temperament insights
Latest & Ongoing research in the field of Temperaments (Inherent Behavior Traits)
Our Inherent Behaviour Traits (IBTs)
The Temperament
From Founder’s Desk
The curiosity of knowing and understanding humans has attracted scholars and common people alike for centuries. Who we are? How we got that way? Why we do what we do? Are we hardwired to behave in a particular way? What influences and shapes our personality? What is our personality? Are we products of nature or nurture? And many more questions arise in the minds of people while they live their daily lives.
We know that we are unique. We know that there is no one like us in the world. But we also know that there are similarities between us all. We know that there are commonalities between us. And the combination of that uniqueness and commonalities makes us human.
And as a human we are curious. We want to know, understand, and decode mysteries. We want to demystify. Human behavior has been a mystery since the beginning of civilization. And we have been curious to demystify that mystery since the beginning. We need each other to share our happiness and sorrow. We need each other not only to procreate but to live a meaningful life. One important reason for the curiosity is we humans are hardwired to create bonds with others. We are hardwired to socialize. We are hardwired to share. We require each other to live a happy life. And when we need bonding, camaraderie, and togetherness with others, we need to learn to live together in harmony. We need to learn to respect each other, however much different we are from each other. We need to complement the weakness of others with our strengths and our weakness with other’s strengths. And this makes us humans powerful, self-sufficient, and help us live in harmony and coexist with peace.
But the challenge comes when we all-unique human beings try to live in harmony. As we know now that we are unique, we also know that until we understand that uniqueness of each other, we don’t understand why we do what we do? Why we act the way we do? Why do we see things very differently from others? Why do we feel very differently from others?
That knowing and understanding the self is the beginning of knowing and understanding the world around us. And understanding Temperaments, The Inborn Behaviour Traits, is very helpful in this process.
Temperament defined
Our Temperament is like raw material. It is the base material our behavior is built upon. And it comes with us by birth and that’s why it is also called Inherent Behavior Traits, or Inborn Personality Traits. Temperaments are those characteristics that predict where we will fall on the Introversion-Extraversion continuum. Temperament is the set of those strengths and weaknesses that we are born with. There are many behavior theories that help us know our inborn temperaments but here we have taken the most ancient one, called Four Temperament Theory. This ancient theory looks at each one of us as an individual blend of the four basic temperaments. Generally speaking, two of the basic temperament types are outgoing or extroverted and two are more inward-directed or introverted.
Personality defined
As we have discussed that Temperament is the raw material, our personality is like the things we built with that raw material. Our personality is the outer makeup of our inner selves. We all are born with our unique set of characteristics, our raw material. But we are shaped, sanded, hammered, and buffed by our circumstances, IQ, nationalities, economics, environment, and parental influence, which creates our personality. But the raw material still remain the same.
Example
To understand the difference between personality and temperament we can say that Personality is what we are now. It is what we show to the world. It is how we look, behave, carry ourselves. And the temperament is what we actually are from inside. So it can be seen like this that personality is the outer makeup of the inner selves. Generally, we carry our personality with us wherever we go but we come into our temperament in extreme situations or in the presence of our loved ones. Like how many times you have seen two people fighting their lounges out in their learned language. When they fight they fight in their native language. In the same way, when we are with our best friends, family members who know us in and out we operate from our temperament. But we operate from our personality with strangers or people whom we like to impress or manipulate.
Why study temperament?
Understanding temperament – our own and others – makes us much better equipped to handle interpersonal relationships successfully. Studying our own temperament helps us understand our strengths and weaknesses and why we do some of the things we do. Understanding another’s temperament can help us adapt our communication to theirs or, at the least, understand why we have problems with them. Because our job is not to try to change, manage or manipulate others but to understand others so as we can adjust our expectations of them, and most importantly begin communicating with them more effectively as we meet their emotional needs.
As we have already discussed above that each one of us has a basic inborn personality that came pre-packaged within our genetic makeup. Modern science has spent countless hours and money trying to understand where our personality comes from. Yet any teacher or parent will tell us that each child is born with his or her own identity. The scientist is just now beginning to get a grasp on this. Recent researchers indicate that a person’s basic personality is determined before birth in the individual genetic make-up. The environment does play a role in how that personality is shaped, but the basics are predetermined. This predetermined genetic make-up is our Temperament.
Humanly speaking nothing has a more profound influence on our behavior than our inherited temperament. The combination of our parents’ genes and chromosomes at conception, which determined our basic temperament before we drew our first breath, is largely responsible for our actions, reactions, emotional responses, and to one degree or another, almost everything we do.
Most of us are completely unaware of this extremely powerful influence on our behavior. Consequently, instead of cooperating with our temperament, we conflict with this inner power and often try to make something of ourselves where we were never intended to be. This not only limits us personally but effects our immediate family and often spoils our interpersonal and even professional relationships.
Temperament affects almost everything we do
Temperament or Inherent Behaviour Traits influence almost everything we do – from sleep habits to study habits to eating style to how we drive and the way we get along with others. And this is why it is so important to know and understand our temperament and also to know the understand of others’ temperament. And to prominently note here that knowing and understanding the temperament of others is not to label them, or condemn them or put them in a box or judge them but to understand them, to empathize with them, to know where they are coming from, to understand why they do what they do.
When we see around we know people who find no obstacle in talking to people, rather they volunteer themselves almost everywhere. We also find those who have a fear of talking to a group, expressing themselves in public. We meet people who come straight to the point and always look for productivity and action and we meet people who need perfection in everything they do and are very analytical. We also meet people who are easy going and want everything to be in a peaceful and relaxed manner. Now we need to understand that these people are not like that because of some flaw or weakness or unique strength but they are like this because of their temperament. Some of us are loud and some of us are subtle. Some of us are deep and some of us take life in a very light way.
To say it in other words, there is hardly any function in our lives which is not influenced by our temperament and that’s why we must understand our and other’s temperament and need to deep dive into the base of our inner personality, our temperament.
THE FOUR TEMPERAMENT THEORY
The Four Types!
Why four? Why not forty? Aren’t there more than four kinds of people? Many of us are really feeling stuck with this observation of four types. Of course, there is a lot more than four types, but everyone from the ancients to modern psychologists finds that people can be grouped into four basic types of personality, generally referred to as Temperaments or IBT (Inherent Behavior Traits) or Inner Personality.
Over two thousand four hundred years ago, in about 400 B.C., during the golden age of great Greek Thinkers, scholarly men sat and philosophized about much of life. Like us today, one of the areas that aroused their curiosity was the differing nature of people. Just like the pre-school teachers of today, they noticed that people were different. Without the benefit of modern science, Hippocrates, now called the father of medicine, theorized that what made people so different were the chemicals in their bodies. Only recently have we come to see that he and the other Greek scholars may have been right on more counts than we have historically given them a benefit for.
Well, there are many behavior theories behind understanding human basic nature – but the base of all can be traced back to the Basic Four Temperament theory.
History of Four Temperament Theory
The four temperament theory can be traced back to 2400 BC to Hippocrates, who is also called the father of western medicine. (The Hippocratic Oath is named after Hippocrates and may have been written by him or one of his students). Hippocrates was the first Western physician to view the body as a whole in medical terms and to attempt to define a unifying system of medicine. Central to Hippocrates’ views was that the disease doesn’t happen because of the displeasure of god and other supernatural causes but by the imbalances of bodily fluids. Eating the wrong foods, for example, could result in unsuitable residues accumulating in the body, where they gave off vapours that could make people unwell. The four fluids were subsequently referred to as four ‘humors’ and according to Hippocrates are responsible for the behavior in humans. And the four temperament theory was developed by Galen ((Greek physician, AD 129 – 216) who developed the work of Hippocrates and his teachings. He translated the work in Latin when he moved to Rome.
The names of the four temperaments were given according to the four fluids which are found in proportion in the body. The four fluids associated with the temperament are blood (sanguine), black bile (Melancholy), yellow bile (Choleric), and phlegm (Phlegmatic). The amount of these fluids determined the temperament of the individual which reflects in his behavior and almost anything he does.
The four humors theory was to become a prevalent medical theory for over a millennium after Galen’s death and experienced widespread popularity throughout the middle ages. By the 18th century when the medicine was advancing rapidly and discoveries of functions of circularity, digestive and respiratory systems have discounted the four humor as the realistic practice of medicine. However, it remained important in terms of designating personality. Till the early 20th century many have advanced the theory of four temperaments like Swiss physiognomist Johann Kaspar Lavater and German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Physiologist Wilhelm Wundt in the late 19th century was the first person to separate personality from human body functions. He believed that no individual was completely of one temperament; rather that everyone typically has varying proportions of two or more.
The rapid growth of the field of psychology beginning in the early 20th century led to increased interest regarding individual personality. Notably, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung categorized mental functioning into sensing, intuition, thinking, and feeling.
Some other personality systems and teaching currently available in the world use different vocabulary for each of the four temperaments & we at Know Your True Self® Research Academy (KYTS Research) with our philosophy to make and keep things simple have given a very simple observatory vocabulary to the four temperaments which will help the reader and the researcher to easily identify the temperament by just reading the words assigned to them.
You can here refer to different systems used to identify human inherent behavior currently prevalent in the world.
Brief Introduction of The Four Temperaments
THE POPULAR TEMPERAMENT
Original Latin: Sanguine
Corresponding bodily fluid: Blood
Colour: Orange
Equivalent Season: Spring (wet and hot)
Element: Air
Our equivalent: Popular
The Popular Temperament is receptive by nature and outgoing. He is usually called a ‘super-extrovert’. They are typically emotional and demonstrative. They make work into fun. They “leads into a room with a beaming smile and are never at a loss for words. Their outgoing nature makes them the envy of more timid temperament types. They are most comfortable around people and does not like being alone. They are filled with excitement and charm. This can make more introverted temperaments nervous and uncomfortable.
To know more about Popular Temperament, its characteristics, innate strengths & weaknesses, you can explore the dedicated resource page by clicking on the button below.
THE POWERFUL TEMPERAMENT
Original Latin: Choleric
Corresponding bodily fluid: Yellow Bile
Colour: Blue
Equivalent Season: Summer (dry and hot)
Element: Fire
Our equivalent: Powerful
The Powerful Temperament is the most forceful and active of the four types. He is strong-willed, independent, and opinionated. They thrive on action & activity. They are the most practical and makes the sound, quick decisions. They are not afraid of obstacles and tend to drive right through or over problems. They are probably the strongest natural leaders of the four types and also have the most problem with anger, empathy, and compassion. Their strong will and determination may drive them to succeed where more gifted people give up.
To know more about Powerful Temperament, its characteristics, innate strengths & weaknesses, you can explore the dedicated resource page by clicking on the button below.
THE PERFECT TEMPERAMENT
Original Latin: Melancholy
Corresponding bodily fluid: Black Bile
Colour: Golden
Equivalent Season: Autumn (dry and cold)
Element: Earth
Our equivalent: Perfect
The Perfect Temperament is an introverted temperament. They are naturally inclined towards analysis and perfectionism,. They are the moodiest of types ranging from highly “up” to gloomy and depressed “low”. They do not make friends easily and tend to have very selected-ones with them. They are the most dependable of the temperaments due to their perfectionist tendencies. Their analytical and logical ability allows them to diagnose and plan for obstacles and problems, which other temperaments may often skip or ignore.
To know more about Perfect Temperament, its characteristics, innate strengths & weaknesses, you can explore the dedicated resource page by clicking on the button below.
THE PEACEFUL TEMPERAMENT
Original Latin: Phlegmatic
Corresponding bodily fluid: Phlegm
Colour: Green
Equivalent Season: Winter (wet and cold)
Element: Water
Our equivalent: Peaceful
The Peaceful Temperament is best characterized by the words “easy-going”. They are calm and steady who are not easily disturbed. They are the easiest temperament type to get along with. Life for them is happy, unexcited, and calm. They are having unparalleled administrative abilities and can work very effectively under pressure. They are more of an observer and prefer to keep themselves uninvolved in the activities of others. They are very dependable and organized and, while they never volunteer, they make good group leaders.
To know more about Peaceful Temperament, its characteristics, innate strengths & weaknesses, you can explore the dedicated resource page by clicking on the button below.
We are not One Temperament - We are blended
After defining each temperament in “black and white” we must realize that no one is completely one temperament type. Each of us is a blend of usually two and occasionally 3 types. One temperament type is dominant and one is secondary. And don’t forget that training, lifestyle, upbringing and other circumstances may have forced an individual to function “off style”. The saddest people I have seen are those who have “put on” a style that is not theirs naturally for so long that it has become a habitual way of life. It is termed as Masking.
Read more about the different combinations or blends and masking here.
Suggestions for Refinement
Positives Carried to the extreme become Negatives
There is good and bad in each one of us, and that makes us human. We have traits that are positive and traits that produce negative responses in others. Quite often the same characteristics can be both a strength and a weakness. Here we can take this as a reference that many positives carried to extreme become negatives.
Popular temperament’s great ability and strength to carry on a colorful conversation can convert into constantly talking, monopolizing, interrupting, and straying too far from the truth.
Perfect temperament’s deep analytical thinking is a genius trait, yet carried to extreme becomes brooding, depressing, and critically critising.
Powerful temperament’s action and result oriented leadership is desperately needed in today’s world but carried to extreme, it can make them bossy, controlling, and manipulative.
Peaceful temperament’s easygoing nature is an admirable combination, yet carried to extreme it can make them indifferent and indecisive.
You can visit each temperament’s specific pages above for more details about the strength and weaknesses.
As we know intuitively that all of us have flaws and weaknesses, but we all have a choice also to work on them for improvement and fine-tuning of those not so strong areas. For this purpose, a few suggestions have been designed for all the four temperaments which will not help them overcome their weaknesses but also give them the opportunity to utilize their strengths in the most productive and useful ways. You can click on the following button to reach the specific source for individual improvement.
Getting Along with Other Temperament
How to get along with others who are different from us?
As we are hardwired to connect and live in the sea of people, the quality of getting along with others is one of the most important aspects of our personal and professional relationships. Understanding others, displaying empathy, our response mechanism, and our own perspective towards the world are some of the most important and crucial abilities which will not only help us to develop beautiful, deep relationships but also become an integral part of achieving meaningful and significant success.
So to know how we can understand and get along with others, especially with those who are not like us, we have developed a dedicated source for your referral.
You can visit the exclusive Getting Along with Others resource page for more in-depth practical suggestions.
FAQs : Everything you want to know about Temperaments
Frequently Asked Questions about Temperaments
As we understand there are many questions that can come to your mind about Temperaments and you may want to satisfy your query. For that, we have designed a specific resource page where we may find most of the answers to your specific questions.
Here is a brief of what kind of questions are addressed on that page :
- Can we change our personality?
- Can we change our temperament?
- Why do people often marry opposite temperament?
- Is there any difference in temperament when it comes to gender?
- How understanding my temperament will help me?
- what is the usefulness of it in my professional life?
- Is one temperament better than others?
- Are there specific jobs, which are more suitable to each temperament?
- How can I identify my temperament as I have come out not a blend of ‘two’ but ‘three’ temperament?
,…….. and lots more of such type of query addressed.
You can visit the FAQ’s specific page for more in-depth answers to your questions.