Personality · O4TS
Four temperaments test
How much do you agree with each statement?
Timeframe: how you usually are
For self-understanding only, not a diagnosis · you can exit anytime; answers are not saved or uploaded
About this instrument
The four temperaments — sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic — descend from ancient Greek medicine, the oldest personality typology. This test uses the open O4TS scale: 24 items statistically matched to self-identified temperaments.
The four temperaments trace to Galen's humorism — blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm each producing a personality. Though the physiology is long obsolete, the typology has circulated for two millennia, making it older than nearly every personality test in use.
The O4TS is the Open-Source Psychometrics Project's open version, built by criterion-keying: items were selected where self-typed respondents of each temperament scored highest. Each temperament gets 6 items; the highest total is your dominant type, with some items reverse-scored.
Frankly, the four temperaments lack the Big Five's scientific validity — but their intuitive vividness and sheer cultural reach make them a fine entry point.
Source: OSPP Four Temperaments Scale (O4TS, openpsychometrics.org) · © Open-Source Psychometrics Project, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (attribution, non-commercial, share-alike); our Chinese translations are shared under the same terms. The site currently carries no advertising. · Original source
Item preview (24)
How much do you agree with each statement?
- I try to outdo others
- I have a strong need for power
- I get angry easily
- I like it when people are scared of me
- I boss people around
- I try to please everyone
- It takes a lot of abuse to get me angry
- I am relaxed most of the time
- I seldom get mad
- The good life is a peaceful life
- I have had a dramatic falling out with a friend
- I experience my emotions intensely
- I tend to feel very hopeless
- I feel my anxiety overwhelms me
- I feel attacked by others
- I feel comfortable with myself
- I seldom feel blue
- I don't care much when people insult me
- I radiate joy
- I am the life of the party
- I make friends easily
- I prefer variety to routine
- I make people feel welcome
- I dance when I am alone