The set of spiritual, mental properties of a person, characterizing the degree of his excitability and manifested in his attitude to the surrounding reality, in behavior.

Each person differs not only in his external features, but also in the nature of his behavior. This is due to his temperament, which reflects a person’s tendency to express a certain reaction to various influences:

• in the degree of emotionality of behavior;
• impulsiveness or restraint;
• sociability or isolation;
• ease of adaptation in society.

Properties of temperaments

Speaking about such a concept as temperament, they mean a certain pace of human behavior, the energy of expressing one’s feelings and the actions caused by them. This is determined by the specific structure of his nervous system, which is laid down at birth. People's behavior is largely related to the properties of their temperament.

The main ones include:

• sensitivity, reflecting the strength of external factors necessary for the appearance of a person’s mental response, as well as the speed of its manifestation;
• reactivity, which characterizes a reaction to external or internal influences of the same intensity, for example, a sharply spoken word, an unfair remark, etc.;
• activity, indicating the vigor of a person’s influence on the external environment and overcoming emerging difficulties in achieving assigned tasks;
• the ratio of reactivity and activity, which determines the predominance of a person’s behavior: from random internal or external circumstances (poor health, mood, etc.) or from his beliefs, general worldview, his goals, etc.;
• plasticity, reflecting the ease of adaptation to ongoing external changes;
• rate of reactions, reflecting the speed of mental processes;
• introversion and extraversion, which determines the connection of the reaction with internally created images and ideas based on past experience or the expected future, or with thoughts aimed at external present events;
• emotional excitability, reflecting the minimum necessary impact to obtain a response in the form of emotion and the speed of its occurrence.

What types of temperaments are there?

Considering the properties of temperament, it is divided into four different types: choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic.

A choleric person is a person who vividly and emotionally experiences different states, but also quickly forgets them. This is a quick-tempered and easy-going person. He is active and energetic, and his experiences are particularly deep; feelings can change instantly.

A sanguine person is reminiscent of a choleric person in his sensuality, but unlike him, he is not so harsh in his movements. Such people are sometimes called superficial because emotional experiences in him change quickly, leaving no trace in consciousness. Therefore, they are able to quickly forget both grievances and attachments. He gives the overall impression of a cheerful, impressionable person, always reacting to surrounding stimuli.

Melancholic is a person with a slow course of mental internal processes and slow movements. He, most often, has a gloomy or sad mood, is indecisive in actions and withdrawn in communication. Such a person endures failures hard, worrying inside, he always hesitates in his actions.

A phlegmatic person, like a melancholic person, is slow in actions, distinguished by measured speech and an imperturbable character, thanks to which he cannot be thrown out of balance. He thinks about every action for a long time before taking it. Such people are inveterate conservatives who are not used to changing their work and usual living conditions.

Physiological basis of different characters

The scientist physiologist Pavlov explained the manifestation of a certain temperament by the specificity of the ongoing nervous processes. He identified several varieties of the nervous system, dividing them into types, which were based on the properties of the processes occurring within the nervous system.

They appear:

• in the ability of brain cells to withstand exposure to stimuli of varying strengths and their overall performance;
• in the balance of irritative and inhibitory processes;
• in the ability to quickly change excitation to inhibition and vice versa.

The complex structure of the nervous system gives it the ability to combine properties, combining them in a certain order. Depending on the combination of properties, the nervous system can be classified as:

• to the weak type;
• strong balanced, as well as mobile or inert type;

People who have a weak type of system are not able to withstand strong stimuli. Under the influence of strong irritating factors, the appearance of conditioned reflex reactions is delayed.

People with a strong balanced type have mainly excitation reactions and a small amount of inhibitory manifestations.

The mobile, balanced type is characterized by a rapid succession of reactions of inhibition and irritation, which creates some instability of nerve connections.

The inert, balanced type is also strong, but the ongoing nervous processes are slowed down. Such people are distinguished by external calm and are not subject to excitement.

The type of activity of the nervous system is given to each person from birth. It is the basis of conditionally occurring reactions, which are expressed differently in all people. Temperament is precisely a manifestation of the type of human nervous system through the prism of ongoing connections.

Can a person change his temperament?

Psychological well-being, determined by life circumstances, is mainly associated with the type of personality temperament. But the external manifestation of a person’s condition largely depends on his upbringing, beliefs, attitude towards other people or current events. By mobilizing his energy, he is able to withstand prolonged mental stress, influence the speed of reactions and the overall pace of work.

For example, upbringing and will help a choleric person to be restrained and to switch thoughts to other events and tasks.

By replacing the weak sides of his temperament with a system of volitional training, education and environmental influences, a person can radically change its external manifestation. Under certain living conditions in which a person spends a long time, a choleric person can become inert and slow, while a melancholic person can become energetic and decisive. The true natural properties of temperament can only appear under unexpected strong influence or a dangerous life situation, when the external factors with the help of which it was previously changed lose their meaning.

Each of us has a huge number of acquaintances. Some people like to complain about life, others serve as role models. They are all completely different, individual personalities. But they also have similar traits and characteristics, which are called temperament. Do you know what type of temperament you have and what kind of people you get along with most easily? If not, then we will reveal to you all the details of this issue.

Temperament - its properties and types

Surely many have heard about a person that he is a very temperamental person. But what is behind these words and what characteristics allowed him to be given such an assessment? The study of temperament types helped psychologists conclude that human mental processes proceed in a certain rhythm, feelings can be expressed to varying degrees, and the energy of actions also varies. Temperament is closely related to the innate characteristics of human higher nervous activity. It is characterized by differences between people in the degree of emotionality, impressionability, behavior and any activity. In other words, this is the dynamics of personality, which is innate, manifests itself in childhood and cannot be educated. However, it is worth remembering that beliefs, life principles and worldview have nothing to do with temperament.

Psychologists have divided the types of temperament into 4 parts, each of which is a characteristic of a holistic personality, but is very rare in its pure form. So, the types of human temperament today are divided into choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholic.

1. Choleric. A person with a similar temperament tends to vividly experience various states and also quickly forget them. Usually this is expressed in hot temper and immediately following it with quick release. Choleric temperament characterizes its owner as a very active and energetic person. In life, choleric people are very passionate people, whose experiences are always deep, feelings instantly replace each other, and their movements are sharp and swift.
2. Sanguine. It is similar to a choleric person, but if the first movements are sharp, then sanguine people make them easily and smoothly. People with a similar temperament can be called superficial. Emotional states that replace each other so quickly do not linger in the consciousness of a sanguine person. Therefore, he quickly forgets grievances and attachments. In general, he is a cheerful person with very active facial expressions, who is very impressionable and easily distracted by external stimuli.
3. Melancholic. This temperament can be found in people with slow movement of mental processes. Typically, a melancholic person can be called a person who most often has a sad or gloomy mood, his movements are slow and awkward, he himself is indecisive, withdrawn and not sociable. Such people experience life’s difficulties very hard, keep their feelings deep in their souls and often hesitate in making decisions.
4. Phlegmatic person. Like a melancholic person, such a person is primarily characterized by slowness in business and in his own speech. It is almost impossible to piss him off thanks to his even and calm character. Before taking any action, a phlegmatic person will think about it long and carefully. Therefore, such people hold tightly to their workplace and are strongly called to their work, having difficulty switching to another.

How to find out your temperament type?

Today, determining the type of temperament is a task that even a schoolchild can cope with. For some individuals, it is enough just to read the description of each type to understand which one to classify themselves as. However, professional diagnostics of a temperament type consists of a combination of various methods and techniques that are aimed at obtaining a holistic picture of the psychological characteristics of an individual.

One of the simplest is the method for determining the type of temperament N.N. Obozova. The subject is asked to select, line by line, one of 15 characteristic signs of a particular temperament.

№	Characteristic sign	Sanguine	Phlegmatic person	Choleric	Melancholic
1	Balanced behavior	Well balanced	Perfectly balanced	Unbalanced	Very unbalanced
2	Emotional experiences	Superficial, short-term	Weak	Strong, short-term	Deep and long lasting
3	Mood	Steady, cheerful	Sustainable, without great joys and sorrows	Unstable with a predominance of cheerful	Unstable with a predominance of pessimism
4	Speech	Loud, lively, smooth	Monotonous, joyful	Loud, harsh, uneven	Quiet with a gasp
5	Patience	Moderate	Very big	Weak	Very weak
6	Adaptation	Excellent	Slow	good	Difficult (closedness)
7	Sociability	Moderate	Low	High	Low (closedness)
8	Aggressive behavior	Peaceful behavior	Restraint in behavior	Aggressive	Hysterical behavior, indignation and avoidance of difficulties
9	Attitude towards criticism	Calm	Indifferent	Excited	Touchy
10	Activity in activity	Energetic (business)	Behavior of a tireless worker	Passionate, enthusiastic	Uneven, reactive behavior (as a response to the activity of others)
11	Attitude to the new	Indifferent	Negative	Positive	An optimistic attitude is replaced by a pessimistic one and vice versa
12	Attitude to danger	Prudent, without much risk	Cool, unflappable	Combat, risky, without much calculation	Anxious, confused, depressed
13	Striving for the goal	Fast, avoiding obstacles	Slow, steady	Strong, with full dedication	Sometimes strong, sometimes weak, avoiding obstacles
14	Self-esteem	Some overestimation of one's abilities	Real assessment of your abilities	Significant overestimation of one's abilities	Most often – underestimation of one’s abilities
15	Suggestibility and suspiciousness	Small	Stable	Moderate	Big
	Sum of points

Suppose that in the question “Balance of behavior” the answer “excellently balanced” is closer to you and the answer “well balanced” is slightly untrue. In this case, the most successful answer is given a score of 2 points, less than 1 point, and the remaining values ​​are equal to zero.

The personality type that ultimately outperforms the others in terms of scores is the predominant one.

Having independently diagnosed yourself or one of the individuals of interest, do not forget that knowing how to determine the type of temperament does not guarantee a 100% hit. In nature, temperaments are found in a mixed form, in which one predominates. Thus, even if you are sure that you know a person well, do not forget about the pitfalls of his personality.

Methods for determining and characterizing temperaments.

Each person is an individual and is not like anyone else. But there are still people who have similar character traits. This is due to temperament and psychotype. It is the psychotype that allows us to communicate well with friends and not find a common language with people we don’t like.

Temperament is a stable combination of individual psychophysiological characteristics of a person associated with dynamic rather than meaningful aspects of activity. Temperament has nothing to do with social development and the characteristics of an individual’s upbringing, but it significantly influences the development of an individual.

Simply put, this is the speed of mental processes that occur in the nervous system. It is impossible to influence temperament, but it is possible to achieve its correction in order to eliminate negative qualities.

There are four main types of temperament. In life, it is difficult to identify a pure psychotype, since mixed variants most often predominate.

Temperament types:

• Phlegmatic person. Among your acquaintances there are definitely individuals who are difficult to outrage with anything. They are very calm and patient. Sometimes there is slowness. But meticulousness and scrupulousness allows you to treat your work carefully. They are usually assigned difficult tasks that require patience. Sometimes such people are referred to as “Armor Man”.
• Choleric. This psychotype is completely different from the phlegmatic person. It is characterized by increased nervous excitability. Choleric people usually get nervous over trifles, quickly waste their energy and cannot finish what they start. The mood changes very quickly. They tend to invent a lot and twist reality.
• Sanguine. This psychotype is similar to a choleric person, but his mental reactions are more stable. Such people are very lively and active in communication. It is difficult not to notice such a person, since his facial expressions are very expressive. They respond quickly to everything that comes. Unlike choleric people, they are more persistent and can finish what they start.
• Melancholic. Nervous excitability is high, very emotional temperament. Such people often live in their own experiences, not noticing reality. Quite whiny and pessimistic.

This is a fairly bright psychotype, which has both negative and positive sides.

Negative aspects of choleric:

• Can't stand being defeated by others
• Impatient, always in a hurry, which is why they end up in unpleasant situations
• Emotional and truthful. People often get offended by them for this
• Hysterical. The slightest unpleasant word can cause a storm of emotions and indignation
• Superficial. They rarely delve into the essence of the problem; they are not interested in digging into something and delving into it
• They quickly get to work, but just as quickly they quit what they started without finishing it

Positive qualities of a choleric person:

• Fast and agile. Can instantly complete assigned tasks
• Decisive. They always know what to do in a specific situation without hesitation
• They are not afraid of change. Always go on adventures
• They don't hold grudges. They move away quickly and don't get angry

• Designer
• Geologist
• Artist
• Photographer
• Entrepreneur
• Advertising agent

It is better to give preference to a flexible schedule rather than hourly work. Choleric people are better off working for results rather than spending hours in the office.

Choleric - positive and negative qualities, suitable professions and activities

This is one of the most pleasant psychotypes. Unlike choleric people, they are emotionally stable.

Negative sides:

• Superficiality
• Haste
• Reluctance to delve into the depth of the situation
• frivolous
• They like to brag
• No sense of proportion

Positive sides:

• Leaders. They often take on the task of organizing some kind of community and succeed in this matter.
• Stress-resistant and harmonious. They try not to react painfully even to the most unpleasant situations. They are difficult to piss off.
• Rarely suffer from mental illness. Due to their stable psyche, there are no patients among them in mental hospitals.
• Optimistic. Even in the most difficult situations they try to find something positive.

• Administrator
• Teacher
• Human Resources Manager
• Economist
• Journalist
• Lawyer

Sanguine person - positive and negative qualities, suitable professions and activities

Quite a complex psychotype with unstable reactions.

Positive sides:

• Gullible
• Creative personalities
• Prone to compassion
• Friendly
• They know how to listen
• Loyal to your soulmate
• Good friends

Negative sides:

• Prone to depression
• Pessimistic
• Prone to criticism
• They don’t know how to communicate with people and don’t want to
• Avoid noisy companies

• System Administrator
• Programmer
• Librarian
• Editor

Melancholic - positive and negative qualities, suitable professions and activities

People with this psychotype are the golden mean between other temperaments. They are balanced, calm and positive.

Positive sides:

• Workaholics. These are the worker bees of society, the best workers
• Stress-resistant. It's very difficult to piss them off
• Patient. They endure for a long time not because it is necessary, but because everything suits them
• Purposeful. They methodically carry out their work and bring it to completion.

Negative sides:

• They don't like change. For them, moving is a natural disaster.
• It is difficult to find a common language with people. They are generally not very sociable by nature.
• Inhibited. They are often lazy and do not strive for anything. Complete lack of initiative

• Engineer
• Vet
• System Administrator
• Dispatcher
• Laboratory assistant
• Jeweler

Phlegmatic - positive and negative qualities, suitable professions and activities

Pure psychotypes are very rare. Usually these are various variations of two or more temperaments.

Mixed temperaments:

• Phlegmatic/sanguine. Active, but not in a hurry, have a lot of friends, like to be in company, but not attract much attention. Stress-resistant, efficient. They can speak beautifully, but also remain silent when necessary.
• Melancholic/phlegmatic. Reserved, scrupulous and pessimistic. They are often depressed, but quickly get out of it. They love to do one thing and see it through to the end.
• Sanguine/choleric/phlegmatic. Balanced and very active psychotype. They always attract attention and achieve success in business. They get along well with people, but dominate when necessary.
• Choleric/sanguine. Strong, caring, able to communicate with people. These are always leaders and individuals prone to dominance. Active and purposeful.
• Choleric / sanguine / melancholic. Active and purposeful, but at the same time ready to make concessions. They perform well in front of an audience and can lead.
• Phlegmatic/choleric. They finish what they started. They love stability and always stand their ground. They try to dominate, although they don’t always succeed.
• Sanguine/melancholic. Persuasive, critical and persistent. They are trying to turn the situation in their favor. True friends, picky, do not like to speak in public.
• Melancholic / sanguine / phlegmatic. They do everything according to the rules, are not aggressive, caring and secretive. Kind to people and sensitive. Good friends and helpers.
• Melancholic / phlegmatic / choleric. Stable, cautious and persistent. Caring and positive. Too critical and demanding.

There is a certain method for determining a psychotype. At the same time, you should not expect that you will get 100% belonging to any particular type. Usually this is the percentage of different psychotypes in one person.

To determine the types of temperament, the psychological methodology of the English psychologist G. Eysenck is used, who developed a two-factor model, the main characteristics of which are extroversion and neuroticism.

VIDEO: Determination of psychotype, G. Eysenck test

Determining your temperament type will allow you to identify your strengths and weaknesses and adjust your behavior.

VIDEO: 11 tests for each

- this is an individual property of a person, which to the greatest extent depends on his innate, natural psychophysiological qualities. Temperament is an individual characteristic of a person in terms of the characteristics of his mental activity, such as intensity, speed, pace of mental processes.

Typically, three areas of manifestation of temperament are distinguished: the level of general activity, characteristics of the motor sphere and the level of emotionality.

General activity determined by the degree of intensity of human interaction with the environment - natural and social. There are two extremes here. One type of people is distinguished by its clearly expressed lethargy and passivity, and the other by its high activity and speed in action. Representatives of other temperaments are located between these two poles.

Motor or motor activity expressed in the speed and sharpness of movements, in the tempo of speech, as well as in external mobility or, conversely, slowness, talkativeness or silence.

Emotionality - is expressed in the rapidity of changes in emotional states, sensitivity to emotional influences, and sensitivity.

Since antiquity, temperament has always been associated with the physiological characteristics of the human body. Hippocrates(V century BC) described four types of temperament, determined by the fluid that supposedly predominates in the body: sanguine(from lat. sanguis- blood), choleric(from Greek chole- bile), phlegmatic(from Greek phlegma- mucus) and melancholic(from Greek melainachole- black bile). Hippocrates understood temperaments in a purely physiological sense.

In the 18th century Four psychological types were compared with the Hippocratic types of temperament, which marked the beginning of a psychological line in the study of temperaments. Common everyday ideas about temperaments at present are not much different from the ideas of the 18th century: choleric temperament is associated with irritability, sanguine with cheerfulness, phlegmatic with calmness, and melancholic with sadness and vulnerability.

In modern psychology, temperament is defined as constant and stable natural personality traits that determine the dynamics of mental activity, regardless of its content.

The properties of temperament include extraversion and introversion, the pace of reactions, plasticity and rigidity.

Extraversion-introversion- temperament characteristics introduced K. Jung - determine the dependence of a person’s reaction and activity on external impressions arising at the moment (extrovert), or on the internal mental processes and states of a person (introvert). Extroverts include sanguine and choleric, and introverts include phlegmatic and melancholic.

Reaction rate characterizes the speed of mental processes and reactions (speed of mind, rate of speech, dynamics of gestures). The rate of reactions is increased in choleric people, sanguine people and well-rested melancholic people and decreased in phlegmatic people and tired melancholic people. People with a fast pace of reactions and low sensitivity (sanguine and choleric) do not notice. that others (phlegmatic and melancholic) do not have time to follow the course of their thoughts, and on the basis of this they make completely unfounded conclusions about their mental abilities, which can cause direct damage to relationships between people, in particular business relationships.

Inactivity - the degree of involuntary reactions to external and internal influences and irritations (critical remark, offensive word, harsh tone, external influence). These are automated defense and orientation reactions. High reactivity in choleric and sanguine people, low in phlegmatic people.

Activity— characterizes the expression of a person’s energy potential, with which a person overcomes obstacles and achieves goals. Activity is expressed in perseverance, focus, concentration and is the main quality of temperament that contributes to achieving the goal. A phlegmatic person is most active, although due to low reactivity he gets involved in work more slowly. The phlegmatic person is highly active and is not in danger of overwork. In a choleric person, high activity is combined with reactivity. Sanguine people are quite active, but if the activity is monotonous, they may lose interest in it. Melancholic people are characterized by low activity.

The ratio of reactivity and activity determines what a person’s activity depends on to a greater extent: random external or internal circumstances - mood, random events, or on goals, intentions, beliefs.

Plasticity and rigidity indicate how easily and flexibly a person adapts to external influences (plasticity) or how inert his behavior is (rigidity). The highest plasticity is in sanguine people; rigidity characterizes phlegmatic people, choleric people and melancholic people.

Emotional excitability reflects the threshold of the minimum impact necessary for the occurrence of an emotional reaction and the speed of its development. Emotional excitability is increased in sanguine, choleric and melancholic people, and decreased in phlegmatic people.

A peculiar combination of activity, determined by the intensity and volume of human interaction with the environment - physical and social, and the degree of expression of emotional reactions, determines individual characteristics of temperament, i.e. "dynamic aspects" of behavior. Researchers remain confident that the dynamic properties of behavior have a certain physiological basis, i.e. are determined by certain features of the functioning of physiological structures, but what these structures and features are is currently unknown. One thing is clear that temperament, being innate, is the basis of most personality properties, including its character. Temperament is the sensual basis of character. Transforming in the process of character formation, the properties of temperament turn into character traits, the content of which is associated with the orientation of the individual’s psyche.

Temperaments and their characteristics

Phlegmatic person unhurried, unperturbed, has stable aspirations and mood, outwardly stingy in the manifestation of emotions and feelings. He shows perseverance and perseverance in his work, remaining calm and balanced. He is productive at work, compensating for his slowness with diligence.

Choleric - fast, passionate, impetuous, but completely unbalanced, with sharply changing moods with emotional outbursts, quickly exhausted. He does not have a balance of nervous processes, this sharply distinguishes him from a sanguine person. A choleric person, getting carried away, carelessly wastes his strength and quickly becomes exhausted.

Sanguine - a lively, hot, active person, with frequent changes of mood and impressions, with a quick reaction to all the events happening around him, quite easily coming to terms with his failures and troubles. Sanguine people usually have expressive facial expressions. He is very productive at work when he is interested, becoming very excited about it; if the work is not interesting, he is indifferent to it, he becomes bored.

Melancholic - a person who is easily vulnerable, prone to constantly experiencing various events, he reacts little to external factors. He cannot restrain his asthenic experiences by force of will; he is overly impressionable and easily emotionally vulnerable.

Every temperament can be found both positive and negative properties. Good upbringing, control and self-control makes it possible to manifest: a melancholic person, as an impressionable person with deep experiences and emotions; a phlegmatic person, as a self-possessed person without hasty decisions; a sanguine person, as a highly responsive person for any work; a choleric person, as a passionate, frantic and active person in work.

Negative properties of temperament can manifest themselves as follows: in a melancholic person - isolation and shyness; a phlegmatic person has indifference to people, dryness; in a sanguine person - superficiality, scatteredness. impermanence; choleric person has hasty decisions.

As already noted, there are four main types of temperament: sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic (Fig. 1, Table 1).

Sanguine temperament

I. P. Pavlov gives the following description of the characteristics of the sanguine temperament: “A sanguine person is an ardent, very productive figure, but only when he has a lot of interesting things to do, that is, constant excitement. When there is no such thing, he becomes bored and lethargic.”

A sanguine person is distinguished by easy adaptability to changing living conditions, increased contact with people around him, and sociability. The feelings of a sanguine person arise easily and quickly change, his stereotypes are quite flexible, conditioned reflexes are quickly consolidated. In a new environment, he does not feel constrained, is capable of quickly switching attention and changing types of activities, and is emotionally stable. People with a sanguine temperament are most suited to activities that require quick reactions, significant effort, and distributed attention.

Choleric temperament

“The choleric type,” notes I. P. Pavlov, “is clearly a fighting type, perky, easily and quickly irritated.” “Being carried away by some task, he puts too much pressure on his resources and strength and in the end he breaks down, becomes more exhausted than he should, he works himself to the point that everything is unbearable for him.”

A choleric person is characterized by increased emotional reactivity, fast pace and abruptness in movements. The increased excitability of a choleric person under unfavorable conditions can become the basis for hot temper and even aggressiveness.

Rice. 1. Reactions of people with different temperaments in the same situation (drawing by X. Bidstrup)

Table 1. Types of temperament and the corresponding mental properties of a person

Mental properties	The pitchforks of temperament and the corresponding properties of higher nervous activity
	sanguine	choleric	phlegmatic	melancholic
Speed		Very high	Slow
		Very big
Extraversion/introversion	Extrovert	Extrovert	Introvert	Introvert
Plasticity/rigidity	Plastic	Plastic	Rigid	Rigid
Excitability	Moderate
Expression	Moderate	Increased	Reduced	Increased
Sustainability	Stable	Unstable	Very stable	Very unstable

With appropriate motivation, a choleric person is able to overcome significant difficulties, devoting himself to work with great passion. It is characterized by sudden changes in mood. A person with a choleric temperament achieves the greatest effectiveness in activities that require increased reactivity and significant simultaneous effort.

Phlegmatic temperament

“A phlegmatic person is a calm, always even, persistent and persistent worker of life.”

The reactions of a phlegmatic person are somewhat slow, the mood is stable. The emotional sphere is outwardly little expressed. In difficult life situations, a phlegmatic person remains quite calm and self-possessed; he does not allow impulsive, impetuous movements, since his processes of inhibition always balance the processes of excitation. Correctly calculating his strength, a phlegmatic person shows great persistence in seeing things through to the end. His switching of attention and activity is somewhat slow. His stereotypes are inactive, and his behavior in some cases is not flexible enough. A phlegmatic person achieves the greatest success in those activities that require uniform effort, perseverance, stability of attention and great patience.

Melancholic temperament

“The melancholic temperament is clearly an inhibitory type of nervous system. For a melancholic person, obviously, every phenomenon of life becomes an agent inhibiting him, since he does not believe in anything, does not hope for anything, sees and expects only the bad and dangerous in everything.”

A melancholic person is characterized by increased vulnerability and a tendency to experience deep emotions (sometimes even for minor reasons). His feelings arise easily, are poorly contained, and outwardly clearly expressed. Strong external influences complicate its activities. He is introverted - busy with his own experiences, withdrawn, refrains from contact with strangers, and avoids new surroundings. Under certain living conditions, he easily develops shyness, timidity, indecisiveness and even cowardice. In a favorable, stable environment, a melancholic person can achieve significant success in activities that require increased sensitivity, reactivity, quick learning, and observation.

Before talking about types of temperament, it is necessary to clarify what the term “temperament” itself means.

Despite the fact that many people consider this word to be quite mysterious, the answer to this question: what is human temperament is quite simple.

Translated into Russian from Latin, “temperament” means mixture, proportionality, moderation.

The definition of temperament in psychology explains in detail that emotionality, passion, and excitement characterize various aspects of the human psyche. For example, such as the speed of its processes and their regulation, as well as excitability and balance.

Particular attention can be paid to the individual’s adaptation to the modern environment that surrounds him.

We can conclude that the types of temperament and their psychological characteristics are united by the innate characteristics of the individual’s character, which serves as the key to the manifestation of uniqueness in the higher nervous activity of each person.

The typology of a unique person's temperament may undergo changes as a result of growing up, education or self-education, as well as environmental conditions.

It is for this reason that you need to find the answer to the question “how to know your temperament?” - impossible. There is no “pure temperament”; it is always only combined, consisting of traits inherent in its different types. It is worth talking in more detail about the types of temperament.

The history of the emergence of temperament and the concept of types of human emotionality

The concept of types of temperament and about it itself in its modern form “goes back” to the ancient times of Hippocrates. He himself and his student Galen believed that emotionality, excitement, and passion in a person’s character are formed from different proportions of the four “juices” mixed in the human body. Based on their reasoning, we can conclude that human life is not possible without 4 fluids: blood, black and yellow bile, lymph.

The names of all 4 types of temperament proposed by Hippocrates and Galen correspond to modern ones and have remained unchanged since antiquity. They talk about temperament types like this:

They discovered the mutual dependence of the “human body from the soul” and “soul from the body” and their inextricable unity.

Basic properties of the concept

Before talking about the psychological characteristics of each type of human temperament, you need to be aware of the properties of temperament and characteristics:

The correct balance of activity and reactivity helps maintain the mental balance of the individual.

1. Extraversion and introversion:
2. Extraversion is a person’s focus on interacting with the environment.
3. Introversion is a person’s focus on himself, that is, on his inner world.
4. Emotional excitability, which controls the change in emotions, or more precisely, the emotional responses of an individual.

Personality depending on the type of “liquid”

As can be seen from the above, temperament is understood as characteristics of mental activity based on its properties.

Being informed about these properties can illuminate the 4 types of temperament , taking into account that each of them is a collection consisting of properties. You should pay attention to each of them. Modern characteristics of temperament types:

Having considered the types of human temperament and their characteristics , it is necessary to pay attention to the role of emotionality in work and educational activities.

The influence of emotionality and its features in human labor and educational activities

Any activity, including professional ones, should be comfortable for a person, regardless of the type of temperament.

Comfort is the key to peace of mind and preservation of psychological well-being. It is worth considering that each area of ​​professional activity is suitable only for a certain circle of people. When choosing a job or retraining, the type of temperament plays one of the most important roles in a person’s life.

In order for an individual to be able to properly structure his work/educational activities, he needs to know as many subtleties as possible about his temperament and its characteristics.

Adjustment of individual emotionality depending on specific working conditions

In psychology, there are two distinct ways of restructuring a person’s individual characteristics.

Diagnostics

Diagnosis of temperament is one of the most interesting areas in the field of psychological diagnostics.

Many people wonder how to determine their temperament type? Having an idea of ​​your temperament types and their psychological characteristics, this is not difficult to do. To do this, you need to contact a psychologist or psychotherapist, who, using special questionnaires and techniques, will help you navigate the peculiarities of mixing juices (liquids) and develop an individual formula for emotionality.

The psychologist’s tools may consist of:

1. From the questionnaire-methodology of V.M. Rusalov “Temperament Structure Questionnaire (OST)”, which is aimed at studying the components of temperament. This is social energy, social plasticity, the speed of their reactions. And also emotionality. In other words, it measures the levels of aspects of temperament: “objective-activity” and “communicative”. The author has developed two versions of questionnaires: children's or adolescent questionnaires intended for people aged 13 to 17 years, and adults, aimed at ages from 18 to 55 years. There is an information-switching (computer) version.
2. Eysenck's method for determining temperament is aimed at identifying the level of: neuroticism, extroversion-introversion. In other words, elements of temperament. That is why the second name of this questionnaire is types of temperaments. Following the logic of the questionnaire and Eysenck’s opinion:
3. Choleric is a neurotic extrovert;
4. Melancholic - neurotic introvert;
5. A sanguine person is not a neurotic extrovert;
6. A phlegmatic person is not a neurotic introvert.

The psychologist’s “case” presents 2 versions of the questionnaire. The only difference is the location of the stimulus material and the text. The instructions, “keys” and interpretation remain unchanged.

Another technique is the Eysenck circle for temperament . Its essence is that bipolarity is expressed on the X and Y axes of the coordinate grid. It consists entirely of definitions and words that characterize the psychological components of emotionality in an individual’s character. The extreme points of the axes indicate its focus on the outside world, which is a sign of extraversion, or on internal experiences, which is typical for introverts.

It is believed that sociability, openness, cheerfulness and lightness are the main traits of extroverts. Introverts are characterized by closeness, aloofness, concentration on their own affairs, and calmness. Factor number two that makes up the Eysenck circle is neuroticism.

1. Jan Strelyau's questionnaire is aimed at studying individual elements of this phenomenon, such as the levels of: the strength of excitation processes, the strength of inhibition processes, the mobility of nervous processes. An indicator of the balance of excitation and inhibition processes in terms of strength is calculated.