<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism" rel="nofollow noreferrer">four temperament theory</a> is an ancient theory of personality; however, it does appear to have been the dominant theory of personality from 400BCE through to the mid 1800s. New theories of personality emerged with Darwin's observations on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expression_of_the_Emotions_in_Man_and_Animals" rel="nofollow noreferrer">emotion</a> and Galton's proposal of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_hypothesis" rel="nofollow noreferrer">lexical hypothesis</a>. The lexical hypothesis is foundation of many of the current theories of personality, the most popular of which is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits" rel="nofollow noreferrer">five factor model</a>.</p>
<p>More recent temperament theories such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indicator" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MBTI</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment" rel="nofollow noreferrer">DISC</a> have been criticised for a lack of scientific basis and being <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnum_effect" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Barnum tests</a>.  Barnum tests are such that everyone is happy with the result, i.e. Are you either intelligent or clever?  MBTI and DISC seem to omit the less attractive aspects of humanity, such as: narcissism, anger, anxiety, depression etc.  On this basis, research of temperament is infrequent.</p>
<p>A criticism of psychological theories in general (not just temperament theories) is that the neurobiological basis remains unidentified, see <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2014.07.004" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.25066-6" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.  An active area of current science is to establish the neurobiological basis of personality and progress is regularly reported.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-21T00:08:33.680Z
The PAEI model (links added to your question) appears to be a model of roles within organisations, not really a temperament model.
Tony Mobbs
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-20T23:10:43.887Z
2020-10-20T23:10:43.887Z
Tony Mobbs
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Eysenck" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Eysenck</a> is a popular theorist who proposed a biological basis for Extraversion, Psychoticism, and Neuroticism. He didn't do a lot of empirical research but his theory has influenced researchers, see <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0191886912005326" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Chapman and Weiss</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-09T06:05:06.853Z
2020-11-09T06:05:06.853Z
inu
<p>There are several approaches to categorize personality characteristics into similar amount of types: the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_temperaments" rel="nofollow noreferrer">four temperament theory</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment" rel="nofollow noreferrer">DISC theory</a>, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-2616(79)90001-9" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PAEI model</a>.</p>
<p>Is there any research about possible biological preconditions of mentioned theories?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-20T08:15:00.897Z
Welcome to Psychology.SE. I have reordered your "thinking types" to make the conceptual differences clearer but some info is needed on where you got the concept from. This sounds to me to be linked with NLP or similar. Maybe [mesmerism](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50854726_Anton_Mesmer_and_Mesmerization_Past_and_Present). Am I correct?
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-20T09:46:48.740Z
It's more some general reasoning.    

If we suggest that reflexes are basic instruments for actions or thinking, then only grasp reflexes are universal tool for abstract thinking.
Greg Oven
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-20T10:37:21.067Z
This 'question' is mostly a hypothesis you put forward. Please stick to a well-motivated question in the question body, and you can add your hypothesis (including citations) as an answer post to your own question.
Steven Jeuris
<personality><behavior>
Why there are four types of temperament?
Greg Oven
# Why there are four types of temperament?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-10-19)

There are several approaches to categorize personality characteristics into similar amount of types: the [four temperament theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_temperaments), [DISC theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment), the [PAEI model](https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-2616(79)90001-9).

Is there any research about possible biological preconditions of mentioned theories?

**Tags:** personality, behavior

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to Psychology.SE. I have reordered your "thinking types" to make the conceptual differences clearer but some info is needed on where you got the concept from. This sounds to me to be linked with NLP or similar. Maybe [mesmerism](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50854726_Anton_Mesmer_and_Mesmerization_Past_and_Present). Am I correct?  
> **username_0**: It's more some general reasoning.      If we suggest that reflexes are basic instruments for actions or thinking, then only grasp reflexes are universal tool for abstract thinking.  
> **username_2**: This 'question' is mostly a hypothesis you put forward. Please stick to a well-motivated question in the question body, and you can add your hypothesis (including citations) as an answer post to your own question.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-10-20. Score: 2

The [four temperament theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism) is an ancient theory of personality; however, it does appear to have been the dominant theory of personality from 400BCE through to the mid 1800s. New theories of personality emerged with Darwin's observations on [emotion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expression_of_the_Emotions_in_Man_and_Animals) and Galton's proposal of the [lexical hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_hypothesis). The lexical hypothesis is foundation of many of the current theories of personality, the most popular of which is the [five factor model](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits).

More recent temperament theories such as [MBTI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indicator), [DISC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment) have been criticised for a lack of scientific basis and being [Barnum tests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnum_effect). Barnum tests are such that everyone is happy with the result, i.e. Are you either intelligent or clever? MBTI and DISC seem to omit the less attractive aspects of humanity, such as: narcissism, anger, anxiety, depression etc. On this basis, research of temperament is infrequent.

A criticism of psychological theories in general (not just temperament theories) is that the neurobiological basis remains unidentified, see [here](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2014.07.004) and [here](https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.25066-6). An active area of current science is to establish the neurobiological basis of personality and progress is regularly reported.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: The PAEI model (links added to your question) appears to be a model of roles within organisations, not really a temperament model.  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2020-11-09. Score: 1

[Eysenck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Eysenck) is a popular theorist who proposed a biological basis for Extraversion, Psychoticism, and Neuroticism. He didn't do a lot of empirical research but his theory has influenced researchers, see [Chapman and Weiss](https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0191886912005326).


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