TEMPERAMENT

In common usage, temperament means an innate leaning or predisposition toward characteristic modes of behavior, e.g., a natural leaning towards cheerfulness. Historically, the term has usually denoted a set of physical or physiological factors underlying and causing typical patterns of psychological response. It was supposed that the human body was made up of several components present in varying proportions; as one or another element assumed preponderance, it would affect not only the total physical ensemble, but—because of the dependence of mind on body—psychological dispositions as well. Temperament may be defined as an entitative habit by which several physiological or physical elements of human nature are variously proportioned among themselves, resulting in different characteristic psychological tendencies or leanings.

Classical Theory of Temperament. The notion of temperament is first proposed in the Hippocratic collections, a series of medico-philosophical treatises composed in the course of two or three hundred years at the height of the Greek classical period (see hippocrates). The famous physician Galen (c. a.d. 130–201) systematically proposed the theory in the form it was to keep, more or less unchanged, for the next 1,500 years. According to this systematization, four humors were present in the human body: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. Every man has all these humors, but in varying proportions. An excess of blood makes one cheerful, unstable, quick, and sociable; it gives him a sanguine temperament. An excess of phlegm makes one torpid, weak, steady, and apathetic; he has a phlegmatic temperament. An excess of black bile makes one morose, misanthropic, and sad; it characterizes the melancholic temperament. And an excess of yellow bile makes one passionate, irascible, domineering, and tenacious; it produces the choleric temperament.

Medieval View. St. thomas aquinas accepted the four temperaments of classical theory and speculated about the roots of temperamental differences (In lib. de memor. 8.401, 403, 406; Summa theologiae 2a2ae, 156.1 ad 2). In the context of hylomorphism, he held that such differences would fundamentally affect the body, which is complex and can be variously disposed, and would then affect the soul, insofar as the soul is proportioned to the body as form to is matter (Summa theologiae 1a2ae, 46.5, 48.2 ad 1, 51.1, 63.1; In 1 anim. 2.22; In 2 sent. 32.2.3; In 4 sent. 44.2.1). Temperamental differences would make some men prone to chastity, others to lust; some to courage and irascibility, others to timidity and mildness; some would be temperamentally more scientific and prudent, others more affectionate and sociable; still others, morose and easily depressed. These differences, he held, were inheritable, and therefore innate.

Modern Variations. This classic division of the four temperaments, with some modifications by various authors, persisted in essentially the same form down to the 17th century. Advances in physiological science then led to the rejection of the theory of the four humors. In spite of this, however, the fourfold division of sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic continued to be employed as designations of psychological types in common parlance, literary usage, and even in scientific writing. I. Kant, W. Wundt, J. Herbart, O. Külpe, H. Ebbinghaus, and J. Spurzheim, among others, set themselves to the task of restating the classic theory. Thus Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920), the father of experimental psychology, devised a system of interlocking temperamental characteristics, based on the traditional division. The sanguine man was emotionally quick and weak, affectively cheerful, oriented to the present, and active. The choleric man was emotionally quick and strong, affectively somber, oriented to the present, and active. The melancholic man was emotionally slow and strong, affectively somber, oriented to the past, and passive. The phlegmatic man was emotionally slow and weak, affectively cheerful, oriented to the past, and passive. For Wundt, these were simply psychological clusters of traits without a physiological basis or cause [Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie, 5th ed. (Leipzig 1902–03) 3:637–640].

Rostan and Sigaud. The theories of the French physician, L. L. Rostan [Cours élémentaire d'hygiène, (2nd ed. Paris 1828)] were adopted and presented by C. Sigaud in correlation with various physical types. The classical sanguine type was associated with a face whose central parts were predominant and a physically well-developed thorax. The choleric type he associated with a rectangular face and thorax. The melancholic type had a triangular face with the apex pointed down and a long, lean thorax; while the phlegmatic had a triangular face with the base down and a predominance of abdomen. These types Sigaud called respectively: respiratory, muscular, cerebral, and digestive, according to the organic systems preeminent in each. He believed these differences were caused by environment—respiratory types developing in the mountains and sea coasts, muscular types in industrial towns, cerebral types in large cities, and digestive types in valleys (La Forme humain, Paris 1914).

See Also: habit.

[m. stock]