 145
Ancient History
Temperament is an ancient concept. As early 
as the fifth century B.C.E. , Greek physicians 
believed that health depended on a harmoni -
ous blend of the four “humors.” Extending 
this view, Galen later proposed that predom -
inance of one humor resulted in a charac -
teristic emotional style or temperament that 
formed the core, respectively, of four basic 
personality types (indeed, the word temper -
ament  derives from the Latin “to blend,” so 
that differences in the blend of humors were 
equated with differences in temperament; 
Digman, 1994). The sanguine  or cheerful, 
active temperament reflected an excess of 
blood; the melancholic  or gloomy tempera -
ment reflected an excess of black bile; chol -
eric or angry, violent types had an excess of 
yellow bile; and an excess of phlegm was as -
sociated with the phlegmatic  or calm, pas -
sive temperament.
Two aspects of this ancient formulation 
remain alive in current theories of tempera -
ment: (1) Biological factors underlie observ -
able characteristics, and (2) emotions are core 
and defining features of temperament. As is 
so often the case with personality-  related 
constructs, Allport (1937) provided a defini -
tion that captures the essential features.Temperament refers to the characteristic phe -
nomena of an individual’s emotional nature, 
including his susceptibility to emotional stim -
ulation, his customary strength and speed of 
response, the quality of his prevailing mood, 
and all peculiarities of fluctuation and inten -
sity of mood; these phenomena being regarded 
as dependent on constitutional makeup and 
therefore largely hereditary in origin. (p. 54)
Researchers today investigate serotonin 
deficits, increased activity in the amygdala, 
and mesolimbic dopaminergic pathways 
rather than imbalances among the humors, 
but the recognition that behavior is, in part, 
a function of physical characteristics was a 
remarkable insight. Moreover, although de -
bates on a precise definition of temperament 
and its distinction from personality remain 
(and we do not resolve them in this chapter), 
there is now widespread agreement (follow -
ing Allport) that emotional experience and 
emotional regulation are intrinsic to these 
concepts (see Digman, 1994, for a brief his -
tory of the concept of temperament and fur -
ther discussion of definitions).
A third aspect of the Greek model is hum -
bling to admit. The Greek observation that 
there were four main temperaments maps re -
markably well onto the four quadrants that 
emerge from crossing the two primary per -CHAPTER 6
Temperament
Theory and  Research
Lee Anna Clark  
David  Watson