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Why the TCI?The TCI is the 'Temperament and Character Inventory” from Cloninger. He developed this questionnaire to establish differences between people with respect to seven dimensions of temperament and character. The TCI is based on Cloninger's 'psychobiological theory of personality'. The unique aspect of this tool is that it is suitable for measuring both normal and abnormal behaviour patterns. There are four temperament scales that describe aspects of the personality that are probably hereditarily influenced, are automatic, unconsciously influence the learning processes, and can already be observed early in childhood years. The three character scales refer to dimensions that become fully developed at adult age, influence personal and social effectiveness, as well as the acquisition of conscious self-perception. What does the TCI measure?The TCI comprises four temperament scales and three character scales. . The temperament scales are called Novelty Seeking (NS), Harm Avoidance (HA), Reward Dependence (RD) and Persistence (PE). The character scales are: Self-Directedness (SD), Cooperativeness (CO) and Self-Transcendence (ST). With the exception of the Persistence scale, the main scales have a total score of three to five subscales. In total the TCI consists of 7 main scales and 25 subscales. The TCI can be filled in by persons from 15 years of age. The 240 questions of the TCI are answered with "CORRECT" or "INCORRECT". The TCI can be filled in in approximately in 40 minutes. To give an impression of the sort of questions that are asked in the TCI, table 1 of each scale includes an example question. The example questions are all illustrative of a positive score on the relative scale. Also included, however, are questions that must have their scores converted. A Dutch condensed TCI has also been developed, the VTCI. The VTCI has 105 questions that only measure the main scales, each with 15 questions. The VTCI can be taken in approximately 20 minutes, and is therefore preferred if one is not particularly interested in the result on the subscales. The shorter time needed also makes the list more suitable for filling in by young people (from 12 years) or by the elderly. The reliability of the TCI and VTCI is good. ConclusionBecause of its structure where a distinction made is between character and temperament factors, the TCI appears to be a valuable addition to the usual personality questionnaires. Some application of the TCI are, for example: forecasting of personality disorders (de la Rie, Duijsens & Cloninger,1998) and applications for clinical use. The reliability, intercorrelations and factor structure of the TCI and VTCI scales correspond with results from earlier American research. The average scale scores of the Dutch and American random testing vary significantly statistically, so it is necessary to base oneself on a Dutch standard group. The average scores for ST are much lower than in the American random testing in particular. It appears likely that these differences are caused by cultural differences. For a more comprehensive description of the Dutch TCI and psychometric research, the reader is referred to the publication of Duijsens e.a. 1997. The research with the VTCI is described in the publication of Duijsens e.a., 1999.
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