Even at birth, babies are unique individuals with marked differences in temperament. A number of different qualities or traits have been suggested to help define and study temperament. For the most part, these traits are observable behavior patterns . Emotionality refers to the way a baby responds to events with respect to behavior and feelings. Another temperament trait, activity , refers to the amount of energy the baby expends.
Some children spend considerable energy in physical movement while others are passive and calm.
Sociability is the extent to which a baby prefers to be with other people in general. Highly sociable babies may initiate contact with people, do not like to be alone, and are obviously happy and content to interact with other people. Extremes in baby's temperament are neither good nor bad but simply reflect the infant's style of reacting to the environment. A baby grows and develops best when the parent recognizes that she is a unique individual with personality traits which may be quite different from the parent. In those days people believed that babies were unfeeling little bodies without organized thoughts or developed senses.