What Are the 4 Temperaments? A Psychologist Explains

If you’re a fan of the wildly popular AppleTV+ series, Severance, you’re probably familiar with the show’s concept of the “four tempers” that plague the characters: Woe, Frolic, Dread and Malice.

This concept has led to an uptick in searches for the four temperaments—a real and ancient concept that can no doubt be the basis for the four tempers’ framework. Below, I’ve got an overview of the temperaments themselves, and spoke to a psychologist about temperament and how it differs from personality.

Dr. Sanam Hafeez is a New York City-based neuropsychologist and director of Comprehend the Mind, a psychological practice that treats learning disorders, anxiety, depression and other psychopathological disorders. Dr. Hafeez obtained her Doctor of Psychology at Hofstra University and completed her post-doctoral training in neuropsychology and developmental pediatrics at Coney Island Hospital.

The four temperaments originated in ancient Greek philosophy and are credited to Hippocrates. The physician posited that there were four human temperaments determined by levels of different bodily fluids (aka “humors”). Below are the four temperaments and their characteristics.

• Choleric: Based on the bodily humor of yellow bile, a choleric temperament is associated with leadership, ambition, optimism and enthusiasm, but on the flip side can also be aggressive and restless. (It’s the relentless pursuit of success!)
• Sanguine: The sanguine temperament is pleasure seeking, sociable, optimistic and helpful. Its associated bodily humor is blood. While this temperament can be lively and sociable, it’s also prone to addictive behaviors, lack of discipline and impulsivity. 
• Phlegmatic: As the name suggests, this temperament is associated with phlegm. If you can envision someone who’s always sickly and hacking away, rolled up in bed listlessly watching Netflix, then in related fashion, the phlegmatic temperament is rather passive, manifested as a relaxed, thoughtful, peaceful state. Introverts, this one is also for you.
• Melancholic: Associated with black bile, the melancholic temperament isn’t necessarily related to the definition of melancholy. Melancholic temperaments are analytical, literal, dependable and introverted. This type loves a good routine, so watch out—a disruption could lead to some serious mood swings.

Today, with a much more robust understanding of our physiology and genetics, the Hippocratic model is long outdated. Per the National Library of Medicine, “Similar temperaments within a family may be attributable to shared genetics and to the environment in which an individual is raised…Scientists estimate that 20 to 60 percent of temperament is determined by genetics.

The original, Hippocratic philosophy of the four temperaments in relation to the bodily humors were abandoned around 1850 and are no longer accepted in the canon of Western medicine.

Rather, they’ve been replaced by the Big Five personality traits, which, Dr. Hafeez notes, are more complex and empirically supported. As cited above, today’s definition of temperament is often linked to genetics and your environment. However, you want to determine which bodily humor you most manifest, there are a plethora of quizzes for that. Similarly to the way we take personality tests like the MBTI or Enneagram, there are tests that will assign you a temperament. Here’s one for starters.

Though the quizzes that “diagnose” your temperament are strikingly similar to those for personality tests, the definition of temperament does differ from that of personality.

“Temperament is the natural predisposition of an individual to react emotionally and behaviorally to their environment. It is often considered to be biologically based and observable from a very young age, such as in infancy,” Dr. Hafeez tells me. “Temperament includes traits like emotional reactivity, activity level, sociability and attention span. These traits are generally thought to be stable across a person's lifetime, although how they manifest may change based on context and life experiences.”

Meanwhile, personality is broader, including behaviors, thoughts and feelings, she explains. “While temperament provides the foundational framework, personality develops and evolves through life experiences and social interactions.”

Just like personality types, the four temperaments aren’t designed to peg you to a set of traits from which there’s no going back. We’re human and therefore ever evolving. And, in my experience, tests like these pull out the loudest, most assertive traits we expressed—but that doesn’t mean others aren’t there, too. In the way that we can embody more than one Enneagram number or have our MBTI letters fluctuate, you can express more than one temperament.

Ultimately, Dr. Hafeez says, “Personality frameworks help people make sense of their own behavior and the behavior of others, offering a sense of control and predictability in social interactions. Additionally, categorizing ourselves into personality types can provide a sense of identity, validation, and clarity, especially in a world that often feels complex and uncertain.” So, you know, as long as the end goal of taking these quizzes and determining your temperament isn’t linked to some creepy, nefarious, Lumon-esque control scheme…by all means, have fun.