Four temperaments test

What the four temperaments are

The four temperaments are one of the oldest ideas about personality. They come from ancient Greek medicine, written down under the name of Hippocrates about 2,400 years ago. Those doctors believed the body ran on four fluids, called humours: blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm.

Galen, a Greek doctor working in Rome in the 2nd century, tied the humours to character. Too much of one fluid was supposed to shape how you think and feel. The names still show it: sanguine comes from the Latin for blood, choleric from the Greek for bile, melancholic from the Greek for black bile, and phlegmatic from phlegm.

The idea stayed in medicine for well over a thousand years. It also left its mark on everyday language. When you call someone phlegmatic or melancholy, you're using words from this model.

The four temperaments in brief

Sanguine: lively, sociable and optimistic. Quick to make friends and quick to cheer up, but not always great at finishing things.

Choleric: driven, decisive and bold. Likes to lead and get results, can be impatient and quick-tempered.

Melancholic: thoughtful, careful and deeply feeling. Notices details, sets high standards, and can overthink. It doesn't mean sad or depressed.

Phlegmatic: calm, patient and steady. Easy to be around and hard to rattle, but can put things off and avoid conflict.

In the old model nobody was pure. Everyone had all four humours, just in different amounts. That's why we show your second temperament too: read it as part of the picture, not as a mistake.

Is it science?

No, not the way it was first meant. Body fluids don't cause personality. Humour theory was dropped by medicine long ago, and you won't find the four temperaments in today's personality research as a working model.

The descriptions survived for a different reason: they match two traits that real research does find. In the mid-1900s the psychologist Hans Eysenck argued that the four temperaments fit neatly onto two scales, how outgoing you are and how strongly your emotions react. Sanguine is outgoing and steady. Choleric is outgoing and reactive. Melancholic is reserved and reactive. Phlegmatic is reserved and steady.

Eysenck wasn't the first to try this. In the late 1800s Wilhelm Wundt, often called the father of experimental psychology, also placed the four temperaments on two scales: how strong your feelings are, and how fast they change.

The modern model most psychologists use is the Big Five, which measures five traits on a scale instead of putting you in one of four boxes. Two of those traits, extraversion and neuroticism, are close to Eysenck's two scales. If you want a better-tested picture, take our Big Five test too.

How your score is worked out

There are 24 statements, 6 for each temperament, mixed together. 8 of them, 2 per temperament, are worded the other way round ("In a group, I'm usually one of the quiet ones" counts against sanguine). That way, agreeing with everything doesn't push every score up.

Each answer is worth 0 to 4 points, from Disagree (0) to Agree (4). On the reverse-worded statements it's flipped, so Agree counts as 0. For each temperament we average its 6 answers and show it as a score from 0 to 100.

Your main temperament is the highest score, and your second is the next highest. If two tie exactly, we pick one using your pattern of answers, so the same answers always give the same result, and the other one shows as your second.

These are raw scores, not a ranking against other people. A 75 on phlegmatic means you agreed with most of the phlegmatic statements, not that you're calmer than 75% of people.

How much to trust the result

Use it as a fun, quick way to think about your style, not as a measurement. Six statements per temperament is short, and your mood today can move the numbers.

Most people are a blend. Popular books from the 1960s on, like Tim LaHaye's, talked about mixes such as sanguine-choleric or melancholic-phlegmatic. If your top two scores are close, read both and keep the parts that fit.

Our statements were written for this site. There's no official four temperaments test, and this one isn't a clinical tool. A high melancholic score is not a sign of depression. If low mood is getting in the way of your life, talk to a doctor or counselor.