Theory of temperament by Hippocrates and Galen

Four temperaments in the form of visual emoticons (names from left to right and top to bottom: phlegmatic, choleric, sanguine, melancholic)

The magic of numbers in the Mediterranean civilization led to the teaching of the four temperaments, while in the East a five-component "system of the world" developed.

The word "temperament" (from the Latin. Peramentum), translated from Latin, means "a stable mixture, the ratio of parts", the Greek word "Krasis" equal to it (ancient Greek. Κράσις, "fusion, mixing") was entered by the doctors of antiquity Hippocrates and galen. They suggested that there are persistent individual differences in the ratios between chemical systems that regulate human behavior. Despite the fact that Hippocrates was among the first to point out the role of the brain in the general regulation of behavior, he attributed the most stable individual differences to differences in the mixtures of neuro-humoral body fluids. Hippocrates suggested, and Galen explained the temperament in more detail as behavioral patterns, the predominance of one of the “vital juices” (four elements) in the body:

The predominance of lymph (ancient Greek φλέγμα, phlegm, “sputum”) makes a person calm and slow - phlegmatic.

The predominance of yellow bile (ancient Greek χολή, chole, “bile, poison”) makes a person hysterical and boorish, “hot” - choleric.

The predominance of blood (lat. Sanguis, sanguis, sangua, "blood") makes a person mobile and fun - sanguine.

The predominance of black gall (ancient Greek μέλαανα χολή, melena chole, “black gall”) makes a person sad and fearful - melancholic.

People with pronounced features of a certain temperament are not so common, most often people have a mixed temperament in various combinations. But the predominance of features of any type of temperament makes it possible to attribute the temperament of a person to a particular type. One of the most common in the domestic literature classifications of types of temperament:

Choleric - fast, impetuous, but completely unbalanced, with a sharply changing mood with emotional flashes, quickly exhausted. He has no equilibrium of nervous processes, it sharply distinguishes him from the sanguine person. The choleric person has a great working capacity, however, being carried away, he was wasting his strength and was quickly exhausted.

Phlegmatic - unhurried, imperturbable, has stable aspirations and mood, outwardly stingy to the manifestation of emotions and feelings. He shows perseverance and perseverance in his work, remaining calm and balanced. In his work, he is productive, compensating for his slow pace with diligence.

Sanguine is a lively, hot, agile person, with a frequent change of impressions, with a quick reaction to all the events around him, quite easily reconciled with his failures and troubles. Usually sanguine possesses expressive facial expressions. He is very productive at work when he is interested. If the work is not interesting, he treats it indifferently, he gets bored.

Melancholic - prone to the constant experience of various events, it is acutely responsive to external factors. He often cannot restrain his asthenic experiences by an effort of will, he is elevated impressionable, emotionally vulnerable.

This concept still influences literature, art and science. Types of temperament played an important role in the psychology of the new time, in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and Rudolph Hermann Lotz. The reason for the "vitality" of the Hippocrates-Galen theory may be that they first described four types of behavior that are really associated with an imbalance in neurotransmitter (neurochemical) systems that, with extreme imbalances, manifest themselves as psychiatric profiles. These profiles have been recognized by mankind for more than 2500 years and are reflected in the international classifications of mental disorders (DSM or ICD). Below is a list of boundary conditions that are observed with a pronounced temperament.

An important point in the history of the natural science study of temperaments was the teaching of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov about the types of the nervous system (types of higher nervous activity) that are common to humans and higher mammals. He proved that the physiological basis of temperament is the type of higher nervous activity, which is determined by the ratio of the basic properties of the nervous system: strength, balance and mobility of the processes of excitation and inhibition occurring in the nervous system. Pavlov identified four clearly defined types of higher nervous activity, that is, certain complexes of the basic properties of the nervous processes, which he compared with the types of Hippocratic temperament:

The weak type is characterized by weakness of both excitatory and inhibitory processes — it corresponds to the Hippocratic melancholic.

A strong unbalanced type is characterized by a strong irritable process and a relatively weak process of inhibition, which corresponds to choleric, an “impetuous” type.

Strong balanced mobile type - corresponds to the sanguine, "live" type.

Strong balanced, but with inert nervous processes - corresponds to phlegmatic, "quiet" type.