Although human beings like to boast of being rational, the truth is that our behaviors throughout life indicate that we have an impulsive, unreasonable side that seems to control much of our decisions. Keep reading.
One reason why we humans boast so much pride is because of our apparent rationality. We think that science and technology reveal how thoughtful we are, but we forget that impulsive expressions that can have positive effects (art, sports talent, etc.) and negative ones (wars, rapes, robberies, etc.) that show us also characterize us. a side of people, rather instinctive, sometimes difficult to control primary. One factor associated with this fast, intense, low-rationality reaction style is what is known as temperament.
Temperament is defined as an innate, reactive and motivational condition that expresses the style or the particular way in which each individual tends to respond to environmental events. It is a first impulse, which arises without any mental processing, either for convenience or morality.
Because it is an instinctively conditioned tendency, the temperament does not disappear from the behavioral repertoire, although it can be controlled, regulated or modified, eventually. Astrologers call it "astral archetypes" and also consider it an energetic predisposition for life. Research geniuses such as Empedocles, Hippocrates, Galen and Pavlov, supported the temperament theory.
Hippocrates created a classification of temperaments: a) Blood (Sensitive, reactive with variable humor. B) Melancholic (Sad, dreamy, slow. C) Choleric (Voluntary, impulsive), and Phlegmatic (Slow and apathetic).
Pavlov, for his part, thought that temperaments had to do with the constitution of the nervous system. Thus, the blood temperament revealed a fast and balanced nervous system; the phlegmatic temperament showed a slow and balanced nervous system; a melancholic temperament was associated with a weak nervous system, and an angry temperament was associated with a strong, fast, and unbalanced nervous system.
For Jerome Kagan, an evolutionary psychologist at Harvard, there are four basic and innate temperaments: Shy, open, optimistic, and melancholic, each linked to the promptness, duration, and intensity of the emotional response. This neuroscientist investigated groups of children and discovered that some were insecure, withdrawn, silent, and that four years later they had not changed. Thus, he estimated that 20 percent of children are born shy and hypersensitive to public behavior and social relationships, and tend to self-criticize and feel guilty easily. Their nervous systems make them reactive to the slightest stresses, especially in novel and relationship situations. In addition, they tend to suffer, as adults, from problems related to stress, such as headaches, irritable colon, etc.
Le Doux, a neuroscientist at New York University, also discovered the existence of a group of neurons that allow us to emit impulsive or instinctive reactions, before we can think, just as it occurs in the presence of fear.
As we can see, there is plenty of evidence of the existence of an innate and personal reactive scheme (temperament) that is regulated or activated depending on environmental conditions. When sociocultural learning influences the individual in a defined and stable way, character is said to have been configured, which is a combination of innate and learned. However, since economic, political, and cultural factors are variable by time and place, temperament is the primary predictor of behavior when it is not mediated by social pressure or the need to look good or play a role. role.
This being the case, it could be pointed out that the most genuine basis of behavior is temperament, and that its balance or neutralization occurs when we practice the opposite qualities that it defines. The most active, passivity, the most passive, activity. Thanks for reading me.
