Melancholic: characteristics, pros and cons of character. Mixed temperament type sanguine choleric

Every person is unique and original from birth. All people behave differently, have their own character, their own emotions, experiences and views.

But at the same time, sociology distinguishes pronounced traits of certain personalities, which make it possible to divide people into four types of temperament - choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic. How are these types different? And what is meant by temperament?

What is temperament?

Translated from Latin temperamentum means "proportionality" or "a certain ratio of individual parts" . Temperament is a stable combination of various characteristics and individual properties of a person, which largely depend on his innate qualities. In simple words, temperament is those qualities and character traits that were inherent in a person from birth.

It is believed that temperament manifests itself in the general level of activity of people, their mobility, motor skills, and expression of emotions. One person may be agile, receptive, have a fast pace of speech and a high speed of thinking, while another is lethargic, passive, slow and silent.

Such differences in the 18th century allowed sociologists to divide people into types, which were based on the long-standing teachings of Hippocrates about the psychological characteristics of the individual.

Who are choleric people?

Cholerics include people who have high mobility, impetuosity, and excessive emotionality. Such a person is passionate about any task and is able to overcome many difficulties. On the other hand, he is often unbalanced, subject to sudden mood swings, and sometimes quite aggressive.

Looking at a choleric person, it seems that he manages to be in several places at once and do many things at the same time. He can instantly make any decisions and immediately implement them, but often his excessive aspirations give the impression of frivolity and lack of concentration.

Who are called sanguine people?

Sanguine people are considered everyone's favorite. They are always cheerful, cheerful, and talkative. These people are distinguished by great charm and amazing ease of communication. Thanks to such qualities, they have many friends and often occupy leadership positions.

Among the positive aspects of sanguine people are sociability, openness,... They easily adapt to any life situations and have high performance. However, in unfavorable conditions, their high mobility and energy can result in hasty actions and lack of concentration.

Who is a phlegmatic person?

Phlegmatic people are calm, unhurried people who have stable aspirations and are stingy with emotions. Like sanguine people, they show increased persistence in work, but remain balanced and calm.

The phlegmatic temperament can be described as calm and slow with little expression of emotion. People with this character find it difficult to switch from one activity to another and adapt to existing conditions, but even in emergency situations they show calmness and restraint.

Melancholic - who is it?

Melancholic people are characterized by such traits as slight vulnerability, deep emotions, external lethargy and poor reactions to others. Such people are considered the most vulnerable and are distinguished by their gentleness and humility. Friendship with a melancholic person can be a real challenge, since he is extremely touchy and gets upset over every little thing.

He constantly feels like he is underestimated, unloved, or not given enough attention. At the same time, melancholic people have a significant amount of energy and are better able to listen and understand than others. Their timidity and shyness are combined with impeccable taste, romance and a sense of beauty.

The main personality traits include: temperament and character. Temperament is determined by the type of nervous system and reflects predominantly innate behavioral characteristics. Temperament expresses a person's attitude to the events occurring around him.
Any person must constantly take into account the temperamental characteristics of the people with whom he has to work and communicate. This is necessary for effective interaction with them, reducing the likelihood of conflict situations, and avoiding possible stress. There are no better or worse temperaments. Therefore, efforts when contacting a person should not be aimed at correcting him, but at the competent use of the virtues and advantages of temperament while simultaneously neutralizing negative manifestations.
The earliest classification of temperament types was developed in the 2nd century BC. Roman physician Claudius Galen. In this typology, there are four main types: choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholic. As a rule, we should talk about the predominance of certain temperament traits, the relationship of temperaments, and their percentage in a person. In their “pure form,” individual types of temperament are rare. However, let us characterize the “pure” types of temperaments.

Choleric.

Characterized by increased excitability, actions are intermittent. He is characterized by sharpness and swiftness of movements, strength, impulsiveness, and vivid expression of emotional experiences. Due to imbalance, carried away by a task, he tends to act with all his might and become more exhausted than he should. Having public interests, his temperament shows initiative, energy, and integrity. In the absence of spiritual life, choleric temperament often manifests itself in irritability, affectivity, incontinence, hot temper, and inability to self-control under emotional circumstances.

Sanguine.

Quickly adapts to new conditions, quickly gets along with people, and is sociable. Feelings arise and change easily, emotional experiences are usually shallow. Facial expressions are rich, mobile, expressive. He is somewhat restless, needs new impressions, does not regulate his impulses sufficiently, and does not know how to strictly adhere to the established routine of life or work system. In this regard, he cannot successfully carry out work that requires an equal expenditure of effort, prolonged and methodical tension, perseverance, stability of attention, and patience. In the absence of serious goals, deep thoughts, and creative activity, superficiality and inconstancy develop.

Phlegmatic person.

It is characterized by a relatively low level of behavioral activity, new forms of which are developed slowly, but are persistent. Possesses slowness and calmness in actions, facial expressions and speech, evenness, constancy, depth of feelings and moods. Persistent and stubborn, he rarely loses his temper, is not prone to emotions, having calculated his strengths, brings things to the end, is even in relationships, moderately sociable, and does not like to chat in vain. Saves energy and doesn’t waste it. Depending on the conditions, in some cases a phlegmatic person may be characterized by “positive” traits - endurance, depth of thoughts, constancy, thoroughness, in others - lethargy, indifference to the environment, laziness and lack of will, poverty and weakness of emotions, a tendency to perform only habitual actions.

Melancholic.

His reaction often does not correspond to the strength of the stimulus; there is depth and stability of feelings with weak expression. It is difficult for him to concentrate on anything for a long time. Strong influences often cause a prolonged inhibitory reaction in melancholic people (“give up”). He is characterized by restraint and muted speech and movements, shyness, timidity, and indecisiveness. Under normal conditions, a melancholic person is a deep, meaningful person who can be a good worker and successfully cope with life’s tasks. Under unfavorable conditions, he can turn into a closed, fearful, anxious, vulnerable person, prone to difficult internal experiences of life circumstances that do not deserve it.

More detailed information about the types of temperament can be found on the pages of the Panopticon

The famous cartoonist H. Bidstrup once depicted the reaction of four people to the same incident: someone accidentally sat on the hat of a man resting on a bench. The result: the choleric person became furious, the sanguine person laughed, the melancholic person became terribly upset, and the phlegmatic person calmly put his hat on his head.

Instructions.

You are offered a set of personality traits one by one (80 questions). Answer positively (“Yes”) if this quality really manifests itself in you. Otherwise, select the answer "No". Answer quickly, without hesitation, as the first reaction is important.
The test result is the percentage of the types of temperament present in you.

It's no secret that everyone has their own type of temperament, which leaves an imprint on their type of activity, communication, existence in society, and life in general. Today we will look at four main types of temperament, in each of which someone recognizes themselves.

1. Choleric. People with this temperament are characterized by strength, mobility, and imbalance. It is easy to excite such a person, but difficult to calm him down, and this is unlikely to happen right away. However, it goes away as quickly as it “lights up”, but this leaves an imprint on other character traits. For example, he gets down to business, but rarely completes it, because he simply lacks diligence, endurance, and patience. If he is forced to do something he does not like, the work will be done poorly. Long and painstaking work is generally not for choleric people; they are characterized by the qualities of a leader and manager, and not an obedient performer. His emotionality is so pronounced that it is noticeable to everyone around him, and his main passion is ambition, praise, and pathos. He loves to be in the spotlight, strives for universal recognition, but gladly stands up for the defense of the offended and helpless in order to again win the glory of a hero and truth-teller. It is quite difficult to have a conversation with such a person, since he does not like to listen to the interlocutor, tries to interrupt him or even insult him if the conversation begins to flow in the wrong direction. But after 10 minutes he will forget all the grievances and makes attempts to resume the discussion, which again could end in a scandal. Not everyone can get used to the change in mood of a choleric person, because it happens in the blink of an eye. The complexity of the situation is that a person with this type of temperament categorically does not tolerate criticism and shows an extreme degree of dissatisfaction with any comments. He loves quarrels and with the help of scandals he can satisfy his excessive emotionality, since he emerges victorious from most situations.

2. Melancholic. The complete opposite of the type described above. This is a person with a weak, unbalanced character who is unable to withstand prolonged physical and emotional stress. He views any situation as danger, threat, trick or deception. His tendency to constantly fear makes him afraid of even his own shadow. Melancholic people are shy and very impressionable; they do not need communication with other people or universal recognition. They are most comfortable in a situation where no one touches them, demands or controls anything. If you offend such a beech, he will worry for a long time and remember the insults inflicted. The constant feeling of danger and threat that he sees in others makes him always suspect someone of wanting to harm him. But he himself will never get involved in a conflict situation and, moreover, will not take an active part in it. Any stressful situation has a magical effect on him, literally freezing him from head to toe. In this state, a person loses the ability to think sensibly and express his own thoughts cogently. But fear or disappointment can provoke him to rash actions, devoid of any logic. These people are very good workers, as they are always afraid of falling out of favor with their superiors or colleagues. It is easier for them to complete a task “excellently” than to listen to comments or reproaches. This desire fosters a sense of responsibility and a desire to work, so melancholic people make excellent performers who achieve good results in their work.
3. Sanguine. This type of temperament characterizes strong, active and easily excited people. However, they know how to be balanced and reasonable, even despite their emotionality and temper. The activity of nervous processes determined the ability to think quickly, react quickly and quickly make complex decisions. Sanguine people are distinguished by cheerfulness and ease in relation to circumstances, life situations, and problems. His excitement is easily replaced by calm, calm by activity, activity by the desire to run away from everyone. He does not linger in any of the states characteristic of sanguine people, since he loves change and cannot stay in the same environment for a long time. However, there is still a minus in this, because it is impossible to predict what can be expected from such a person tomorrow, who he will hate and who he will feel sympathy for. He is not at all afraid of difficulties, since his character makes it easy to adapt to any situation. Moreover, he not only does not react to irritants and stress, he is ready to solve the problem by dismantling it “to its bones.” You won’t scare him with work, provided that he likes it. He performs an interesting and exciting task with great accuracy and efficiency. He is a born optimist who never sits idle for a day and is always busy with something. He prefers not to notice failures or to do everything in the future to prevent their reoccurrence. His ease in everything often unnerves colleagues, loved ones and loved ones, but sanguine people are little concerned about this fact, because they simply cannot constantly be under the burden of others.
4. Phlegmatic. This type has fortitude, he is balanced and inert. Despite the activity of nervous processes, the excitation is not strong, since the process of inhibition smooths out the situation. Such a person never commits rash acts, he is devoid of excessive emotionality, and all his actions are verified to the smallest detail. His calmness may partly resemble slowness, which only has a positive effect on his work, since any task is performed with precision and perseverance, albeit with a certain amount of pedantry. It is difficult to say what is in such a person’s soul, since he is rather stingy with emotions and when expressing feelings. Even if he is overcome by a strong feeling of anger, not everyone around him will understand what is boiling in such a person’s soul. The main disadvantage of a phlegmatic person can be considered the lack of communication experience and desire, but he is not at all prone to conflicts, and this is one of his advantages. He gets used to the existing foundations and conditions, prefers conservatism in everything. He is very easy-going in the family, but his loved one may be irritated by the lack of emotions, which sooner or later can lead to complaints and quarrels. This, in fact, periodically happens in his family if the other half has a different type of temperament. He loves and does not experience any internal discomfort because of this. On the contrary, in such an environment it is convenient for him to think, reason, and analyze.

- 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

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 are 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.