Activity-specific approach in temperament research

Activity-specific approach in temperament research is the theory related to a structure of temperament, i.e. how temperament traits can be classified and organized. This approach suggests:

• 1) a separation of the traits related to three aspects of activities: social-verbal, motor-physical and mental aspects of behaviour. In contrast to that, all other models of a structure of temperament describing an energetic dimension (for example, traits of Activity or Extraversion) do not differentiate between the traits regulating physical, social-verbal or mental activities. Yet, someone who enjoys performing prolonged and/or intense physical work might tire of social conversations very quickly. Likewise, a fast-talking person might not necessarily be able to manipulate objects swiftly or perform rapid mental calculations.
• 2) an integration of the principle of habit formation in behavioural regulation into the structure of psychological individual differences (the principle was studied experimentally since the pioneering work of Nikolai Bernstein^[1][2] Bernstein's studies in kinesiology and then subsequent studies in neuroscience demonstrated that there is a transfer of control over construction of behaviour between several areas of the brain, depending on novelty and complexity of the tasks. Neurophysiological (cortical) systems regulating probabilistic aspects of actions gradually pass control to the "habit" systems (in basal ganglia when an individual learns the action or already has sufficient familiarity with the program of actions. The activity-specific approach differentiates between temperament traits related to several levels of complexity of behaviour Other models of personality and temperament did not differentiate between traits related to probabilistic and deterministic aspects of behavioural regulation. Meanwhile, it is well-known in neuroscience that behaviour in complex, probabilistic and novel situations is regulated by different (neocortex) systems than behaviour in well-learned or in simple situations (regulated more by basal ganglia). Rusalov demonstrated that this distinction is applicable to the structure of temperament. For example, when it comes to Endurance, Intellectual Endurance relates to capacities for prolonged mental activities whereas Physical (Motor) Endurance in his model relates to capacities for stereotypical, well-learned physical work. Similarly, the trait of Plasticity in Rusalov's model relates to activation of the frontal cortex controlling the ease of integration of new programs of actions whereas the trait of Tempo relates to the speed of integration of previously learned or simple actions.