The 4 temperaments are 4 distinct natures of behavior. These temperaments are found in the understandings of humorism, and are one of the oldest personality type systems. It was used in ancient greek medicine, and was first described by Hippocrates a greek physician who is known to be the father of western medicine. These temperaments are a way of looking at the behaviors that different people had based off the amount of these different humors they had in their body. The four humors were blood(Air), yellow bile(Fire), black bile(Earth), and phlegm(Water), these four humors were seen to be 4 physical substances that were present in the body, and were greatly associated with the four elements.
The four temperaments are known as sanguine(Air), choleric(Fire), melancholic(Earth), and phlegmatic(Water), which one you are is determined by which humor you have the most of in your body. Usually people will have a mixture of these temperaments with two of them being the most prevalent, though one of them will be predominant, and the other will be secondary. Most people are going to have mix temperaments, but you are also able to have a pure temperament. A pure temperament is when you have a high extraordinary amount of a single temperament, so much so that you are that temperament word for word. Everybody has different levels of these humor’s in their body, which allows everyone to have a different form of behavior, and nature.
I do not believe in the 4 humor substances as physical forms except for some of their scientific counterparts, but I see them more as philosophical, and spiritual understandings of elemental balances as related to the body. I see the 4 humors as elemental balances of nature that are present on a spiritual, mental, and physical level with the 4 temperaments being manifestations of the humors on the mental level. I see this system as a more esoteric, and occult way of looking at the behavior, and nature of an entity from an elemental perspective.
The temperament of sanguine is connected to the humor of blood. It is connected to the element of air, and has the 2 qualities of hot, and wet. It is a masculine temperament, and tends to be extroverted.
Sanguines are very sociable, and optimistic. They primarily enjoy having fun, and not taking life too seriously. Sanguines tend to not be able to get along with the people who are not open to there entertaining. They are prone to overindulgence, and pleasure-seeking, and because of this they do engage in thrill-seeking, and more risky behaviors. Sanguines are incredibly charismatic, and are able to form relationships very easily because of this. They seek variety, and entertainment to relieve boredom, and to make their experience interesting. They can be quite competitive with others, and actively enjoy winning. Sanguines are very open with their emotions, even though they can have difficulty with too many thoughts, and feelings coming up at once. They are very conscious about what other people think of them, and like to make good impressions, and to not be thought of as unsuccessful.
Positive traits: Lively, carefree, outgoing, charismatic, entertaining, composed, flexible, adaptable, enthusiastic, active, fun-loving, playful, activity-prone, persuasive, communicative, and social
Negative traits: Lack of deep understanding, nonserious, distractible, disorganized, and naive
The temperament of choleric is connected to the humor of yellow bile. It is connected to the element of fire, and has the 2 qualities of hot and dry. It is a masculine temperament, and tends to be extroverted.
People who are choleric like to be with people who are supportive, and cooperative, and because of the state dislike laziness, and disloyalty. They have many leadership qualities and enjoy leading a group and taking charge. They are extremely practical, and straightforward. They are very social, and seek to contribute to the community. They are very good at forward movement, and can easily and insightfully overcome obstacles in order to accomplish their goals. People that are choleric are good and making decisions for themselves and others. They are also visionaries who have many different dreams, goals, and ideas in which they would like to reach.
Positive traits: Traditional, independent, decisive, savvy, analytical, logical obedient, goal oriented, leadership, self-confident, self-sufficient, and strong-willed.
Negative traits: Impulsive, domineering, autocratic, inpatient, opinionated, controlling short-tempered, fast, and irritable
People that are melancholic is analytical, detail oriented, and are deep thinkers and feelers. They pay attention to every detail and think over everything. They have compassion for those in need, and have high standards, and ideals. They dislike forgetfulness, tardiness, superficiality and unpredictability. They take life too seriously, and try to plan out every little thing, and enjoy trying to achieve their own subjective perfection. They dislike small talk, and enjoy deep, and meaningful conversations. They are quality oriented. They enjoy their privacy, and use their privacy as a place to think, and to plan out what they are going to do before they do it. They can have anxiety and guilt for the present and future for things that they have done, and are going to do. They spend a lot of time making decisions, and gathering a lot of information to decide what are right courses of action for them to take. They may easily get lost in thought, because of all the information that they are analyzing. They also may ask the same thing multiple times to make sure that they are correct, and what they know. They want reassurance, and feedback a lot of the times to help them make decisions more easily, and to feel justified in what they have done, or not done. They fear being seen as incompetent, and will try to avoid being seen as such.
Positive traits: Meticulous, organized, quality-oriented, caring, compassionate, analytical, wise, and quiet
Negative traits: Pessimistic, perfectionist, conscientious, picky, moody, and sensitive.
Phlegmatic people are good at generalizing ideas or problems to the world. They seek interpersonal harmony, and close relationships. They do not like people who are too pushy, and they also avoid conflict in all aspects of their life. They are sympathetic and care about others, yet try to hide their emotions. They are great at making compromises, and are quite logical, and intuitive. They are not very ambitious though they may have things they strive for, and because of this they may lack a sense of urgency. pragmatics are some of the easiest people to get along with, because of their very calm, relaxed, and not imposing nature, unless you ask them to change. They tend to reach for a more calm, and sustainable lifestyle of routine, and people they are close to. They enjoy going with the flow, and allow life to carry them where it needs to. They are possessive of their friendships, and material things. They usually have a couple of close friends, and are very loyal to those close friends. They also tend to be the person who never will break a friendship. They avoid conflict and resist change. Phlegmatics are also great thinkers, and are very practical, and logical.
Positive traits: Meticulous, composed, collected, calm, good team player, practical, logical, easygoing, patient, agreeable, relaxed and peaceful
Negative traits: Lack of enthusiasm, unemotional, indecisiveness, lack of energy, and procrastination