. It was devised by C. Robert Cloninger. A newer version of the questionnaire is called Temperament and Character Inventory. As the name indicates TPQ seeks to measure three dimen ...

(TPQ), and it has also been related to the dimensions of personality in Zuckerman's

alternative five The alternative five model of personality is based on the claim that the structure of human personality traits is best explained by five broad factors called impulsive sensation seeking (ImpSS), neuroticism–anxiety (N-Anx), aggression–hostility ...

and Eysenck's models and those of the

five factor model The Big Five personality traits is a suggested taxonomy, or grouping, for personality traits, developed from the 1980s onward in psychological trait theory. Starting in the 1990s, the theory identified five factors by labels, for the US English ...

. TCI operates with seven dimensions of personality traits: four so-called ''temperaments'' *

Novelty Seeking In Cloninger's model of psychobiology, novelty seeking (NS) is an inherited, unlearned, temperamental bias toward novel signals from the environment. It can be measured along a spectrum from low to high (as with 3 other temperamental domains) and ...

(NS) *

Harm Avoidance Harm avoidance (HA) is a personality trait characterized by excessive worrying; pessimism; shyness; and being fearful, doubtful, and easily fatigued. In MRI studies HA was correlated with reduced grey matter volume in the orbito-frontal, occipita ...

(HA) *

Reward Dependence Reward dependence is characterized as a tendency to respond markedly to signals of reward, particularly to verbal signals of social approval, social support, and sentiment. When reward dependence levels deviate from normal we see the rise of severa ...

(RD) * Persistence (PS) and three so-called ''characters'' *

Self-Directedness Self-directedness is a personality trait of self-determination, that is, the ability to regulate and adapt behavior to the demands of a situation in order to achieve personally chosen goals and values. It is one of the "character" dimensions in Clo ...

(SD) *

Cooperativeness Cooperativeness is a personality trait concerning the degree to which a person is generally agreeable in their relations with other people as opposed to aggressively self-centred and hostile. It is one of the "character" dimensions in Cloninger's ...

(CO) *

Self-Transcendence Self-transcendence is a personality trait that involves the expansion of personal boundaries, including, potentially, experiencing spiritual ideas such as considering oneself an integral part of the universe. Several psychologists, including Viktor ...

(ST) Each of these traits has a varying number of subscales. The dimensions are determined from a 240-item questionnaire. The TCI is based on a psychobiological model that attempts to explain the underlying causes of individual differences in personality traits.

Versions

Originally developed in English, TCI has been translated to other languages, e.g., Swedish, Japanese, Dutch, German, Polish, Korean, Finnish, Chinese and French. There is also a revised version ''TCI-R''. Whereas the original TCI had statements for which the subject should indicate true or false, the TCI-R has a five-point rating for each statement. The two versions hold 189 of the 240 statements in common. The revised version has been translated into Spanish, French, Czech, and Italian. The number of subscales on the different top level traits differ between TCI and TCI-R. The subscales of the TCI-R are: *Novelty seeking (NS) *#Exploratory excitability (NS1) *#

Impulsiveness In psychology, impulsivity (or impulsiveness) is a tendency to act on a whim, displaying behavior characterized by little or no forethought, reflection, or consideration of the consequences. Impulsive actions are typically "poorly conceived, pre ...

(NS2) *#Extravagance (NS3) *#Disorderliness (NS4) *Harm avoidance (HA) *#Anticipatory worry (HA1) *#Fear of uncertainty (HA2) *#Shyness (HA3) *#Fatigability (HA4) *Reward dependence (RD) *#

Sentimentality Sentimentality originally indicated the reliance on feelings as a guide to truth, but in current usage the term commonly connotes a reliance on shallow, uncomplicated emotions at the expense of reason. Sentimentalism in philosophy is a view in ...

(RD1) *#Openness to warm communication (RD2) *#Attachment (RD3) *#Dependence (RD4) *Persistence (PS) *#Eagerness of effort (PS1) *#Work hardened (PS2) *#Ambitious (PS3) *#Perfectionist (PS4) *Self-directedness (SD) *#Responsibility (SD1) *#Purposeful (SD2) *#Resourcefulness (SD3) *#Self-acceptance (SD4) *#Enlightened second nature (SD5) *Cooperativeness (C) *#Social acceptance (C1) *#

Empathy Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Definitions of empathy encompass a broad range of social, co ...

(C2) *#Helpfulness (C3) *#

Compassion Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is often regarded as being sensitive to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based on n ...

(C4) *#Pure-hearted conscience (C5) *Self-transcendence (ST) *#Self-forgetful (ST1) *#Transpersonal identification (ST2) *#Spiritual acceptance (ST3)

Neurobiological foundation

TCI has been used for investigating the neurobiological foundation for personality, together with other research modalities, e.g., with molecular neuroimaging, structural neuroimaging and

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

. Cloninger suggested that the three original temperaments from TPQ, novelty seeking, harm avoidance, and reward dependence, was correlated with low basal

dopamine Dopamine (DA, a contraction of 3,4-dihydroxyphenethylamine) is a neuromodulatory molecule that plays several important roles in cells. It is an organic compound, organic chemical of the catecholamine and phenethylamine families. Dopamine const ...

rgic activity, high

serotonergic Serotonergic () or serotoninergic () means "pertaining to or affecting serotonin". Serotonin is a neurotransmitter. A synapse is serotonergic if it uses serotonin as its neurotransmitter. A serotonergic neuron ''produces'' serotonin. A substance is ...

activity, and low basal

noradrenergic Norepinephrine (NE), also called noradrenaline (NA) or noradrenalin, is an organic chemical in the catecholamine family that functions in the brain and body as both a hormone and neurotransmitter. The name "noradrenaline" (from Latin '' ad'', ...

activity, respectively. Many studies have used TCI for examining whether genetic variants in individual genes have an association with personality traits. Studies suggest that novelty seeking is associated with dopaminergic pathways. Dopamine transporter DAT1 and dopamine receptor DRD4 are associated with novelty seeking. Parkinson's patients, who are intrinsically low in dopamine, are found to have low novelty seeking scores. Gene variants that have been investigated are, e.g., 5-HTTLPR in the

serotonin transporter The serotonin transporter (SERT or 5-HTT) also known as the sodium-dependent serotonin transporter and solute carrier family 6 member 4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC6A4 gene. SERT is a type of monoamine transporter protein tha ...

gene and gene variants in ''

XBP1 X-box binding protein 1, also known as XBP1, is a protein which in humans is encoded by the ''XBP1'' gene. The ''XBP1'' gene is located on chromosome 22 while a closely related pseudogene has been identified and localized to chromosome 5. The XBP ...

''.

Relationship to other personality models

Cloninger argued that the Five Factor model does not assess domains of personality relevant to personality disorders such as autonomy, moral values, and aspects of maturity and

self-actualization Self-actualization, in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, is the highest level of psychological development, where personal potential is fully realized after basic bodily and ego needs have been fulfilled. Self-actualization was coined by the organism ...

considered in

humanistic Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

and

transpersonal psychology Transpersonal psychology, or spiritual psychology, is a sub-field or school of psychology that integrates the spiritual and transcendent aspects of the human experience with the framework of modern psychology. The '' transpersonal'' is defined ...

. Cloninger argued that these domains are captured by self-directedness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence respectively. He also argued that personality factors defined as independent by

factor analysis Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. For example, it is possible that variations in six observed ...

, such as

neuroticism In the study of psychology, neuroticism has been considered a fundamental personality trait. For example, in the Big Five approach to personality trait theory, individuals with high scores for neuroticism are more likely than average to be moody ...

and

introversion The traits of extraversion (also spelled extroversion Retrieved 2018-02-21.) and introversion are a central dimension in some human personality theories. The terms ''introversion'' and ''extraversion'' were introduced into psychology by Carl ...

, may actually share underlying etiological factors. Research has found that all of the TCI dimensions are each related substantially to at least one of the dimensions in the Five Factor Model, Eysenck's model, Zuckerman's

: * Harm avoidance is strongly positively associated with

and inversely associated with extraversion. * Novelty seeking is most strongly associated with extraversion, although it also has a moderate positive association with

openness to experience Openness to experience is one of the domains which are used to describe human personality in the Five Factor Model. Openness involves six facets, or dimensions: active imagination (fantasy), aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings ...

and a moderate negative association with

conscientiousness Conscientiousness is the personality trait of being careful, or diligent. Conscientiousness implies a desire to do a task well, and to take obligations to others seriously. Conscientious people tend to be efficient and organized as opposed to ...

. * Persistence has a positive association with conscientiousness. * Reward dependence is most strongly associated with extraversion, although it also has a moderate positive association with openness to experience. * Cooperativeness is most strongly associated with

agreeableness Agreeableness is a personality trait manifesting itself in individual behavioral characteristics that are perceived as kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm, and considerate. In contemporary personality psychology, agreeableness is one of the fiv ...

. * Self-directedness has a strong negative association with

and a positive association with conscientiousness. * Self-transcendence had a positive association with openness to experience and to a lesser extent extraversion. * Relationships have also been found between the TCI dimensions and traits specific to the models of Zuckerman and Eysenck respectively. * Novelty seeking is related to Impulsive

sensation seeking Sensation seeking is a personality trait defined by the search for experiences and feelings, that are "varied, novel, complex and intense", and by the readiness to "take physical, social, legal, and financial risks for the sake of such experiences ...

in Zuckerman's

model and to

psychoticism Psychoticism is one of the three traits used by the psychologist Hans Eysenck in his P–E–N model (psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism) model of personality. Nature Psychoticism is conceptually similar to the ''constraint'' factor i ...

in Eysenck's model. * Zuckerman and Cloninger have contended that Harm Avoidance is a composite dimension comprising neurotic introversion at one end and stable extraversion at the other end. * Persistence is related to Zuckerman's Activity scale and inversely to psychoticism. * Cooperativeness is inversely related to Zuckerman's Aggression-hostility scale and to psychoticism. * Self-transcendence has no equivalent in either Zuckerman or Eysenck's model as neither model recognises openness to experience.

Health and well-being

Cloninger has argued that "psychological well-being" depends on the development of facets of the three character dimensions, such as autonomy and life purpose from self-directedness, positive relations with others from cooperativeness, and personal growth and

from self-transcendence. He has also argued that the temperament dimensions are associated with

subjective well-being Subjective well-being (SWB) is a self-reported measure of well-being, typically obtained by questionnaire. Ed Diener developed a tripartite model of subjective well-being in 1984, which describes how people experience the quality of their lives ...

and to some extent with physical health. A study examining relationships between character dimensions and aspects of health and happiness found that self-directedness was strongly associated with

happiness Happiness, in the context of Mental health, mental or emotional states, is positive or Pleasure, pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishin ...

satisfaction with life Life satisfaction is a measure of a person's Quality of life, well-being, assessed in terms of mood, relationship satisfaction, achieved goals, self-concepts, and self-perceived ability to cope with life. Life satisfaction involves a favorable Att ...

, general health, and perceived social support. Cooperativeness was associated most strongly with perceived social support and only weakly with the other well-being measures. Self-transcendence was associated with positive emotions when taking the other character traits into account, but was largely unrelated to negative emotions or the other well-being measures.

References

External links

*{{Cite journal , title = A psychobiological model of temperament and character , journal =

Archives of General Psychiatry ''JAMA Psychiatry'' (until 2013: ''Archives of General Psychiatry'') is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association. It covers research in psychiatry, mental health, behavioral sciences, and related fiel ...