The theory of the four humors, of Hippocrates

Psychology is one of the youngest sciencesBut that does not mean that it has not been brewing over centuries, or even millennia.

In fact, some of the big questions it tries to answer began to generate theories more than 2,000 years ago. The theory of the four humors, related to the different kinds of personality that we can find in human beings, is an example of this. It was proposed by the Greek Hippocrates.

The origins of the four humors theory

Towards the V century a. C., Ancient Greece, which was the cradle of what would become Western civilization, already began to forge theories about why we are the way we are and we do what we do. In fact, this kind of theoretical proposals had also appeared before in other areas of the planet, but the Greek case was especially importance because there the technical advances of Asia and Egypt were united with the philosophy and powerful cultural and philosophical activity of the zone.

Greece was a region in which knowledge was spread much more freely than, for example, in the Persian Empire, in which the teaching of writing was highly centralized and used primarily for commerce and administration.

This explains that in just three centuries Ancient Greece could become a benchmark for the development of philosophy and science (its most embryonic phase). But Greek science, like what happened in other parts of the world, was mixed with religions and a vision of the world still very much based on old myths. That is what explains the emergence of the theory of the four humors.

What is the theory of the four humors?

Originally, the theory of the four humors, first proposed by the Greek physician Hippocrates, was based on the assumption that the human body is composed of by four basic substances (the so-called "humors") and that the balances and imbalances in the amounts of these substances in an organism determines the health of this.

These humors corresponded to the elements air, fire, earth and water., which a few years before had been identified by the philosopher Empedocles as the raw materials of everything that exists.

Thus, the theory of the four humors was not isolated from the way in which reality was understood in ancient Greece, but was connected with a belief about the origin of the planet and the cosmos in general; supposedly, all reality was a combination of different amounts of these four elements, and hence the theory of the four humors arose. The properties of these four elements, in turn, were reflected in the characteristics of the four humors that according to Hippocrates flowed through the human body.

The different humours according to Hippocrates

And what were these moods? Each of them expresses specific physical characteristics, in line with the thinkers of the time, who They tried to describe reality from everyday and easily identifiable properties materially. Explained far above, they were these:

1. Black bile

Substance linked to the earth element, whose properties were cold and dryness.

2. Yellow bile

Humor corresponding to the element of fire. Its qualities were warmth and dryness.

3. Blood

The substance linked to the element of air, whose properties were warmth and humidity.

4. Phlegm

The water-related substance, whose properties are cold and humidity.

Moods and personality

For Hippocrates and a good part of the doctors who assimilated the theories of the first during the following centuries, the theory of the four humors offered a basis on which to work in medicine, however precarious it was. Thus, many treatments for diseases consisted of modifying the diet of patients so that, by ingesting certain foods, their humoral levels were balanced. In some cases, bleeding was performed so that patients lost fluid for the same purpose.

But this basis for medicine was not the only thing that emerged from the theory of the four humors. Some thinkers expanded it so that it was able to explain not only people's health, but also the tendencies of their behavior and of their mental life. Among these researchers, Galen of Pergamum stood out, a Roman physician and philosopher born in the 2nd century AD. C.

Galen's ideas

For Galen, imbalances in the amounts of humors had an influence on the way we think, feel and act. In other words, its proportions were the basis of people's temperament. Naturally, each individual has levels of moods that are very rarely fully proportionate, and that is what explains the differences in personality.

When black bile humor predominates, for example, he believed that the person tended to be melancholic and with tendency to sadness and the expression of intense emotions, while in individuals in whom there is a higher proportion of phlegm than in the rest of the substances, his temperament would be characterized by his tendency to rationally analyze situations and his facility to maintain Calm down.

The personality types were as follows

As we have seen, according to this humoral vision of the human being, health was in the balance of these substances (the logic of balances between fundamental elements was very frequent at the time).

It was believed that some diseases or special situations could make this disproportion grow, worsening health of the person and / or making their temperament become more extreme and discordant with respect to the way of being of others.

1. Bloodline

It corresponded to happy and optimistic people, with a tendency to express their affection for others and with confidence in themselves. It corresponded to the substance of blood.

2. Melancholic

Temperament defined by the presence of a large amount of black bile, his associated temperament is sad, with artistic sensibility and easy to move.

3. Phlegmatic

Corresponding to the mood of phlegm, people associated with this temperament would be cold and rational.

4. Choleric

Temperament related to yellow bile, would express itself in passionate people, easily angry and with great energy.

The theory of the four temperaments, today

The theory born with Empedocles and Hippocrates and expanded by Galen was one of the pillars of medicine until the Renaissance. Beyond this historical stage, however, it has inspired some psychologists interested in the study of individual differences and personality, including Hans eysenck.

Keep in mind that this classification system has no scientific value; In any case, it can serve to inspire when developing theories and hypotheses that, over time, come to have empirical evidence in favor of it.