Physical Characteristics and Personality Traits of the Four Temperaments
Physical Characteristics and Personality Traits of the Four Temperaments
I receive a lot of questions about how to know which temperaments are dominant in the body.
The insider can know this with a peek at the general structure of the body followed by some questions. As for the general public, they can determine the temperament of their bodies by comparing their physical characteristics and personality traits with the known four temperaments.
Avicenna describes the ideal state of health as moderate, slightly tends toward heat, so the deeper a person gets into bad temperament, the more it moves away from the point of moderation, and the greater his disease susceptibility.
The physical characteristics and personality traits that relate to each of the four temperaments are many and detailed. A person doesn’t need to have all of the mentioned characteristics, but he may be characterized by some of them and in different proportions.
For example, a person with a phlegmatic temperament (cold and wet) is characterized by lethargy and a constant desire to sleep. This may not be evident in a person with a cold and slightly wet temperament, but this may be evident in a person with a cold and very wet temperament.
It is worth noting that personality traits are affected by the education and educational institutions in which the individual engages with the prevailing traditions in society. For example, a cold and dry person (melancholic) tends to be organized and follow the rules, but if he is raised in a chaotic environment, he will gain chaotic traits.
Another example is the education that the person receives, for example, sanguine people that are hot and wet tend to take risks, but studying this risk well in advance and taking calculated steps may significantly reduce these tendencies.
So looking at physical characteristics may form a clearer image of the prevailing temperament of the body than the personality traits.
It is worth noting that the temperament may be singular (i.e. melancholic) or complex (i.e. melancholic/phlegmatic) and a person may have a main temperament, but a part of his body is dominated by another temperament (for example a sanguine person whose head is dominated by yellow bile) or one of his organs suffers from a bad temperament.
The topic of temperaments is more complex and detailed than what can be covered here, but this presentation is for a simpler understanding and conceptualization.
Physical characteristics and personality traits of a cold and dry temperament (melancholic/earthly)
Body Temperament: cold and dry.
Body Shape: weakly built relatively dry skin, delicate bone, with little muscle tissue, long fingers, and prominent joints.
The skin: dry and lost its tenderness.
Head hair: is thick, strong, and dark black (in eastern countries). Individuals do not usually suffer from hair loss.
Hair breakage is common, and rapid graying of hair is also observed.
Body hair: Thick, dark, and fast-growing.
The external temperature of the body is cold.
Most melancholy people suffer from poor digestion, flatulence, and constipation.
Hand veins are visible, but not prominent, and are characterized by being thin and relatively dark in color.
Weak nails.
Hearing and smelling ability is high.
Sweating: a normal amount and proportional to the atmosphere.
Individual movement ranges from slow to normal.
The speech is accurate and measured, and the tone of voice is not accelerated. Melancholic people talk a lot to themselves.
They binge eat (False appetite)
and have a susceptibility to Neuromuscular diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, tremor, and Parkinson’s, among others.
They are monotonous in relationships, subtle, dislike to crowded places, have a good ability to follow rules, frank, ill-thought/mistrust at times, far from pleasantries, organized, persistent, far-sighted, logical, non-extreme, rational, with a low tendency to take risks.
They are susceptible to depression, anxiety and obsessive behavior, difficulty in decision-making, but they are characterized by determination and follow-up after the decision is made, the melancholy people finish the work that they started.
Many MS patients are cold and dry like me.
Physical characteristics and personality traits of cold and wet temperament (phlegmatic/water).
Temperament: cold and wet.
Body Shape: fat and somewhat bulky, fat stored under the skin, muscle tissue is soft and covered with fat.
The skin is usually cool and moist, delicate, and may be transparent.
Head hair: soft, delicate, phlegmatic people does not usually experience hair loss, but rather fast-growing, rapid appearance of white hair (graying).
Body hair: Too little (not hairy).
Binge eating and extreme hunger without feeling it.
Hand veins are not prominent.
The skin under the nails is light-colored.
Sweating: is a lot, and it is usually cold.
Energy and movement: little as phlegmatic people are lethargic, go about work carefully and get tired quickly from physical exertion. They talk slowly, take a lot of things easily, don’t want to take risks, can be influenced by others’ opinion, and are organized.
They are patient and peaceful, reasonable, non-extremist, cowardly at times. They usually don’t have farsightedness and ‘annoyed quickly.
Deep, long sleep, they are sleepy and hypoactive upon waking.
Susceptibility to depression, types of arthritis, impaired memory, weakened digestion, epilepsy, and others, in addition to diseases of the nervous and immune system such as multiple sclerosis.
Physical characteristics and personality traits of a hot and wet temperament (Sanguine/airy)
Temperament: hot and dry.
Body shape: large and muscular, wide thoracic cage, they are usually medium or tall.
The color of the face is red. The skin is hot, moist, and reddish.
Head hair: Thick, grows fast, and susceptible to hair loss.
Body hair: Thick.
Hand veins are prominent.
The skin under the nails is reddish (erythroderma).
Sweating: a lot and is usually hot.
They have great energy, speed of movement. Sanguine people do not tire quickly and have clear, long-range voices, brave, adventurous, confident, good-natured, angry, generous. They want diversity and they are good-leaders.
Deep sleep, but they can resist sleep and stay up too.
They are susceptible to cardiac and vein diseases such as blood pressure, types of cardiac arrest, headaches, and others.
Physical characteristics and personality traits of a hot and dry temperament (biliary/fire).
Temperament: hot and dry.
Tall, lean, have prominent joints, and are not prone to gaining weight.
The skin The skin tends to be yellowish (xanthoderma), hot and dry, especially in the upper part of the body, so they tend to moisturize with lotions or creams.
They suffer from white pimples, especially in the face, and they increase in hot and dry air, or after eating some spicy foods such as nuts.
Head hair: Thick, dark, and sometimes curly, but not fast-growing.
Good digestion and usually they do not suffer from bad breath.
Body hair: is moderate (not too much neither too little)/not hairy.
Hand veins are prominent.
Hearing ability is high.
Sweating: Little and often in the armpits, neck, and behind the ear.
They get thirsty really quickly, have little desire for food, and tend to have cold foods such as cucumbers, cactus, and yogurt.
They are intelligent, naughty, reckless, and stubborn.
They have a high learning capacity, characterized by rapid anger and quick calm, disorganized, with strong social ties, they are brave and steadfast.
They are susceptible to severe heart beats, liver problems, dry cough, and have a low susceptibility to high blood lipids, diabetes, and cardiac arrest.