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In traditional medicine practiced in Greco-Roman civilization and in Europe during the Middle Ages (at least until the Renaissance), humorism, or humoralism, dictated that the four humors were special fluids associated with the four basic elements of nature, that were thought to permeate the body and influence its health. An imbalance in the distribution of these fluids was thought to affect each individual's personality. The concept was developed by ancient Greek thinkers around 400 BC and was directly linked with another popular theory of the four elements (Empedocles). Paired qualities were associated with each humour and its season. The word humour derives from the Greek χυμός, chymos (literally juice or sap, metaphorically flavor). Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... It has been suggested that Four humours be merged into this article or section. ... It has been suggested that Greco-Roman be merged into this article or section. ... World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Raphael was famous for depicting illustrious figures of the Classical past with the features of his Renaissance contemporaries. ... A fluid is defined as a substance that continually deforms (flows) under an applied shear stress regardless of the magnitude of the applied stress. ... The Celtics claim Vienna, Austria. ... Chinese Wood (木) | Fire (火) Earth (土) | Metal (金) | Water (æ°´) Hinduism and Buddhism Vayu / Pavan — Air / Wind Agni / Tejas — Fire Akasha — Aether Prithvi / Bhumi — Earth Ap / Jala — Water Many ancient philosophies used a set of archetypal classical elements to explain patterns in nature. ... Empedocles of Agrigentum Empedocles (Greek: Εμπεδοκλής, circa 490 BCE – c. ... A season is one of the major divisions of the year, generally based on yearly periodic changes in weather. ... Orange Juice. ... The abbreviation, acronym, or initialism SAP has several different meanings: SAP AG, a German software company, or its various products such as SAP R/3 or SAP Business Information Warehouse second audio program (television) Session Announcement Protocol Soritong audio player Simple As Possible Computer Architecture Structural Adjustment Program of the... Flavor or flavour (see spelling differences) is the sensory impression of a food or other substance, and is determined mainly by the chemical senses of taste and smell. ...

History

The four humours, their corresponding elements, seasons and sites of formation, and resulting temperaments alongside their modern equivalents are:

It is believed that Hippocrates was the one who applied this idea to medicine. "Humoralism" or the doctrine of the Four Temperaments as a medical theory retained its popularity for centuries largely through the influence of the writings of Galen (131-201 AD) and was decisively displaced only in 1858 by Rudolf Virchow's newly-published theories of cellular pathology. While Galen thought that humours were formed in the body, rather than ingested, he believed that different foods had varying potential to be acted upon by the body to produce different humours. Warm foods, for example, tended to produce yellow bile, while cold foods tended to produce phlegm. Seasons of the year, periods of life, geographic regions and occupations also influenced the nature of the humours formed. Hippocrates of Cos II. or Hippokrates of Kos (c. ... Human blood smear: a - erythrocytes; b - neutrophil; c - eosinophil; d - lymphocyte. ... Melancholia (Greek μελαγχολια) was described as a distinct disease as early as the fifth and fourth centuries BC in the Hippocratic writings. ... Choleric is a temperament in the ancient medical theory of the four humours. ... Phlegm (pronounced ) is a type of mucus, the sticky fluid secreted by the mucous membranes of animals. ... Spring is one of the four seasons of temperate zones, the transition from winter into summer. ... Fall redirects here. ... Summer is a season that is astronomically defined as beginning around June 21, and ending around September 23 in the Northern Hemisphere. ... Winter is one of the four seasons of temperate zones. ... AIR is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below: The Annals of Improbable Research, a monthly magazine devoted to scientific humour All India Radio - Indias Government Radio service AIR, a popular electronica band from France. ... Earth (IPA: , often referred to as the Earth, Terra, the World or Planet Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth largest. ... Just-lit match Fire is a self-sustaining oxidation process accompanied by heat and light in the form of a glow or flames. ... Water is an odourless substance that is essential to all known forms of life and is known as the universal solvent. ... The liver is an organ in living beings, including humans. ... The spleen is a ductless, vertebrate gland that is closely associated with the circulatory system, where it functions in the destruction of old red blood cells in holding a reservoir of blood. ... The gallbladder (or cholecyst) is a pear-shaped organ that stores bile (or gall) until the body needs it for digestion. ... In animals, the brain, or encephalon (Greek for in the head), is the control center of the central nervous system. ... The heart and lungs (from an older edition of Grays Anatomy) The lung is an organ belonging to the respiratory system and interfacing to the circulatory system of air-breathing vertebrates. ... Aristotle (Greek: AristotélÄ“s) (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ... Happiness is an emotional or affective state that feels good or pleasing. ... Greek: Γαληνός, Latin: Claudius Galenus of Pergamum (129 – 200 AD), better known in English as Galen, was an ancient Greek physician. ... Sanguine can refer to: Sanguine personality - optimistic, cheerful, even-tempered, confident, rational, popular, fun-loving Sanguine is the temperament of blood - one of the four humours Sanguine is a tincture in heraldry, otherwise one of the staynard colours (stains). ... Melancholia (Greek μελαγχολια) was described as a distinct disease as early as the fifth and fourth centuries BC in the Hippocratic writings. ... Choleric is a temperament in the ancient medical theory of the four humours. ... Phlegmatic is a temperament in the theory of the four humours. ... Paracelsus Paracelsus (born 11 November or 17 December 1493 in Einsiedeln, Switzerland - 24 September 1541) was an alchemist, physician, astrologer, and general occultist. ... A totem is any natural or supernatural object, being or animal which has personal symbolic meaning to an individual and to whose phenomena and energy one feels closely associated with during ones life. ... Families Salamander is the common name applied to approximately 500 amphibian vertebrates with slender bodies, short legs, and long tails (order Caudata or Urodela). ... This article is about the mythical creatures. ... For other uses of nymph see Nymph (disambiguation). ... Sylph is a faux-mythological creature in the Western tradition. ... A world view, (or worldview) is a term calqued from the German word Weltanschauung (pronounced //) meaning a look onto the world. It implies a concept fundamental to German philosophy and epistemology and refers to a wide world perception. ... Innovation is the implementation of a new or significantly improved idea, good, service, process or practice that is intended to be useful. ... A tradition is a story or a custom that is memorized and passed down from generation to generation, originally without the need for a writing system. ... Skepticism (Commonwealth spelling: Scepticism) can mean: Philosophical skepticism - a philosophical position in which people choose to critically examine whether the knowledge and perceptions that they have are actually true, and whether or not one can ever be said to have absolutely true knowledge; or Scientific skepticism - a scientific, or practical... The Mona Lisa Although today the word art usually refers to the visual arts, the concept of what art is has continuously changed over centuries. ... Economics (deriving from the Greek words οίκω [okos], house, and νέμω [nemo], rules hence household management) is the social science that studies the allocation of scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants. ... Religious is a term with both a technical definition and folk use. ... For the classical mythological figures named Mania, see Mania (mythology). ... It is common to feel sad, discouraged , or down once in a while, and anyone in this state might say they are suffering from depression. ... Anesthesia (AE), also anaesthesia (BE), is the process of blocking the perception of pain and other sensations. ... Erich Fromm Erich Pinchas Fromm (March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980) was an internationally renowned German-American psychologist and humanistic philosopher. ... Isabel Myers, along with her mother Katherine Briggs, is the co-creator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. ... The Center for Applications of Psychological Type is a non-profit organization co-founded by Isabel Myers in 1975 for MBTI development, research and training. ... Dr. David West Keirsey is a clinical psychologist and author of several books, the best-known of which is Please Understand Me, co-written with Marilyn Bates, in which he describes a system of personality classification known as the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. ... In psychology, temperament is the general nature of an individuals personality, such as introversion or extraversion, it derives from the theory of the humours. ... An artisan, also called a craftsman, is a skilled manual worker who uses tools and machinery in a particular craft. ... In philosophy, idealism is any theory positing the primacy of spirit, mind, or language over matter. ... The Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS) is a self-assessed personality questionnaire designed to help people better understand themselves, first introduced in the book Please Understand Me. ... Hippocrates of Cos II. or Hippokrates of Kos (c. ... Greek: Γαληνός, Latin: Claudius Galenus of Pergamum (129 – 200 AD), better known in English as Galen, was an ancient Greek physician. ... Events Emperor Hadrian builds the city Aelia Capitolina on the location of Jerusalem Births Galen, anatomist Deaths Categories: 131 ... For the New Jersey area code, see Area code 201. ... 1858 (MDCCCLVIII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Dr. R.L.K. Virchow Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow (born October 13, 1821, in Schivelbein, Pomerania; died September 5, 1902, in Berlin) was a German doctor, anthropologist, public health activist pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician. ... Drawing of the structure of cork as it appeared under the microscope to Robert Hooke from Micrographia which is the origin of the word cell. Cells in culture, stained for keratin (red) and DNA (green). ... Pathology (from Greek pathos, feeling, pain, suffering; and logos, study of; see also -ology) is the study of the processes underlying disease and other forms of illness, harmful abnormality, or dysfunction. ... For other uses, see Life (disambiguation), Lives (disambiguation) or Living (disambiguation), Living Things (disambiguation) Look up life, living in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Geography (from the Greek words Ge (γη) or Gaea (γαια), both meaning Earth, and graphein (γραφειν) meaning to describe or to writeor to map) is the study of the Earths features and of the distribution of life on the earth, including human life and the effects of human activity. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The imbalance of humours, or "dyscrasia", was thought to be the direct cause of all diseases. Health was associated with a balance of humours, or eucrasia. The qualities of the humours, in turn, influenced the nature of the diseases they caused. Yellow bile caused warm diseases and phlegm caused cold diseases. Dyscrasia (from Greek Dyskrasia, meaning bad mixture), in Ancient Greek medicine, is the imbalance of the four humours, and was believed to be the direct cause of all disease. ... A disease is any abnormal condition of the body or mind that causes discomfort, dysfunction, or distress to the person affected or those in contact with the person. ... Eucrasia The great physician Galen (130-199 a. ...

In On the Temperaments Galen further emphasized the importance of the qualities. An ideal temperament involved a balanced mixture of the four qualities. Galen identified four temperaments in which one of the qualities, warm, cold, moist and dry, predominated and four more in which a combination of two, warm and moist, warm and dry, cold and dry and cold and moist, dominated. These last four, named for the humours with which they were associated—that is, sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic, eventually became better known than the others. While the term "temperament" came to refer just to psychological dispositions, Galen used it to refer to bodily dispositions, which determined a person's susceptibility to particular diseases as well as behavioral and emotional inclinations. In psychology, temperament is the general nature of an individuals personality, such as introversion or extraversion, it derives from the theory of the humours. ... Sanguine can refer to: Sanguine personality - optimistic, cheerful, even-tempered, confident, rational, popular, fun-loving Sanguine is the temperament of blood - one of the four humours Sanguine is a tincture in heraldry, otherwise one of the staynard colours (stains). ... Choleric is a temperament in the ancient medical theory of the four humours. ... Melancholia (Greek μελανχολια) is a mood of non-specific depression. ... Phlegmatic is a temperament in the theory of the four humours. ... Psychology is an academic and applied field involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ...

The four temperaments (Clockwise from top right; choleric; melancholic; sanguine; phlegmatic).

Image File history File links Lavater1. ... Image File history File links Lavater1. ...

The Four Personality Types

Each of the four types of humours corresponds to a different personality type.

Sanguine

Sanguine indicates the personality of an individual with the temperament of blood, the season of spring (wet and hot), and the element of air. A person who is sanguine is generally optimistic, cheerful, even-tempered, confident, rational, popular, and fun-loving. They can be daydreamy to the point of not accomplishing anything and impulsive, acting on whims in an unpredictable fashion. This also describes the manic phase of a bipolar disorder. Human blood smear: a - erythrocytes; b - neutrophil; c - eosinophil; d - lymphocyte. ... Mania is a medical condition characterized by severely elevated mood. ... Bipolar Disorder is an affective mood disorder that manifests itself in a myriad of symptoms the most common of which are extreme oscillations between mania and depression over various time frames in each individual. ...

Choleric

Choleric corresponds to the fluid of yellow bile, the season of summer (dry and hot), and the element of fire. A person who is choleric is a doer and a leader. Many great charismatic, military and political figures were cholerics. On the negative side, they are easily angered or bad tempered. Bile (or gall) is a bitter, greenish-yellow alkaline fluid secreted by hepatocytes from the liver of most vertebrates. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

In folk medicine, a baby referred to as "colic" is one who cries frequently and seems to be constantly angry. This is an adaptation of "choleric," although no one now would attribute the condition to bile. Similarly, a person described as "bilious" is mean-spirited, suspicious, and angry. This, again, is an adaptation of the old humour theory "choleric." The humour theory (Am. ...

The disease Cholera gained its name from choler (bile). Cholera is a water-borne disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which is typically ingested by drinking contaminated water, or by eating improperly cooked fish, especially shellfish. ...

Melancholic

Melancholic is the personality of an individual characterized by black bile; hence (Greek μελας, melas, "black", + χολη, kholé, "bile"); a person who was a thoughtful ponderer had a melancholic disposition. Often very kind and considerate, melancholics can be highly creative - as in poets and artists - but also can become overly obsessed on the tragedy and cruelty in the world, thus becoming depressed. It also indicates the season of autumn (dry and cold) and the element of earth. A melancholy is also often a perfectionist, being very particular about what they want and how they want it in some cases. This often results in being unsatisfied with one's own artistic or creative works, always pointing out to themselves what could and should be improved. Melancholia (Greek μελαγχολια) was described as a distinct disease as early as the fifth and fourth centuries BC in the Hippocratic writings. ...

This temperament describes the depressed phase of a bipolar disorder. Depression, or a depressed mood, may in everyday English refer to a state of melancholia, unhappiness or sadness, or to a relatively minor downturn in mood that may last only a few hours or days. ... Bipolar Disorder is an affective mood disorder that manifests itself in a myriad of symptoms the most common of which are extreme oscillations between mania and depression over various time frames in each individual. ...

There is no bodily fluid corresponding to black bile. However, the medulla of the adrenal glands decomposes very rapidly after death, and it is possible that this product is the mythical "black bile". In mammals, the adrenal glands are the triangle-shaped endocrine glands that sit atop the kidneys. ...

Phlegmatic

A phlegmatic person is calm and unemotional. Phlegmatic means pertaining to phlegm, corresponds to the season of winter (wet and cold), and connotes the element of water. Phlegm (pronounced ) is a type of mucus, the sticky fluid secreted by the mucous membranes of animals. ...

While phlegmatics are generally self-content and kind, their shy personality can often inhibit enthusiasm in others and make themselves lazy and resistant to change. They are very consistent, relaxed, and observant, making them good administrators and diplomats. Like the sanguine personality, the phlegmatic has many friends. But the phlegmatic is more reliable and compassionate; these characteristics typically make the phlegmatic a more dependable friend. Sanguine can refer to: Sanguine personality - optimistic, cheerful, even-tempered, confident, rational, popular, fun-loving Sanguine is the temperament of blood - one of the four humours Sanguine is a tincture in heraldry, otherwise one of the staynard colours (stains). ...

Within an individual, the phlegmatic personality is considered to be compatible with the sanguine and melancholic traits -- the melancholic personality is too perfectionist, and the choleric is too controlling. Combinations of two incompatible traits may be evidence of masking. Sanguine can refer to: Sanguine personality - optimistic, cheerful, even-tempered, confident, rational, popular, fun-loving Sanguine is the temperament of blood - one of the four humours Sanguine is a tincture in heraldry, otherwise one of the staynard colours (stains). ... Melancholia (Greek μελαγχολια) was described as a distinct disease as early as the fifth and fourth centuries BC in the Hippocratic writings. ... Melancholia (Greek μελαγχολια) was described as a distinct disease as early as the fifth and fourth centuries BC in the Hippocratic writings. ... Choleric is a temperament in the ancient medical theory of the four humours. ... Personality masking is the process in which an individual changes or masks his or her natural personality to conform to social pressures or abuse. ...

Fall in Popularity

When the theory of the temperaments was on the wane, many critics dropped the phlegmatic, or defined it purely negatively as the absence of temperament. This, however, made it available for the German philosopher Immanuel Kant to reclaim as the temperament appropriate to freedom and virtue. In five-temperament theory, the classical Phlegmatic temperament is in fact deemed to be a neutral temperament, whereas the "people-liking introvert" position traditionally held by the Phlegmatic is declared to be a new "fifth temperament" Socrates (central bare-chested figure) about to drink hemlock as mandated by the court. ... Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804), was a German philosopher from Königsberg in East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). ...

Methods of treatment like blood letting, emetics and purges were aimed at expelling a harmful surplus of a humour. They were still in the mainstream of American medicine after the Civil War. Other methods used herbs and foods associated with a particular humour to counter symptoms of disease, for instance: people who had a fever and were sweating were considered hot and wet and therefore given substances associated with cold and dry. Bloodletting (or blood-letting, in modern medicine referred to as phlebotomy) was a popular medical practice from antiquity up to the late 19th century, involving the withdrawal of often considerable quantities of blood from a patient in the belief that this would cure or prevent illness and disease. ... Vomiting (or emesis) is the forceful expulsion of the contents of ones stomach through the mouth. ... This article is about the field and science of medical practice and health care. ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Lincoln, President Ulysses S. Grant, General Jefferson Davis, President Robert E. Lee, General Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action...

There are still remnants of the theory of the four humours in the current medical language. For example, we refer to humoral immunity or humoral regulation to mean substances like hormones and antibodies that are circulated throughout the body, or use the term blood dyscrasia to refer to any blood disease or abnormality. The associated food classification survives in some apparently illogical adjectives that are still used for food, as when we call some spices hot and some wine dry. When the chilli was first introduced to Europe in the sixteenth century, dieticians disputed whether it was hot or cold. Humoral immunity is the aspect of immunity that is mediated by secreted antibodies, produced in the cells of the B lymphocyte lineage (B cell). ... A hormone (from Greek horman - to set in motion) is a chemical messenger from one cell (or group of cells) to another. ... Schematic of antibody binding to an antigen An antibody or immunoglobulin is a large Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects like bacteria and viruses. ... Human blood smear: a - erythrocytes; b - neutrophil; c - eosinophil; d - lymphocyte. ... Hematology is the branch of medicine that is concerned with blood and its disorders. ... The chile pepper (also chili or chilli; from Spanish chile) is the fruit of the plant Capsicum from the nightshade family (Solanaceae). ...

The theory was a modest advance over the previous views on human health that tried to explain in terms of evil spirits. Since then practitioners have started to look for natural causes of disease and to provide natural treatments.

Modern adaptations

A few psychologists use the four-temperament model even today, some also recognizing twelve mixtures of the four temperaments: Mel-Chlor, Chlor-San, San-Phleg, Phleg-Mel, Mel-San, Chlor-Phleg; and the reverse of these: Chlor-Mel, San-Chlor, Phleg-San, Mel-Phleg, San-Mel, and Phleg-Chlor. These represent people who have the traits of two temperaments. The order of temperaments in these pairs was based on which temperament was the "dominant" one (this is usually expressed by percentages). A person can also be a blend of three temperaments. The percent sign A percentage is a way of expressing numbers as fractions of 100 and is often denoted using the percent sign, %. For example, 45. ...

In Steiner (Waldorf) education and anthroposophy, the temperaments are used to help understand personality. They are seen as avenues into teaching, with many different types of blends, which can be utilized to help with both discipline and defining the methods used with individual children and class balance. The current version of the article or section reads like an advertisement. ... Anthroposophy is a course of study founded by Rudolf Steiner that he described as spiritual science. It is an attempt to investigate and describe spiritual phenomena by means of soul-observations using scientific methodology.[1] Anthroposophical research attempts to investigate and describe a spiritual world, individual spiritual beings (arranged in...

The Unani school of Indian medicine, still apparently practiced in India, is very similar to Galenic medicine in its emphasis on the four humours, and in treatments based on controlling intake, general environment, and the use of purging as a way of relieving humoral imbalances. Unaani (in Arabic, Hindustani, Persian, Pashtu, Urdu etc) means Greek. ...

See also

• Disposition
• Humor theory
• Medieval medicine
• Five Temperaments

In philosophy, physiology, and psychology, a disposition is a habit, a preparation, a state of readiness, or a tendency to act in a specified way. ... The humor theory or humour theory was a theory of the makeup and workings of the human body adopted by ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers. ... Astrology played a important part in Medieval medicine; most educated physicians were trained in at least the basics of astrology to use in their practice. ... Simple emoticons of the five temperaments: Sanguine (top right), Choleric (bottom right), Melancholic (bottom left), and Phlegmatic (center), with the new fifth temperament (top left). ...

External links

• The 4 Temperaments: Temperament Evolution
• 16types.com
• The four classic temperaments and spirituality

References

• Ancient Medicine:Myth and Practice
• Discovering Our Potential: An Introduction to Character Types
• Temperaments in a Nutshell