Why do we act the way we do?

Have you ever thought about why someone is more or less competitive, supportive, and extroverted, has good social skills, etc. than others?

According to Ancient Greek Teachings the human beings behavior is determined by a set of innate characteristics combination that we inherit from our parents; in this sense, these characteristics affect our conduct, vocational aptitudes, sense of humor, motivation and even our feelings. Do you believe that?

In order to explain that, many psychologists work with the Four Temperaments Theory that provides information about how this set of characteristics combination determines our actions. The four temperaments are: melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic and sanguine. All of them have strengths and weaknesses and, although we all have characteristics from each one, there are two predominant.

To sum them up, I would like to share this analogy. Please, read it and tell us who you would be:

Once upon a time four people were walking in the forest when they found a rock in their way. So the MELANCHOLIC, very disappointed, said: “it’s a tragedy, there is a BIG rock in my way! This happens JUST with me! And now what should I do? I’m going to miss my meeting, my life is ruined”. The PHLEGMATIC felt flabbergasted admiring the rock’s beauty; he sat down on it and started dreaming awake. He also thought about some BEAUTIFUL ROCKS that he had seen on his life and it would be wonderful if his girlfriend were there as well. Then, he breathed deeply the plants smell around him and went away. The SANGUINE, who was coming very overjoyed with the forest fresh air and the beautiful plants that he was seeing, jumped over the rock; he tried to make some dance steps and went away delighted. For sure, in two minutes he had forgotten that INSIGNIFICANT STONE. In the CHOLERIC’S case, upon seeing that STUPID rock, he really got cross, cussing at people who could have taken care of the path and could have removed it. Very furious, he kicked it hurting himself; getting angrier for that, he kicked it again and, suddenly, had a great idea of how to remove it from the path.

Of course, the temperament is not the only influence on our conduct, many others daily life aspects exert powerful influences on our actions.