The Psychology Book (7 page)

APPROACH

of
four basic elements
:

T
he Roman philosopher and

physician Claudius Galen

formulated a concept of

personality types based on the

earth, air, fire, and water.

Humorism

ancient Greek theory of humorism,

BEFORE

which attempted to explain the

workings of the human body.

c.400 BCE
Greek physician

The roots of humorism go back

Hippocrates says that the

The
qualities
of these

to Empedocles (c.495–435 BCE), a

qualities of the four elements

elements can be found in
four

Greek philosopher who suggested

are reflected in body fluids.

corresponding humors

that different qualities of the four

c.325 BCE
Greek philosopher

(fluids) that affect the

basic elements—earth (cold and

Aristotle names four sources

functioning of our bodies.

dry), air (warm and wet), fire (warm

of happiness: sensual (
hedone
),

and dry), and water (cold and

material (
propraietari
), ethical

wet)—could explain the existence of

(
ethikos
), and logical (
dialogike
).

all known substances. Hippocrates

(460–370 BCE), the “Father of

These humors also affect our

AFTER

Medicine,” developed a medical

emotions and behavior—our

1543
Anatomist Andreas

model based on these elements,

“temperaments.”

Vesalius publishes
On the

attributing their qualities to four

Fabric of the Human Body
in

fluids within the body. These fluids

Italy
.
It illustrates Galen’s errors

were called “humors” (from the

and he is accused of heresy.

Latin
umor
, meaning body fluid).

Temperamental problems are

Two hundred years later, Galen

1879
Wilhelm Wundt says

caused by an
imbalance
in

expanded the theory of humorism

that temperaments develop

our humors…

into one of personality; he saw a

in different proportions along

direct connection between the

two axes: “changeability”

levels of the humors in the body

and “emotionality.”

and emotional and behavioral

1947
In
Dimensions of

…so by
restoring the balance

inclinations—or “temperaments”.

of our humors a physician can

Personality
, Hans Eysenck

Galen’s four temperaments—

cure our emotional and

suggests personality is based

sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric,

behavioral problems.

on two dimensions.

and melancholic—are based on the

balance of humors in the body.

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 19

See also:
■ René Descartes 20–21 ■ Gordon Allport 306–09 ■ Hans J. Eysenck 316–21 Walter Mischel 326–27

Phlegmatic:
slow, quiet,

Melancholic:
sad,

shy, rational, and consistent.

fearful, depressed,

poetic, and artistic.

Choleric:
fiery,

energetic,

and passionate.

Galen

Imbalances

in the

Claudius Galenus, better

humors

known as “Galen of Pergamon”

determine

Sanguine:
warm-hearted,

(now Bergama in Turkey) was

personality

cheerful, optimistic, and

type as well as

a Roman physician, surgeon,

confident.

inclinations toward

and philosopher. His father,

certain illnesses.

Aelius Nicon, was a wealthy

Greek architect who provided

him with a good education

If one of the humors develops

cases, cures may include purging

and opportunities to travel.

excessively, the corresponding

and blood-letting. For example, a

Galen settled in Rome and

personality type begins to dominate.

person acting selfishly is overly

served emperors, including

A sanguine person has too much

sanguine, and has too much blood;

Marcus Aurelius, as principal

blood (
sanguis
in Latin) and is

this is remedied by cutting down

physician. He learned about

warm-hearted, cheerful, optimistic,

on meat, or by making small cuts

trauma care while treating

and confident, but can be selfish. A

into the veins to release blood.

professional gladiators, and

phlegmatic person, suffering from

Galen’s doctrines dominated

wrote more than 500 books

excess phlegm (
phlegmatikós
in

medicine until the Renaissance,

on medicine. He believed the

Greek), is quiet, kind, cool, rational,

when they began to decline in the

best way to learn was through

and consistent, but can be slow and

light of better research. In 1543,

dissecting animals and

studying anatomy. However,

shy. The choleric (from the Greek

the physician Andreas Vesalius

although Galen discovered

kholé
, meaning bile) personality is

(1514–1564), practicing in Italy,

the functions of many internal

fiery, suffering from excess yellow

found more than 200 errors in

organs, he made mistakes

bile. Lastly, the melancholic (from

Galen’s descriptions of anatomy,

because he assumed that

the Greek
melas kholé
), who suffers

but although Galen’s medical ideas

the bodies of animals (such

from an excess of black bile, is

were discredited, he later influenced

as monkeys and pigs) were

recognized by poetic and artistic

20th-century psychologists. In 1947,

exactly like those of humans.

leanings, which are often also

Hans Eysenck concluded that

There is debate over the date

accompanied by sadness and fear.

temperament is biologically based,

of his death, but Galen was at

and noted that the two personality

least 70 when he died.

Imbalance in the humors

traits he identified—neuroticism

According to Galen, some people

and extraversion—echoed the

Key works

are born predisposed to certain

ancient temperaments.

temperaments. However, since

Although humorism is no longer

c.190 CE
The Temperaments

temperamental problems are caused

part of psychology, Galen’s idea

c.190 CE
The Natural Faculties

by imbalances of the humors, he

that many physical and mental

c.190 CE
Three Treatises on the

claimed they can be cured by diet

illnesses are connected forms the

Nature of Science

and exercise. In more extreme

basis of some modern therapies. ■

20

THERE IS A

REASONING SOUL

IN

RENE DESCARTES (1596–1650)

THIS MACHINE

IN CONTEXT

The mind and the body

APPROACH

are
separate
.

Mind/body dualism

BEFORE

4th century BCE
Greek

philosopher Plato claims that

The mind (or “soul”) is

the body is from the material

The body is a
material
,

immaterial
, but seated in the

world, but the soul, or mind,

mechanical
machine
.

pineal gland of the
brain
.

is from the immortal world

of ideas.

4th century BCE
Greek

philosopher Aristotle says

The mind can
control

that the soul and body are

the physical body by

inseparable: the soul is the

causing
“animal

actuality of the body.

spirits”
to flow through

the nervous system.

AFTER

1710
In
A Treatise Concerning

the Principles of Human

Knowledge
, Anglo-Irish

seated in the brain’s pineal gland

philosopher George Berkeley

doing the thinking, while the body

claims that the body is merely

T
he idea that the mind and

body are separate and

different dates back to Plato

is like a machine that operates by

the perception of the mind.

and the ancient Greeks, but it was

“animal spirits,” or fluids, flowing

the 17th-century philosopher René

through the nervous system to

1904
In
Does Consciousness

Descartes who first described in

cause movement. This idea had

Exist?
William James asserts

detail the mind-body relationship.

been popularized in the 2nd century

that consciousness is not a

Descartes wrote
De Homine
(“Man”),

by Galen, who attached it to his

separate entity but a function

his first philosophical book, in 1633,

theory of the humors; but Descartes

of particular experiences.

in which he describes the dualism

was the first to describe it in detail,

of mind and body: the nonmaterial

and to emphasize the separation

mind, or “soul,” Descartes says, is

of mind and body.

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 21

See also:
Galen 18–19 ■ William James 38–45 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99

In a letter to the French philosopher

Marin Mersenne, Descartes

explains that the pineal gland is

the “seat of thought,” and so must

be the home of the soul, “because

the one cannot be separated from

There is a great

the other.” This was important,

difference between

because otherwise the soul would

mind and body.

not be connected to any solid part

René Descartes

of the body, he said, but only to the

psychic spirits.

René Descartes

Descartes imagined the mind

and body interacting through an

René Descartes was born in

La Haye en Touraine (now

awareness of the animal spirits

called Descartes), France. He

that were said to flow through the