Which term describes innate traits that influence behavior in children?

The term that describes innate traits that influence behavior in children is temperament. Temperament refers to the biologically-based individual differences in emotional, motor, and attentional reactivity and self-regulation that are evident in early childhood and can have a significant impact on how a child interacts with their environment. These innate characteristics can influence various aspects of development, including how children respond to stress, their social interactions, and their learning styles.

Temperament is recognized as a key factor in shaping personality and behavior, and it is often categorized into different types, such as easy, difficult, or slow-to-warm-up. Understanding a child's temperament can help caregivers and educators support the child's development in ways that align with their natural predispositions, fostering more effective socialization and learning experiences.

In contrast, socialization refers to the process through which children learn and adopt the norms, values, and behaviors of their culture, while cognition focuses on mental processes like thinking, learning, and memory. Behaviorism is a theoretical approach that emphasizes the role of environmental stimuli in shaping behavior through conditioning and reinforcement, rather than innate traits.