Interpersonal Relations

The Four Temperaments

Are you familiar with the four temperaments? Most of us have heard someone say something about someone's temerament or used the word ourselves. But there were actually four different temperaments defined by Hipppocrates, the Greek physician, in about 400 B.C. Shakespeare referred to these various temperaments in his plays. Since then they have been explained and explored by business psychologists, religious writers, home educators, and others. They have been variously named in more recent times. I will give Hippocrates' names in my explanations. There are many other names that people have given to the four temperaments but they are still the same four designations regardless of the names. I would like to share some of those other names with you but to avoid plagiarism, I will simply give my explanation of the four temperaments, using Hippocrates' names.

What is the advantage of knowing about the four temperaments? One of the important advantages is to understand why others are not like us. Have you ever said, or heard someone else say, "I don't know why he/she can't be more like me." Or how about, "I just don't understand her." When we know the temperaments, it enables us to better understand that we are all very different from one another.

Even though there are four temperaments, there are not four different kinds of people! Most people exhibit the tendencies of a combination of at least two of the temperaments, often even some of the traits of a third. Besides this, we have our upbringing, the way we have reacted to events in our lives, our religious convictions and our values, our decisions, and many factors that come together to make us what we are.

And that is why we can use the temperaments to understand ourselves and others better, to glorify God in our good traits, and work on our weaknesses, but not to excuse ourselves for things that perhaps we should work on improving.. Understanding the temperaments is simply a tool for greater positive understanding of ourselves and others, for greater sympathy and empathy, and hopefully greater healthy self-esteem.

Who you are, and what you have to offer, is unique, different from any other human being. Each one of us is special to God and special in what we can do for others.

More info: Choleric - Sanguine - Melancholy - Phlegmatic

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