The Regulatory Theory of Temperament: The View from the Top

Abstract

At the beginning of my research career, my exploration of extraversion with psychophysical and psychophysiological methods was drawn towards Pavlov’s typology of the nervous system properties and Sokolov’s model of the orienting reaction (OR). Western psychophysiologists, in fact, owe much to Sokolov for providing a fecund theory of perception and conditioning that used psychophysiological methods. This model of the OR, gave a big boost, and satisfying employment opportunities, to psychophysiologists, that in fact continue to this day. My own introduction to the Soviet psychology was greatly assisted by a paper that Jan Strelau published in 1969 in the first issue of the Polish Psychological Bulletin. I have followed the work of Strelau and his colleagues since that time and I have benefited from their efforts. I am pleased to comment on their most recent work on the Regulative Theory of Temperament (RTT). My main objective in this discussion will be to introduce a schema of descriptive and explanatory constructs that are employed in research on temperament and personality that will provide a context for illustrating the RTT research program as I see it and for discussing the merits and limitations of RTT.