Temperament?
The American Heritage® Stedman’s Medical Dictionary states that temperament is ” The manner of thinking, behaving, or reacting, characteristic of a specific person.” An easier and better way of explaining temperament would be your temper, your inborn nature, or simply what makes you react the way you do.
Temperaments have been discussed since Hippocrates, the father of western medicine, who lived from 460- 370 BC. He is where we get the Hippocratic oath that physicians, physician assistants, and other healthcare professionals take.
Man is made in three parts which are the mind, body, and soul. All of which are necessary to exist. If any of these three get out of balance, “you” will react to it. For example, if you have a poor diet, you will have a poor body. You may experience more fatigue and illnesses compared to a person who has a balanced diet. The soul is similar in the sense that “feeding” it a poor diet of selfishness WILL keep you unfulfilled and will deceive your into more selfish acts. You will then enter the downward spiral thinking of, “If only I had _________, then I would be happy.” Lastly, the mind or the emotions: Here lie your thoughts and feelings. If you, for example, are a people person, you will put yourself out of balance if you are alone for a long period of time. This will lead to stress and anxiety therefore; you may not make your best decisions in this state. Another example is if you are a person who likes things organized and come to a home that is not organized, you may tend not to want to come home. Believe it or not, there is a reason for why you do what you do. The root of it all is your temperament.
Many confuse temperament for character…
Let’s begin with your BEHAVIOR. This is the aspect of you that you fully control. We wear many masks in life. For example, you may be sad, but you may wear your “happy mask” or there might be a person you have a crush on, but you will put on your “poker face”. These are all YOUR behaviors and YOUR masks that you choose to where. You can change them any time you want.
Next, we go deeper to your CHARACTER. Your character is not controlled by you, but is influenced by your environment. Your parents, school, friends, influences, or church will all build your character. What you put into it is what will come out. For example, Allie’s character will be different them Noah’s if Allie attended college and Noah did not. What about disciplining your child? Yes, if Harry was disciplined and Sally wasn’t, then you would see a great difference in character even if they were siblings. As fascinating as this aspect of a person is, this is, for the most part as deep as psychology may go. They will not explore any deeper than this.
Finally, we will explore the deepest aspect of you; your TEMPERAMENT. This is the one thing that cannot be changed. You are born with your temperament and will die with it never changing. For example, why does one baby sleep fine through the night while another baby needs much attention perhaps by being held. This is their temperament! Nobody taught them to do these things, they were born with those needs. Temperament is the inborn part of man that determines how he reacts to the world (people, places, etc.). It will also determine how well he handles situations (stresses or pressures of life).
What are the different temperaments?
Most temperament or personality tests typically look for only four different temperaments. Our temperament test will be much more accurate as we test for five temperaments. This is the most accurate and up to date temperament test that you can take.
There are five different temperament types. Click on the one you’d like to read about:
Choleric Temperament | Melancholy Temperament | Sanguine Temperament | Supine Temperament | Phlegmatic Temperament
To find out your temperament, please contact us.
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