Please contact Professor Jeff Gagne at Texas A&M University for information about instruments and manuals.
- Prelocomotor version of Lab-TAB
- Locomotor version of Lab-TAB
- Toddler version of Lab-TAB
- Preschool version of Lab-TAB
- Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (TBAQ)
- Middle childhood version of Lab-TAB
- Zygosity Questionnaire
The Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB) pre-locomotor version is a 17-episode test battery designed to measure five dimensions of temperament in children six months of age in a laboratory setting. The dimensions assessed in this version are fear, anger/frustration, joy/pleasure, interest/persistence, and activity level.
- Fear: The level of negative affect experienced by the child, including unease and worry, in the presence of novel, non-social stimuli (3 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Masks”: This episode provides an opportunity for the expression of fear in a non-social context with relatively mild, non-intrusive stimulation. The child is sat in a high chair and shown a series of masks such as vampire and gas masks. - Anger/Frustration: The level of negative affect, including becoming upset, argumentative, crying, or protesting when restrained or prevented from activity (4 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Gentle Arm Restraint by Parent”: In this episode, the child’s opportunity to play with a toy, which is novel and interesting enough to induce a strong desire to play, is interrupted by physical restraint from the mother after being shown the toy. - Joy/Pleasure: The amount of pleasure experienced by the child during novel or playful activities (4 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Modified Peek-A-Boo Game”: This episode measures pleasure in response to social stimulation, using an operationalization of the peek-a-boo game in Lab-TAB that minimizes the variance that might be attributable to maternal behavioral differences. - Interest/Persistence: The length of sustained attention or engagement to various tasks or stimuli (3 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Task Orientation (Blocks)”: This episode provides an opportunity for the child to manipulate a set of blocks alone without parental involvement. In this episode, motivation is equated with the emotion of interest and, in particular, with its duration parameter, persistence. - Activity level: Limb or trunk movement during a variety of daily situations (3 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Basket of Toys”: This episode provides a measure of activity level during object-oriented play as the child is given access to a basket of toys. Observed individual differences should reflect the rate and pattern of reaching and manipulation.
Citations
Planalp, E. M., Van Hulle, C. A, Gagne, J. R., & Goldsmith, H. H. (2017). The infant version of the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB): Measurement properties and implications for concepts of temperament.Frontiers in Psychology: Personality and Social Psychology. Published online, 24 May. PMID: 28596748. PMCID: PMC5442210.
Gagne, J. R., Van Hulle, C. A., Aksan, N., Essex, M. J., & Goldsmith, H. H. (2011). Deriving childhood temperament measures from emotion-eliciting behavioral episodes: Scale construction and initial validation. Psychological Assessment, 23, 337-353. PMID: 21480723. PMCID: PMC3115493.
Goldsmith, H. H. & Rothbart, M. K. (1992). The Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (LAB-TAB): Prelocomotor Version 2.0. Technical manual, Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR.
Goldsmith, H. H. & Rothbart, M. K. (1996). The Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (LAB-TAB): Prelocomotor Version 3.0. Technical manual, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.
The Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB) locomotor version is a 20-episode test battery designed to measure five dimensions of temperament in children twelve months of age in a laboratory setting. The dimensions assessed in this version are fear, anger/frustration, joy/pleasure, interest/persistence, and activity level.
- Fear: The level of negative affect including unease, worry or nervousness to novel or social stimuli which may evoke a frightened or started response (4 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Remote Controlled Spider”: A large, remote controlled spider enters the room unexpectedly and approaches the child. The elements of novelty, uncertainty and intrusiveness, as well as a possible fear of animals, should elicit varying degrees of fear. - Anger/Frustration: The level of anger evoked from various situations which may cause a child to become upset or frustrated (4 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Maternal Separation”: The purpose of this episode is to provide an opportunity for the expression of anger in response to maternal separation when the experimenter calls the mother out of the room briefly, interrupting her play session with the child. - Joy/Pleasure: The amount of pleasure a child expresses as a response to social and non-social stimulation (4 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Puppet Game”: This episode measures enjoyment in response to social stimulation. The use of puppets allows a more standardized social interaction than is possible when the mother has a prominent role. The experimenter performs a scripted dialogue with puppets and occasionally tickles the child as well. - Interest/Persistence: The amount of sustained attention or engagement of the child to various tasks (4 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Attention to Repeated Visual Simulation”: This episode provides an opportunity for the expression of interest in a non-social context. External sources of distraction are minimized in a habituation-like procedure. The child views a series of slides projected onto a screen; there is no auditory stimulation. The episode provides measures of sustained visual attention under highly controlled circumstances. - Activity level: The level of the child’s motoric limb, trunk, or locomotor activity during daily activity (4 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Corral Enclosure”: This episode provides a novel, non-threatening, non-social situation for measuring motoric activity. The rubber balls that fill the corral enclosure afford opportunities for a variety of highly energetic activities. Thus, the episode may differentiate active children who might be coded near the ceiling on other activity episodes.
Citations
Goldsmith, H. H. & Rothbart, M. K. (1988). The Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (LAB-TAB): Locomotor Version, Edition 1.2. Oregon Center for the Study of Emotion technical report #88-01. (plus corresponding version of the prelocomotor battery manual)
Goldsmith, H. H. & Rothbart, M. K. (1992). The Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (LAB-TAB): Locomotor Version 2.0. Technical manual, Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR.
Goldsmith, H. H. & Rothbart, M. K. (1996). The Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (LAB-TAB): Locomotor Version 3.0. Technical manual, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.
The Toddler version of the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB) is a 13-episode test battery designed to measure six dimensions of temperament in toddlers in a laboratory setting. The dimensions assessed in this version are fear, anger/sadness, joy/pleasure, interest/persistence, activity level, and inhibitory control.
- Fear: The level of negative affect experienced by the toddler, including unease and worry, in the presence of novel, non-social stimuli (3 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Stranger Approach”: An adult male stranger will approach the child in a standardized fashion. The elements of novelty and intrusiveness elicit various degrees of fearful distress and avoidance. - Anger/Frustration: The level of negative affect, including becoming upset, crying, or protesting when restrained or prevented from activity (4 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Gentle Arm Restraint by Parent”: In this episode, the child’s opportunity to play with a toy, which is novel and interesting enough to induce a strong desire to play, is interrupted by physical restraint from the mother after being shown the toy. - Joy/Pleasure: The amount of pleasure experienced by the child during novel or playful activities (1 total episode).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Popping Bubbles”: Playing with bubbles is a pleasurable task for most children. Allowing them to pop the bubbles increases the intensity of their pleasure. - Interest/Persistence: The length of sustained attention or engagement to stimuli (1 episode).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Attention to Visual Stimuli (Slides)”: This task is designed to elicit interest in a child. Individual differences will emerge through differences in the amount of time the child remains engaged in the task. - Activity level: Limb or trunk movement during a variety of daily situations (2 episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Corral of Balls”: This episode provides a novel, non-threatening, non-social situation for measuring physical activity. The rubber balls that fill the corral enclosure afford opportunities for a variety of highly energetic activities. Thus, the episode may serve to differentiate among active children who might score near the ceiling on other episodes. - Inhibitory control: The capacity to stop, moderate, or refrain from a behavior under instruction (2 episodes). Lab-TAB episode example-“Snack Delay”: The experimenter presents M&Ms to the child, puts one in a cup, and asks the child to wait a certain amount of time before eating it. Throughout multiple trials, individual differences in impulsivity can be seen in this situation.
Citations
Buss, K.A., & Goldsmith, H.H. (2000). Manual and normative data for the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery – Toddler Version. Psychology Department Technical Report, University of Wisconsin–Madison.
The Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB) preschool version is a 33-episode test battery designed to measure seven dimensions of temperament in children three to five years of age in a laboratory setting. The dimensions assessed in this version are fear, distress, exuberance, interest/persistence, activity level, inhibitory control, and contentment.
- Fear: The level of negative affect including unease, worry or nervousness to novel or social stimuli which may evoke a frightened or started response (4 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Stranger Approach”: The child will deal with social fear when a stranger approaches and begins talking to him or her. The child is thus faced with a novel, slightly threatening person who enters the room while the experimenter is out. This situation is modeled after “real-life” events such as riding a crowded bus or sitting on a crowded bench at the park. - Distress:
- Anger/Frustration: The level of anger evoked from various situations which may cause a child to become upset, argumentative, or protest in response (4 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Attractive Toy in a Transparent Box”: This task is designed to evoke frustration or anger by preventing the child from playing with the selected toy. The child will be able to see the object of desire (in this case a toy) through the clear plastic box but be unable to attain it because the box will be locked and the keys they try will not open it. - Sadness/Disappointment: The amount of sadness evoked from various situations which may cause a child to become disappointed, cry, or pout in response (2 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Empty Box”: The child deals with a situation in which a pleasant expectation was not met. This should result in displays of disappointment and sadness when the child is given a box, told it is a toy, and opens the box to discover it is empty (of course, the child is given the toy afterward).
- Anger/Frustration: The level of anger evoked from various situations which may cause a child to become upset, argumentative, or protest in response (4 total episodes).
- Exuberance: The amount of pleasure experienced by the child during novel or playful activities (3 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Surprise, it’s a Pop-up Snake!”: Pleasure is evoked in children this age when they can play a trick on their parent. The experimenter plays a trick on the child with pop-up snakes in a can, and then the experimenter and child play the same trick on the parents. - Interest/Persistence: The length of sustained attention or engagement during various tasks (5 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Bead Sorting”: This task is designed to show persistence. The objective of the task is to see if a child will remain engaged in a task that is presented as a “chore” rather than a pleasurable task. The experimenter brings the box of beads and the sorting container to the child, puts them on the table and asks the child to sort them out by color. - Activity level: The level of a child’s physical activity in numerous situations (6 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Workbench”: The experimenter presents the child with a toy workbench and demonstrates three things that can be done with it, and then allows the child to play freely with it. This task allows the child to manipulate various objects on the workbench in order to examine fine motor skills. - Inhibitory Control: The capacity to stop, moderate, or refrain from a behavior under instruction (4 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Snack Delay”: The experimenter presents M&Ms to the child, puts one in a cup, and asks the child to wait a certain amount of time before eating it. Throughout multiple trials, individual differences in impulsivity can be seen in this situation. - Contentment: The level of satisfaction a child is feeling during certain tasks (4 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Painting/Drawing a Picture”: The experimenter comes into the room with the paper and paints, demonstrates how to use them, and allows the child to paint whatever they would like. This task is designed to elicit contentment in children because they are allowed to use their creativity using somewhat novel stimuli (i.e., very large paper, and paint-filled markers).
Citations
Gagne, J. R., Van Hulle, C. A., Aksan, N., Essex, M. J., & Goldsmith, H. H. (2011). Deriving childhood temperament measures from emotion-eliciting behavioral episodes: Scale construction and initial validation. Psychological Assessment,23, 337-353. PMID: 21480723. PMCID: PMC3115493.
Goldsmith, H. H., Reilly, J., Lemery, K. S., Longley, S., and Prescott, A. (1993). Preliminary manual for the Preschool Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (version 1.0). Technical Report, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (TBAQ) is a 120 item, eleven-scale parent report instrument designed to examine temperament-related behavior in 16–36 month old children. The scales include activity level, perceptual sensitivity, inhibitory control, soothability, appropriate attentional allocation, sadness, object fear, anger, social fear, pleasure, and interest.
- Activity level: Activity level is defined as limb, trunk, or locomotor movement during a variety of daily situations.
Example TBAQ scale item: How often during the past month did —- play games which involved running around, banging, or dumping out toys? - Perceptual sensitivity: Perceptual sensitivity refers to detection of slight, low intensity stimuli from the external environment.
Example TBAQ scale item: How often did —- object to changes in articles of clothing that fit snugly or tightly (for example, putting on a hat, wearing gloves, getting new shoes)? - Inhibitory control: Inhibitory control is defined as the capacity to stop, moderate, or refrain from a behavior under instruction.
Example TBAQ scale item: When asked to wait for something (like a toy or a snack), how often did —- wait patiently? - Soothability: Soothability refers to rate of recovery from peak distress, excitement or general arousal.
Example TBAQ scale item: When you removed something —- should not have been playing with and did not want to give up, how often did s/he stay upset for 10 minutes or longer? - Appropriate attentional allocation: Appropriate attentional allocation is defined in terms of sustained duration of orienting on an object of attention; resisting distraction.
Example TBAQ scale item: When asked to complete tasks, such as cleaning up toys or blocks, how often did —- do this without becoming distracted? - Sadness: Sadness is defined as the tearfulness or lowered mood related to exposure to personal suffering, disappointment, object loss, loss of approval, or response to other’s suffering.
Example TBAQ scale item: When told to do something s/he did not want to do, how often did —- become tearful? - Anger: Anger is defined as crying, protesting, hitting, pouting, or other signs of anger in situations involving conflict with the caregiver or another child.
Example TBAQ scale item: When you removed something —- should not have been playing with, how often did s/he protest (scream or grab objects back)? - Interest: The interest scale refers to the duration of task engagement in ongoing solitary play.
Example TBAQ scale item: While playing with a detailed or complicated toy (such as a big doll house or toy garage), how often did —- become easily bored or restless? - Object fear: Object fear is defined as the amount of negative affect, including unease, worry or nervousness related to anticipated pain or distress and/or potentially threatening situations.
Example TBAQ scale item: When a dog or other large animal approached —-, how often did s/he cling to you fearfully? - Social fear: Slow or inhibited approach and/or discomfort in social situations involving novelty or uncertainty.
Example TBAQ scale item: When one of the parents’ friends who did not have daily contact with —- visited the home, how often did —- talk much less than usual? - Pleasure: Amount of pleasure, enjoyment or excitement about expected pleasurable activities.
Example TBAQ scale item: When given a wrapped package or a new toy in a bag, how often did s/he laugh or squeal with joy?
Citations
Goldsmith, H. H. (1996). Studying temperament via construction of the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire. Child Development, 67, 218-235. PMID: 8605830.
Goldsmith, H. H., Rieser-Danner, L. A., & Briggs, S. (1991). Evaluating convergent and discriminant validity of temperament questionnaires for preschoolers, toddlers, and infants. Developmental Psychology, 27, 566-579.
Goldsmith, H. H. (1988). Preliminary manual for the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire. Oregon Center for the Study of Emotion technical report. #88-04.
The Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB) middle childhood version is a 21-episode test battery designed to measure seven dimensions of temperament in children five to eight years of age. The dimensions assessed in this version are fear, distress, exuberance, interest/persistence, activity level, inhibitory control, and contentment.
- Fear: The level of negative affect including unease, worry or nervousness to novel or social stimuli which may evoke a frightened or started response (1 episode).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Scary Mask”: The child is presented with a social fear scenario with a stranger wearing a mask. The stranger approaches and begins to talk to him or her. The child is thus faced with a novel, slightly threatening person who enters the room while the experimenter is out. - Distress:
- Anger/Frustration: The level of anger evoked from various situations which may cause a child to become upset, argumentative, or protest in response (4 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Attractive Toy in a Transparent Box”: This task is designed to evoke frustration or anger by preventing the child from playing with the selected toy. The child will be able to see the object of desire (in this case a toy) through the clear plastic box but be unable to attain it because the box will be locked and the keys they try will not open the box. - Sadness/Disappointment: The amount of sadness evoked from various situations which may cause a child to become disappointed, cry, or pout in response (2 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Wrong Gift”: The child is presented with a situation in which a pleasant expectation was not met. This should result in displays of disappointment and sadness when the child is given a toy that they had previously chosen as a toy that they would not want to receive, (of course, the child chooses any toy afterward).
- Anger/Frustration: The level of anger evoked from various situations which may cause a child to become upset, argumentative, or protest in response (4 total episodes).
- Exuberance: The amount of pleasure experienced by the child during novel or playful activities (2 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Balloon Bop”: Pleasure is evoked in children this age when they can play a fun and active game. The experimenter “bops” a balloon back and forth with the child, trying to keep it from hitting the ground. - Interest/Persistence: The length of sustained attention or engagement during various tasks (2 total episodes).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Yarn Tangle”: This task is designed to show persistence. The objective of the task is to see if a child will remain engaged in a task that is presented as a “chore” rather than a pleasurable task. The experimenter presents the child with a tangled ball of yarn and asks them to untangle it. - Activity level: The level of a child’s physical activity in numerous situations (1 episode).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Free Play”: The experimenter presents the child with an assortment of active toys (hula hoop, jump rope, trampoline and punching bag), and then allows the child to play freely with them. This task allows the child to engage with the toys however they want. - Inhibitory Control: The capacity to stop, moderate, or refrain from a behavior under instruction (1 episode).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Tower of Patience”: The experimenter progressively takes longer to take their turn while playing a game of Jenga with the child. Throughout multiple trials, individual differences in impulsivity can be seen in this situation. - Contentment: The level of satisfaction a child is feeling during certain tasks (1 episode).
Lab-TAB episode example-“Prize Ranking”: The experimenter comes into the room with a number of small toys and asks the child to rank them from the best prize, or the one that they’d most like to keep, to the worst prize, or the one that they’d least like to keep. - Compliance: The level of compliance to follow requests from the experimenter (2 total episodes)
Lab-TAB episode example-“Throwing Game”: The child is left alone to play a game that has specific, and difficult, rules. The degree of rule violation is coded. - Shyness: The level of shyness in a routine, but slightly stressful, situation. (1 episode)
Lab-TAB episode example-“Storytelling”: The child is instructed to stand on a mat and talk about what happened yesterday while two experimenters sit by with neutral expressions. - Empathy: The level of shyness in a routine, but slightly stressful, situation. (2 total episodes)
Lab-TAB episode example-“Empathy with Experimenter”: The experimenter pretends to clip their finger in a clipboard and acts like it hurts. The child’s reactions to this are coded. - Sibling Episodes: The interaction between the test child and his or her sibling. (2 total episodes)
Lab-TAB episode example-“Snack Time”: The children are given a bottle of juice and cookie to share. The level of sharing and cooperation is coded. - Parent – Child Episodes: The interaction between the test child and his or her parent and sibling. (2 total episodes) Lab-TAB episode example-“Viewmaster”: The mother and children are left with a single Viewmaster toy to play with. The mother’s interactions with each child are coded.
Citation
Goldsmith, H. H., Lemery, K. S., Schmidt, N. L., Schmidt, C. K., Chow, O. K., & Justen, A. A. (2010). Field administration manual for the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery: Middle Childhood Version. Psychology Department Technical Report, University of Wisconsin–Madison.
The zygosity questionnaire is a research tool to classify zygosity, particularly for infants and toddlers. Ambiguous zygosity should be supplemented by genotyping. See Goldsmith, 1991 for instructions and instrument information.
Citation
Goldsmith, H. H. (1991). A zygosity questionnaire for young twins: A research note. Behavior Genetics, 21, 257-269. PMID: 1863259.