One of the great areas of psychology is the study of personality, from which behavioral science researchers use relatively abstract concepts to classify and describe people’s behavior patterns (and to predict, at least in part, their future behavior).
However, when looking for ways to classify and describe the style of behavior and thinking of human beings, not only has personality been talked about, but there is another concept that has also been used throughout history. to try to capture the particularities of each person. This concept is called temper and tries to account for those inclinations and tendencies of each one that are more fixed, invariable and difficult to change.
Let’s see what human temperaments are according to various theories that have emerged throughout history, and how they describe the way individuals are.
The type of temperament of each person is usually understood as the basic structure on which each person’s personality is built with all its details and particularities.
That is to say, starting from a classification of the types of human temperaments, we access the basic descriptions of the way people are; that which, at least in theory, helps to understand its essence and what can be expected from each one. And I say in theory because, as we will see later, the concept of “temperament” has some limitations that must be taken into account.
For now, the important thing is to stay with the idea that This way of classifying people’s behavior patterns refers to very open and abstract concepts, enough so that they cover ways of acting that are very variable despite having something in common between them. Ultimately, it tries to weave together ways of expressing ourselves and reacting to what is happening around us that change as time passes and we go through stages of physical and psychological development.
Because temperament types create a framework that theoretically encompasses our way of being in practically all situations and at any age, in the field of personal development it is usually used as a reference for understand the limitations and potential of each
The difference between temperament and personality
Although the concept of “personality” is already used to describe relatively stable behavioral styles throughout life, it evolves as individuals mature and can also be significantly altered by the experiences they go through (and by learning). obtained in them). But temperament is even more stable and once established in the first years of life, it changes very little.
In recent decades this means that the term temperament has been used to refer to one’s genetics, the heritable part of personality, meaning that one’s temperament would remain more or less unchanged regardless of the things that happen to us. happen, the way we learn to manage our emotions, etc.
But… how did the idea come about that human beings have different types of temperaments that differentiate us from one another? The answer is in the theory of the 4 basic temperaments which is based on the idea that our way of being depends on various types of substances, or “humors”, that circulate through our body.
The theory of the four humors
One of the first historical figures to develop the theory of the 4 humors that would later give way to that of temperaments was the Greek doctor Hippocrates
Around the 5th and 4th centuries BC. C., in ancient Greece where Hippocrates lived, the belief that everything that exists in the world was made up of a few elements combined with each other was very important. Hippocrates adopted this view when defending the idea that the human body is made up of 4 basic substances, also called humors.
For Hippocrates, These humors are the following:
But Hippocrates was still a doctor, and That is why this humoral theory entered more into the field of medicine than into that of psychology and personality According to him, the fact that all these substances are in balance in our body makes us healthy, while a decompensation in the levels of the humors would cause diseases.
Was Galen of Pergamon who, in the second century BC. C. made greater efforts to transform the theory of humors into a theory of basic temperaments.
The theory of basic temperaments
Galen started from the idea that everything is made up of a mixture of 4 elements and that each of them corresponds to one of the humors of the human body to end up applying this vision to the primitive psychology of that time.
For this Greek doctor, The levels at which each of the humors are present in a human body explain personality styles and temperament, which means that by observing the quantities of these substances we could know a person’s behavioral style, how they express their emotions, etc.
The 4 basic temperaments proposed by Galen were the following.
1. Sanguine temperament
The sanguine people They are characterized according to Galen by being happy, optimistic and always seeking the company of others
They show warmth when dealing with other people, their way of acting obeys more to feelings than to conclusions generated by rational analysis. Furthermore, they change their minds easily and are not given to disciplined behavior, because they are guided by the search for immediate pleasure. That’s why they often leave things unfinished. Its associated element is air.
2. Phlegmatic temperament
He phlegmatic temperament expresses a propensity to a serene and calm way of behaving and a persevering way of approaching goals based on rationality
According to Galen’s theory, people who stand out for this type of temperament highly value accuracy when thinking and doing things, they rarely get angry and do not show their emotions too much, appearing somewhat cold. In addition, they tend to be somewhat shy and avoid being the center of attention or holding a leadership role. According to the theory of the 4 temperaments, these people corresponded to the water element.
3. Choleric temperament
People who stand out for their choleric temperament are especially energetic, proactive and independent They show a tendency to always be dedicating themselves to an activity or undertaking projects and they vigorously defend their opinions and positions in the different situations they experience.
Furthermore, they trust their own judgment and are not afraid to enter into confrontation with others, which is why they are assertive and do not shy away from leadership positions. However, if this type of temperament is very extreme, it can give rise to many conflicts and hostilities. The element with which they were related was fire.
4. Melancholic temperament
People with melancholic temperament They are characterized, according to Galen, by being emotionally sensitive, creative, introverted, selfless and perfectionist In some way, this type of temperament can be related to the recent concept of Highly Sensitive People (HSP), although defined in a much more ambiguous way.
Although they find pleasure in tasks that require effort and personal sacrifice, they find it difficult to decide when starting projects precisely because of that perfectionist spirit and the worry caused by the insecurity of not knowing what is going to happen. Their mood varies easily and they show a propensity for sadness. Its element is earth.
Galen’s work has been a reference for many centuries of history, but Today it is not considered valid in medicine or psychology
The reasons are that, on the one hand, it was not formulated on ideas and philosophical positions accepted today (the humoral theory) and on the other hand, that the way in which the different temperaments are described is very ambiguous. This means that although it may be inspiring to see one’s own personality reflected in some of these temperamental types, it is very possible that part of the interest that this simple classification system produces in us is due to the Forer effect, as occurs, for example, with the enneagram of the personality.
After all, in the time of Galen psychology as a science did not exist, and we were just beginning to understand the functioning of the world and the human body by resorting to poorly defined concepts, composed of several ideas that, although we could intuitively relate them to each other, beyond this it cannot be justified that they are united. For example, there is no reason why within the phlegmatic temperament the serene character and the rational way of thinking should appear together. Could there not be a serene and non-rational temperament?
The inspiring potential of Galen
As we have seen, conceptually it is difficult to define where one temperament ends and another begins. This occurs because theories of human temperaments refer to very abstract and poorly defined categories, since they aspire to explain behavioral tendencies even broader and more stable than personality. That is why, in practice, it is usually advisable to focus more on the concept of personality, since it helps to know in greater detail what characterizes the way of being of individuals. And today, there are scientifically supported models of personality, such as the Big Five Model.
However, just because the theory of the four temperaments no longer has scientific validity does not mean that it has not served as inspiration for various personality theories in modern psychology. Many personality researchers have based themselves on the concept of temperament to develop their tests and personality measurement tools, and today genetic inheritance is considered to have an important role in our way of being.
