Hippocrates and the Roman physician Galen were the first to divide temperaments into four types: choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholic:
Y CHOLERIC – these people are prone to violent and quick reactions. They feel their emotions deeply (especially anger and stress). They can be friendly, but most of them have a low threshold of patience and tolerance.
Y SANGUINE – these people are also prone to quick reactions, but they are mostly positive. They are not sensitive like cholerics or melancholics, but they are very cheerful, lively and sociable.
Y PHLEGMATIC – these individuals are prone to slow reactions and are difficult to get excited. They are calm and withdrawn, but not too emotional, they seem rather monotonous.
Y MELANCHOLIC – similar to cholerics, melancholics feel their emotions deeply, but these emotions are mostly negative (sadness). As phlegmatics, their reactions are slower and they are difficult to excite.
Most of the time, people are a combination of the two temperaments, so you’ll often see someone who is a choleric – melancholic (more choleric, but has a lot of melancholic traits as well). But if someone is only a sanguine, their temperament is sanguine [dominant].
Here are traits of each temperament :
| CHOLERIC | |
|---|---|
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| ambitious | aggressive |
| passionate | domineering |
| leader - like | inflexible |
| focused | impatient |
| efficient | rude and tactless |
| practical | argumentative |
| good at planning | uncomfortable around emotion |
| good at problem solving | unable to relax |
| confident | low on empathy |
| motivating | discouraged by failures |
| usually right | too busy for people |
| a delegator | intolerant |
| great in emergency | demanding |
| SANGUINE | |
|---|---|
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| sociable | impulsive |
| charismatic | chronically late |
| outgoing | shameless |
| confident | forgetful |
| warm - hearted | a compulsive talker |
| pleasant | too loud |
| lively | sometimes too happy |
| optimistic | distractible |
| a fun lover | dislikes boring/serious tasks |
| spontaneous | self - absorbed |
| never bored | an exaggerator |
| quick apologizer | appears unauthentic |
| easily makes friends |
| PHLEGMATIC | |
|---|---|
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| relaxed | sometimes shy |
| quiet and calm | fearful of change |
| content with themselves | prone to laziness |
| kind | stubborn |
| consistent | passive - aggressive |
| faithful friend | indecisive |
| accepting | permissive |
| affectionate | not goal oriented |
| diplomatic | unenthusiastic |
| peacemaking | sarcastic |
| rational | discouraging |
| curious | non - participative |
| observant | too compromising |
| MELANCHOLIC | |
|---|---|
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| thoughtful | obsessive |
| considerate | can be too cautious |
| cautious | prone to depression |
| organized | prone to moodiness |
| excessive planner | perfectionistic |
| schedule oriented | pessimistic |
| detailed | deeply affected |
| highly creative | dificult to please |
| artistic | tunel vision |
| independent | can procrastinate |
| good at preventing problems | discontent with themselves and others |
| inventious | prone to play the martyr |
Examples : chol-mel (mainly choleric but also relates to melancholic), sang-dom (mainly sanguine), phleg-sang…