The first year of a child's life is incredibly important. Patterns of behaviour and thinking are starting to be set and the genes that underpin our personalities are beginning to show themselves. By the age of one, we could get a good idea of our children's personalities and catch a glimpse of what they'd be like as adults. The experiences that mould a baby's personality start in the womb. Scientists believe stressful or traumatic events during pregnancy, such as maternal anxiety or a car crash, can affect an unborn baby because stress hormones can be passed through the umbilical cord. Birth itself can also have an effect.  By six months, our babies had started to show distinct character differences. Each one approached life in a different way - some with confidence and boldness, others with a degree of uncertainty and shyness. We wanted to find out which children were bold and which were shy. To do this, we confronted them with a strange situation - a person wearing a tiger mask. When picked up by a stranger wearing this mask, the shy children cried immediately. The intermediate children cried only when the tiger 'roared'. The bold children didn't cry at all. About a third of our babies were shy, a third intermediate and a third bold.
 We also wanted to test how happy and secure the children were. Psychologists believe that if a strong parental bond isn't formed during the first year, a child will probably become unhappy. One way to test this is to measure a child's reaction when their parent leaves a room and then returns. Most of our babies cried or became miserable when their parent left and were visibly happy to see them when they returned. Some of those who felt insecure didn't cry when their parent left and didn't react when they returned. Others cried a lot when their parent left and couldn't be comforted when they came back. Tomboy or sissy? Find out more in programme 2.
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