temperaments
Inborn emotional tendencies
Temperaments are characteristic ways of thinking, feeling, and reacting.
The word often implies inborn disposition rather than learned behavior: The twins had completely different temperaments from birth.
Someone with an artistic temperament is emotionally sensitive and creatively inclined.
In older usage, the four temperaments—sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic—were personality types linked to bodily fluids.
Cheerfully optimistic temperament
- phlegmaticUnemotionally calm, slow-reacting
- cholericEasily provoked to anger
- melancholicInclined toward reflective sorrow
- humorsAccommodates someone's wishes
Hippocrates · Galen · blood · yellow bile · black bile · phlegm · ayurveda · pitta
Prone to sullenness
- volatileLiable to sudden change
- irritableEasily provoked to annoyance
- sensitiveEasily affected emotionally
- mercurialProne to sudden change
excitable · passionate · apathetic · anxious · cheerful · melancholic · fiery · intense
Inherent physical or structural makeup
- inclinationDisposition toward something
- propensityInnate behavioral inclination
- tendencyInclination toward a behavior
- predispositionInnate tendency toward something
proclivity · bent · penchant · affinity · leaning · bias · predilection · nature
One who turns inward
- extrovertOne who seeks company
- ambivertBoth outgoing and reserved
- analyticalExamining parts methodically
- charismaticCompellingly attractive to others
altruistic · meticulous · impulsive · optimistic · pessimistic · empathetic · narcissistic · stoic
Learned behavioral adaptation
- habitsRegular repeated behaviors
- responsesAnswers or reactions
- reactionsResponses to events
- instinctsInnate behavioral tendencies
reflexes · conduct · manners · socialization · adaptation · interaction · coping · patterns
sanguine
Cheerfully optimistic temperament
- phlegmaticUnemotionally calm, slow-reacting
- cholericEasily provoked to anger
- melancholicInclined toward reflective sorrow
humors · Hippocrates · Galen · blood · yellow bile · black bile · phlegm · ayurveda · pitta · dosha
moody
Prone to sullenness
- volatileLiable to sudden change
- irritableEasily provoked to annoyance
- sensitiveEasily affected emotionally
mercurial · excitable · passionate · apathetic · anxious · cheerful · melancholic · fiery · intense · high-strung
constitution
Inherent physical or structural makeup
- inclinationDisposition toward something
- propensityInnate behavioral inclination
- tendencyInclination toward a behavior
predisposition · proclivity · bent · penchant · affinity · leaning · bias · predilection · nature · essence
introvert
One who turns inward
- extrovertOne who seeks company
- ambivertBoth outgoing and reserved
- analyticalExamining parts methodically
charismatic · altruistic · meticulous · impulsive · optimistic · pessimistic · empathetic · narcissistic · stoic · gregarious
conditioning
Learned behavioral adaptation
instincts · reflexes · conduct · manners · socialization · adaptation · interaction · coping · patterns · tendencies
- personalitypersonality, trait, traits, character, personality traits
- personality typespersonality type, extrovert, MBTI, introversion, pessimist
- humoral medicinefour humors, black bile, bodily humors, yellow bile, phlegm
- Unanihumors, black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, sanguine
- ancient mindpsyche, nous, anima, pneuma, four humors
- behaviorshabit, aggressive, agitation, conduct, passive
temperamentsconditioned responses
Learned automatic reactions
nurture · conditioning · education · training · socialization
temperamentscircumstances
Conditions affecting an event
situations · environmental factors · surroundings · conditions · settings
- artistic temperamentMoody nature attributed to creatives
- gentle temperamentCalm, kind nature
- calm temperamentStable, untroubled emotional character
- equal temperamentUniform pitch division system
- stable temperamentReliable emotional steadiness
- playful temperamentTendency toward mirth