Free test
The Four Temperaments Test
Sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, or melancholic? The 2,000-year-old model, scored on two continuous dimensions.
The four temperaments — sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic — are the oldest personality map in existence. Modern science kept the structure and renamed the axes: outward vs inward energy, and steady vs reactive emotion. This free 16-item test measures both.
Your temperament is the combination of your two results:
- Sanguine — outward + steady
- Choleric — outward + reactive
- Phlegmatic — inward + steady
- Melancholic — inward + reactive
About 4 minutes.
16 questions · free · results are yours to share
Validation status
Energy Direction · Reliability not yet published — 1 of 300 opted-in responses collected (8 items per screen). We publish the coefficient the day we reach it.
Emotional Steadiness · Reliability not yet published — 1 of 300 opted-in responses collected (8 items per screen). We publish the coefficient the day we reach it.
What these numbers mean, and what they don’t, is on the methodology page.
What this test measures
The four temperaments are the oldest personality model still in use: sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic, a scheme that runs from ancient Greek medicine to the twentieth century. The humours behind it were abandoned long ago. The four types survived because they turn out to describe something real: the four corners made by crossing two traits modern personality science still measures.
The two dimensions underneath
- Social energy, outward or inward: the sanguine and the choleric are the outward temperaments, the melancholic and the phlegmatic the inward ones.
- Emotional style, reactive or calm: the choleric and the melancholic run hot, the sanguine and the phlegmatic run steady.
So instead of asking you to pick a type, this test measures those two dimensions separately, eight statements each, and lets the combination name the temperament.
How to read your result
You get two bars, each a continuous score. Read them together: outward and steady is sanguine, outward and reactive is choleric, inward and steady is phlegmatic, inward and reactive is melancholic. A bar near its middle means you borrow from both temperaments on that side, which is a genuine position rather than a failed result, and the further a bar sits from its middle, the more clearly the classical label fits.
What it does not tell you
It says nothing about your health, your intelligence or which jobs suit you, and the four types are landmarks, not boxes. The history, and why the old scheme maps so cleanly onto two modern dimensions, is in the four temperaments guide.
Common questions
- What are the four temperaments?
- Sanguine (outgoing and even-keeled), choleric (outgoing and quick to react), melancholic (inward and deeply feeling) and phlegmatic (inward and steady). They are four corners of a grid made by two dimensions: social energy and emotional style.
- Can I be a mix of temperaments?
- Yes. This test scores both dimensions as continuous numbers rather than assigning a single type, so a bar near its middle shows you borrowing from two temperaments at once.
- Is the four temperaments test scientific?
- The original theory of bodily humours is not. The two dimensions this test measures, outward versus inward energy and steady versus reactive emotion, are the same two that modern personality measurement keeps, and the four temperaments are what you get when you cross them. The test publishes its own validation status on this page.
- How long does it take, and is it free?
- About four minutes for 16 statements. It is free, needs no account and no email, and your result lives at its own link.
Background reading: Temperaments.