The Greek thinkers and physicians Hippocrates (c. 460/v. 370 B.C.) and Claudius Galen (131/201 A.D.) established the theory of elements that gave rise to the theory of moods.
This theory is based on the correspondence between the microcosm and the macrocosm, i.e. that the human body is a miniature reflection of the universe. Human physiology is thus controlled by the organic form of the constituent elements of the universe - fire, earth, air, water -, the quadruple root of the things that the four humours reflect.
Each mood is dominated by a couple of qualities: yellow bile (colera in Latin) is hot and dry like fire; black bile (colera nigra) is cold and dry like earth; phlegm (phlegma or phlegma) is cold and wet like water; blood (sanguis), which contains a bit of the other moods, is hot and wet like air.
Just as the universe is not healthy when the elements are out of balance, the human body becomes sick when there is an excess of any one of the other humours and associated emotions. Health and illness therefore depend on the balance of moods and their quality. In healthy people, the predominance of a mood is called complexion and determines temperament. To each predominant mood corresponds a temperament: bilious or angry for yellow bile, sanguine for blood, phlegmatic for phlegm and melancholic for black bile.
We are dependent on our emotions. When we keep our emotional reactions for hours or days in a row, they turn into moods. When a mood is maintained for weeks or months, it becomes a temperament. When a temperament is maintained for months or years, it becomes a personality trait. Our personality traits are created from our emotional dependencies.
Temperament is essentially linked to the vital side; it is a synthesis of all the instincts, tendencies and impulses that man can hardly correct or suppress because they have their roots in his biological and physiological nature. Temperament is similar to so rather to the animal side.
