Temperament in psychology, its types and interpretations

Temperament, as a psychophysiological characteristic, is the subject of study of different sciences, but the temperament in psychology is considered in the most detail. Socio-psychological understanding implies under it a relatively stable set of personality characteristics that are directly interrelated not with its content aspect, but with the dynamic aspect. This, in fact, explains why the temperament belongs to psychology. Nevertheless, temperament in psychology, in sociology, and even in such sciences as political science, history and some others, in some cases is considered as the basis for the functional development of the character of the individual. If we regard it exclusively as a dynamic characteristic, that is, from the physiological point of view, then this phenomenon is a special type of the higher nervous activity of the individual.

There are several versions of the interpretation of the origin of this concept and its subsequent consideration in science. According to one, temperament as scientific knowledge arose on the basis of the Hellenistic doctrine of numbers, the origins of which lie still in the ancient Pythagoreans. It is there that we find the idea of four temperaments, which distinguished the European tradition of interpretation of temperament from the eastern, in which five types are distinguished. The word itself is translated from Latin as "moderate". But this translation has a somewhat conditional meaning, because by "moderate" is meant a certain stable state of the parts united into a single whole. The first term was used by Hippocrates, explaining to them the fact of the domination of "one of the vital juices" in man. He also gave each of the types a conventional color value, thus showing that in each color there is only his inherent psychology of temperament. This approach and interpretation are largely preserved to this day.

The key point in the study of temperament types was the scientific work and the teaching of IP Pavlov. In his conception of the types of the nervous system, the great Russian scientist claimed that temperament in psychology should be analyzed as an indicator of how various properties of the nervous system correlate among themselves in higher nervous activity . And here on the basis of factual material, Pavlov singled out four genotypes of temperament, corresponding to the four types of nervous systems:

- weak, characterized by melancholia and characterized by low rates of both excitatory and inhibitory processes;

- strong unbalanced (choleric) - both types of processes are active;

- strong balanced (sanguine) - high rates of excitatory processes, and moderate - inhibitory;

- strong inert-balanced - phlegmatic temperament in psychological examination, characterized by the domination of inhibitory processes over the causative.

The description of temperament types is very helpful in describing human characters, especially if individual temperament properties are expressed clearly. However, as a rule, this does not happen often, mostly a person is a bearer of traits that belong to different types of temperaments. That is why, as temperament in psychology treats their relationship and gives us an idea of the prevailing type.

It is accepted that:

Phlegmatic, as a rule, sluggish, unperturbed, emotionally stable, in work - it is an indispensable toiler who silently and qualitatively does the work assigned to him.

Choleric is a "fast" person, he is impulsive, hot. Often his behavior is completely reckless. As a rule, choleric people quickly exhaust emotional energy and they "cool down".

Sanguine is mobile, active, but unlike choleric, his actions are rational and meaningful. He can be quick-tempered, but quickly finds the resources for calm, very productive, and, as a rule, creative in his work.

Melancholic is a very vulnerable and sensitive person. He does not just take everything to heart, his perception is often painful. The melancholic is so impressionable that sometimes one has to calm down his experiences with strong-willed efforts.

In general, from the standpoint of psychology, the identification of four types of temperament - only one of their classifications. In addition, one should also take into account the subjectivism that is present in psychological science in the description of temperament types.