What Is Temprament?

What is temperament? What is the relation between temperament and personality traits in adulthood? Over time, I have noticed that I have become more impatient, I let negativity come to mind before positivism, and sometimes, I just don't want to hear it. This is not my complete personality at its best, but the innocent mind that used to be open to people's stories thinks a bit more skeptically and suspiciously. Though skeptical, I do enjoy listening to people's encounters and feelings. I am a good friend and loving family member, who has qualities of independence, ambition, passion, and a free spirit. All of my personality traits have stayed with me through the years and were able to be noticed at an early age. Though I keep these traits with me, they have gone through changes and have become weaker and stronger as I get further into adulthood. There are two sides to personality, one of which is temperament and the other is character. Temperament is the general nature one's personality. Introversion and extroversion are both examples of temperament. It is a predisposition of attitude and actions, and an inborn form of one's human nature. In our text, temperament is defined as "individual differences in basic behavioral style assumed to be present at birth and biologically determined." An ancient medical theory exists that suggests that there are four main temperaments which are personality types or moods that are biologically set according to the balance of certain bodily fluids in each person. The first, sanguine, indicates the personality that is generally optimistic, cheerful, even-tempered, confident, rational, popular, and fun-loving. This is the most positive temperament. Next is choleric. This temperament describes a person that is easily angered or bad tempered. The choleric temperament can be seen in infants at a very early age if they cry uncontrollably and seem as if they are angry. The third temperament is melancholic. This