Do you know what temperament you are?

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I think I am melancholic with “sanguine alloy” as the article mentions. Anyone else?
 
I’m quite consistently a melancholic-phlegmatic.

Some people don’t like personality/temperament tests, but to me, well thought-out questionnaires are helpful in assessing ourselves and finding things we are really good but never really thought much about before (same for areas where we might need some work). 🙂 I think in my case, it did help me realize some strengths that I hadn’t necessarily noticed before, and that in turn helped make me more comfortable in my introversion.

Actually, CatholicMatch has a rather good temperament test. In college, I was going to a series of talks, and they wanted us to take CM’s test. So we all had to create free accounts to take the test, but I found it to be quite accurate.
 
I feel that many of the underlying principles are sound–about knowing yourself an your weaknesses to better enable you to correct them, for example. Other ideas, like equating excitibility and extroversion, I find to be more problematic. I also find some issues with the idea that ones feelings are shallow if one does not have a tendency to bear resentment. It may be just a question of terminology, but it seems like the fact that one doesn’t hold grudges does not mean that one’s feelings are shallow.

Also, I can see descriptions of myself in pieces of all of the temperaments, so like all personality inventories, it describes some people very well, but the majority less well, and some people not at all.

People are created by God in an infinite variety, not just in four types. By all means, if you find a personality test where you fall solidly in one category, it can help you. But trying to stuff yourself into a category doesn’t help. Also, in general, it is better to take the personality test before knowing the exact descriptions of the types being indicated, because unconscious desires to be or not be some particular temperament can skew the answers without the person taking the test even being aware of it.

–Jen
 
abort73catholic said:
I’m quite consistently a melancholic-phlegmatic.

Some people don’t like personality/temperament tests, but to me, well thought-out questionnaires are helpful in assessing ourselves and finding things we are really good but never really thought much about before (same for areas where we might need some work). 🙂 I think in my case, it did help me realize some strengths that I hadn’t necessarily noticed before, and that in turn helped make me more comfortable in my introversion.

Actually, CatholicMatch has a rather good temperament test. In college, I was going to a series of talks, and they wanted us to take CM’s test. So we all had to create free accounts to take the test, but I found it to be quite accurate.
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I think I’m a classic case for a melancholic, which I hate. Why can’t I be sanguine? Oh well.
 
I am choleric.

A good nun friend of mine talks about the temperments and says this:

Most people have one dominent temperament (and usually one secondary though most of us have a few traits of all the temperments).

Each temperment has positive and negative traits.

Knowing your temperment can help you learn what God has called you to do. Like Mary is “The Handmaid of The Lord,” we too each have a special name (and mission) God has given us. Knowing out temperment helps us discern this. For example, God will not call a phlegmatic to be an evangelist like St. Paul (who was likely choleric). God gave us each our particular temperment in order to help us reach our personal ideal.

We are to fight against the negatives of our temperament. So Cholerics need to learn to be more patient, phlegmatics more assertive, sanguines better listeners, and so on.

I’ve read all the temperment books and have learned great tips on dealing with a spouse scb children with different temperaments. For example, as a choleric, I often see competition or a challenge as a great motivator, but my melancholic son gets frustrated and upset when I issue him a challenge like “I bet you can’t clean your room in 10 min!” So I’ve learned different ways to motivate my children that appeal to their temperment. Plus, I’ve become more understanding of my husband.

I highly recommend the temperment books, especially since they are written by a Catholic father, Art Bennett.
 
I am choleric-
When I was younger I was probably sanguine. Do these temperments evolve through life experiences?
 
CRATUS said:
I think I’m a classic case for a melancholic, which I hate. Why can’t I be sanguine? Oh well.
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From your own link: “The persons canonized, with few exceptions, were choleric or melancholic.”

So take comfort. You are in good company! :yup:
 
UpUpAndAway said:
From your own link: “The persons canonized, with few exceptions, were choleric or melancholic.”

So take comfort. You are in good company! :yup:
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Really? I do not want to be a saint or at least a remembered one. I would much rather live a normal life with a normal temperament. but oh well. We get what we get.
 
But God calls us all to be saints. Not all saints are famous, and not all saintly people are canonized. Why do you not want to be a saint?
 
This is so, so cool! I have often read about the temperaments, but I’ve never read anything about them with such a spiritual emphasis/analysis as this one. Thank you for posting this!
 
revert_jen said:
I feel that many of the underlying principles are sound–about knowing yourself an your weaknesses to better enable you to correct them, for example. Other ideas, like equating excitibility and extroversion, I find to be more problematic. I also find some issues with the idea that ones feelings are shallow if one does not have a tendency to bear resentment. It may be just a question of terminology, but it seems like the fact that one doesn’t hold grudges does not mean that one’s feelings are shallow.

Also, I can see descriptions of myself in pieces of all of the temperaments, so like all personality inventories, it describes some people very well, but the majority less well, and some people not at all.

People are created by God in an infinite variety, not just in four types. By all means, if you find a personality test where you fall solidly in one category, it can help you. But trying to stuff yourself into a category doesn’t help. Also, in general, it is better to take the personality test before knowing the exact descriptions of the types being indicated, because unconscious desires to be or not be some particular temperament can skew the answers without the person taking the test even being aware of it.

–Jen
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You’re right…obviously personality tests can’t pick up on all the nuances that exist within human individuality. Which is why you shouldn’t base everything around them. But as I mentioned, I do believe they are helpful in assessing your strengths and weaknesses. Someone once told me it is a good idea, to get a more accurate picture, to take different tests several times over a period of time. Mood, time of day, etc. can affect the way you answer questions too.
CRATUS said:
I think I’m a classic case for a melancholic, which I hate. Why can’t I be sanguine? Oh well.
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I used to think life would be easier if I were more similar to a sanguine personality. But perhaps some sanguines wish to be melancholics. We humans are all so wonderfully different!
Regina7 said:
I am choleric.
I’ve read all the temperment books and have learned great tips on dealing with a spouse scb children with different temperaments. For example, as a choleric, I often see competition or a challenge as a great motivator, but my melancholic son gets frustrated and upset when I issue him a challenge like “I bet you can’t clean your room in 10 min!” So I’ve learned different ways to motivate my children that appeal to their temperment. Plus, I’ve become more understanding of my husband.

I highly recommend the temperment books, especially since they are written by a Catholic father, Art Bennett.
Click to expand...
That’s awesome. Having an understanding of them can really help you relate to others, once you know their typical strengths and weaknesses (again, of course, knowing that not everyone is exactly the same). It is similar to the “love languages” that many of us know…I never realized it until we went through the assessment that my two college roommates’ “love languages” were physical touch and words of affirmation. But once I knew that, I was able to recognize what it meant when one roommate grasped my arm as we walked down the sidewalk and when the other complimented my outfit or my art. And I could most effectively return the affection. It would be interesting to see if certain “love languages” were typical (I feel I have to continuously stress not always) in certain personalities/temperaments.
 
abort73catholic said:
You’re right…obviously personality tests can’t pick up on all the nuances that exist within human individuality. Which is why you shouldn’t base everything around them. But as I mentioned, I do believe they are helpful in assessing your strengths and weaknesses. Someone once told me it is a good idea, to get a more accurate picture, to take different tests several times over a period of time. Mood, time of day, etc. can affect the way you answer questions too.

I used to think life would be easier if I were more similar to a sanguine personality. But perhaps some sanguines wish to be melancholics. We humans are all so wonderfully different!

That’s awesome. Having an understanding of them can really help you relate to others, once you know their typical strengths and weaknesses (again, of course, knowing that not everyone is exactly the same). It is similar to the “love languages” that many of us know…I never realized it until we went through the assessment that my two college roommates’ “love languages” were physical touch and words of affirmation. But once I knew that, I was able to recognize what it meant when one roommate grasped my arm as we walked down the sidewalk and when the other complimented my outfit or my art. And I could most effectively return the affection. It would be interesting to see if certain “love languages” were typical (I feel I have to continuously stress not always) in certain personalities/temperaments.
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Do you honestly believe some sanguines wish they were melancholics? I hope I am wrong about being melancholic. God makes us all different. Some personalities are more easily likable, accepted or even easier to deal with than others.
 
CRATUS said:
Do you honestly believe some sanguines wish they were melancholics? I hope I am wrong about being melancholic. God makes us all different. Some personalities are more easily likable, accepted or even easier to deal with than others.
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I don’t know, maybe!

Perhaps for you, certain ones are more likable, etc., and others might be more likable to me. In social situations, I am often more drawn to fellow melancholic types…mostly because the extroverted personality types drain my energy more quickly. Nothing wrong with them; I just can only handle them in small portions. :o I don’t think any one (or more) personality type(s) is/are necessarily better than others.
 
abort73catholic said:
I don’t know, maybe!

Perhaps for you, certain ones are more likable, etc., and others might be more likable to me. In social situations, I am often more drawn to fellow melancholic types…mostly because the extroverted personality types drain my energy more quickly. Nothing wrong with them; I just can only handle them in small portions. :o I don’t think any one (or more) personality type(s) is/are necessarily better than others.
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And there have been plenty of saints with each temperament!

I read that we are usually friends with people of our temperment but tend to marry those of opposite. This totally is true for me. My closest friends are choleric like me, but dh is my opposite- a phlegmatic. We balance each other quite well.
 
Regina7 said:
And there have been plenty of saints with each temperament!

I read that we are usually friends with people of our temperment but tend to marry those of opposite. This totally is true for me. My closest friends are choleric like me, but dh is my opposite- a phlegmatic. We balance each other quite well.
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I guess I would like to believe I am more than my temperament. I do not like a lot of the characteristics listed out for my temperament. I hope I do not embody them all. If I marry a sanguine, they would be annoyed by me and say I think too much. I wonder who I will marry.
 
CRATUS said:
I guess I would like to believe I am more than my temperament. I do not like a lot of the characteristics listed out for my temperament. I hope I do not embody them all. If I marry a sanguine, they would be annoyed by me and say I think too much. I wonder who I will marry.
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We are supposed to overcome our temperament’s negatives. I can usually tell a person’s temperment based on the negatives. If it’s really hard to determine a person’s temperment, it may be a good thing!
 
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