User:Mlehn0002/Four temperaments

In four less-ideal types, one of the four qualities was dominant over all the others. In the remaining four types, one pair of qualities dominated the complementary pair; for example, warm and moist dominated cool and dry. These last four were the temperamental categories which Galen named "sanguine", "choleric", "melancholic", and "phlegmatic" after the bodily humours. Each was the result of an excess of one of the humours which produced the imbalance in paired qualities.

'''For example, if one tended to be, or act, too happy, one can assume they have too much blood, since blood relates to sanguine, and can medically act accordingly. If one tended to be, or act, too calm or reserved, one can assume they have too much phlegm in the system, since phlegm relates to phlegmatic, and can medically act accordingly. If one tended to be, or act, too sad, one can assume they have too much black bile in the system, since black bile relates to melancholic, and can medically act accordingly. If one tended to be, or act, too angry, one can assume they have too much yellow bile in the system, since yellow biles relates to choleric, and can medically act accordingly.'''

These properties were considered the basis of health and disease. This meant that having a balance and good mixture of the humours defined good health, while an imbalance or separation of the humours led to disease. Because the humours corresponded to certain seasons, one way to avoid an imbalance or disease was to change health-related habits depending on the season. Some physicians did this by regulating a patient's diet, while some used remedies such as phlebotomy and purges to get rid of excess blood. Even Galen proposed a theory of the importance of proper digestion in forming healthy blood. The idea was that the two most important factors when digesting are the types of food and the person's body temperature. This meant that if too much heat were involved, then the blood would become "overcooked." This meant that it would contain too much of the yellow bile, and the patient would become feverish. If there were not enough heat involved, this would cause there to be too much phlegm.

'''But how did these temperaments come about? It has to do with conception. For example, one can look at Sanguine. After about two to three hours since conception, if the conditions of the womb is hot and moist, or, hot and wet, then there is a predominance of blood, since the blood is the most abundant at these hours. So, the child will have red hair and its body will be full of blood where its skin will appear reddish. Besides reddish skin, it'll also be thin and heavy with full organs and body parts, like plump lips. All in all, the blood makes the child very beautiful with a charming and direct voice. The child will become joyous, cheerful, and laughter. Observations like these from the hour of conception to the birth of the baby can tell a lot about the type of humour that will prevail.'''

Persian polymath Avicenna (980–1037 AD) extended the theory of temperaments in his Canon of Medicine, which was a standard medical text at many medieval universities. He applied them to "emotional aspects, mental capacity, moral attitudes, self-awareness, movements and dreams." Nicholas Culpeper (1616–1654) suggested that the humors acted as governing principles in bodily health, with astrological correspondences, and explained their influence upon physiognomy and personality. He proposed that some people had a single temperament, while others had an admixture of two, a primary and secondary temperament.

'''Though, the humours did seem to have a big effect on personality, whether it was a mixture of two or not. The humours can be broken into categories, like extrovert and introvert. If one is Choleric or/and Sanguine, then they are most likely "outgoing" and "extroverted." If one is Melancholy and/or Phlegmatic, then they are most likely "reserved" or "introverted." One humour is not benefited nor desired more than the other, every needs all four of the temperaments in order to have good balance, but everyone is created differently by God and are unique.'''

Waldorf education and anthroposophy believe that the temperaments help to understand personality. They also believe that is useful for education, helping the teachers understand how the child learns. Christian writer Tim LaHaye has attempted to repopularize the ancient temperaments through his books.

But, just like the Hippocrates, others have made correspondences to the humours properties today.

'James David Barber developed The Presidential Character'', where, active related to hot, passive related to cold, positive related to moist, and negative related to dry. If one were to make a punnett square of these characters, one can find an Active-Positive, Passive-Positive, Active-Negative, or Passive-Negative individual. This diagram was made after an influential study of the U.S Presidency, hence the name .'''

'Robert R. Blake created The Managerial Grid'', where, high concern for production related to hot, low concern for production related to cold, high concern for people related to moist, and low concern for people related to dry. If one were to make the same punnett square of these characters, one can find a Team Management, a Country Club Management, a Task Management, or an Ineffective Management individual.'''

Even though the original Four Temperaments Theory is a classic and the foundation of all other theories, people today have modernized the diagram by using psychological methods instead of medical.