The Effect of Bodily Temperament on Psychical Characteristics: (Second Installment)

THE EFFECT OF BODILY TEMPERAMENT ON PSYCHICAL CHARACTERISTICS (Second Installment) III. pARTICULAR TYPES OF TEMPERAMENT IN this section we will indicate some further points of similarity between the endocrinal and the humoral theories of temperament, particularly in regard to the division of temperament into a various kinds or " types " and the description of the psychical characteristics. pertaining to each type. In order to give some idea of how the endocrinologists arrive at their notions as to type classification and the characteristics associated with each type, we will give a brief description of the anatomy and function of some of the major endocrine glands, some data of medical science as to the physiological and psychical phenomena found to accompany pathological hyper- or hypofunction of these glands, and the descriptions of "normal" temperaments which the endocrinologists have evolved from these medical data supplemented by experimentation and clinical observation of endocrinopathic subjects during the pre- or postmorbid states and of non-pathological subjects during certain periods of life when the glands tend to temporary under- or overfunction, such as at puberty, etc. With each of the major types described by the endocrinologists we w:ill compare a type described by the ancients and medievalists , with a view to showing the correspondence between them. The lack of unanimity among the modern " type " psychologists in the matter of type classification and description is, of course, notorious. Each author or at least each group of authors appears to use an entirely different terminology in the classification of types. Outside the group of endocrinologists, perhaps the most famous classification is Jung's division of" introverts" 28 EFFECT OF BODILY TEMPERAMENT 29 and " extroverts," against which has been leveled the criticism that it represents extremes actually seldom found among normal individuals, the majority of whom de facto tum out to be " ambiverts." This is a type of criticism quite generally made of any attempt at type classification, i. e., that it results in the posing of " ideal " categories into which hardly any individual can actually be fitted. Such a criticism might be justified in the case of some type classifications of the moderns, but for the most part it seems to miss the viewpoint of the classifiers, namely, that the types they depict are the pure, unmixed " prototypes " to be used as norms in determining the predominant tendencies of individuals, without implying that every individual, in every respect, can be perfectly fitted into one or another of these ideal pigeon holes. If this could be done, there would be no such thing as " individual psychical differences " but only " group differences," which is obviously contrary to fact. Even among the endocrinologists themselves there is a considerable difference of terminology in the matter of type classification , though actually the various types described by the different authors are easily reducible one to another. Moreover , it must be remembered that for the endocrinologists temperament is the chief determinant of morphological as well as psychical characteristics; hence some use one set of terms for the morphological classification and another for the psychical classification, while others use one set of terms for both kinds of characteristics. Kretschmer, for instance, has classified the various types morphologically as " pyknic," 134 " athletic," 135 and " asthenic " 136 (later reduced to " pyknic " and " leptosome ") 137 and psychically as " cyclothymes " (extroverts, sociable, cheerful, emotional, etc.) and" schizothymes" (intro18 ' In Greek, " pyknos " which means " compact," that is, short, broad of skeleton, well-rounded as to arms and legs, etc. 18" In Greek, " athletikos," that is, large of chest, narrow hips, strong muscles, well-balanced proportion between trunk and limbs, etc. 188 In Greek, "asthenikos," that is frail, long, slender of skeleton, slight muscular development, etc. 187 In Greek, "leptos," that is, straight, narrow, thin; of slender physique. 30 LEO M. BOND verts, retiring, timid, gloomy, etc.). The Italian school uses the terms " brevilineal," " megalosplanchic " or " brachymorphic ," 138 and " longilineal," " microsplanchic " or " dolichomorphic " 139 for the morphological classification, or for both morphological and psychical classifications prefixes the particles " hyper- " and " hypo- " to the names of the major endocrine glands to represent types resulting from the characteristic overor underfunction of the particular gland dominant in an individual 's make-up, e. g., the...