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Wednesday, December 17, 2014

The Six Extroverted Personality Temperaments



Romans 12:4-5 "For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another."

1 Corinthians 12:27 "Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it."

1 Peter 4:10 "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."


Introduction:
The past couple of posts have been driven with the desire to equip God's people and church with the ability to increase understanding of one another. In the scriptures above, God has different people of different temperaments in the local church. According to Dr. Tim Lahaye's book: "Spirit-controlled Temperament", the four personality temperaments (choleric, sanguine, melancholy & phlegmatic) can yield up to twelve different combinations. Furthermore, each person has all four types, with one, two or sometimes three being the dominate ones in different measure. When we consider how each person is wired and has different levels of each temperament style, the blends and combinations can certainly exceed the ideal 12 blends. 

The Lord is so creative and innovative. If we can appreciate how each of these temperaments interact with one another, and the beauty that can result from such interaction, how can we not praise God for how such a design exists in the local church and in our families? It was with thoughts such as these that we ended yesterday's post. Today we want to consider six of the twelve different temperament blends that are spelled out in Dr. Tim Lahaye's book: "Spirit-Controlled Temperament". Before we get to them, let me briefly review the four temperaments by showing how they relate to people being extroverted and introverted.

Extroverts and Introverts
I'm sure the reader has heard of these terms "extrovert" and "introvert". An extrovert is an outgoing person who wears their emotions on their sleave and divulges their thoughts to people. Introverts are those who prefer to stay in the back ground and keep to themselves. When it comes to this issue of temperaments, two of them are extroverted (choleric and sanguine) and two are more introverted (melancholy and phlegmatic). Keeping these distinctions in mind may aid in understanding the following combinations and blends of temperaments we find ourselves or other people having and living out every day. 

The Six Extroverted Personality Temperaments (based off of Dr. Tim Lahaye's Book: Spirit-Controlled Temperaments)
The blends of the four personality temperments (choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholy) are stated in terms of one dominate and one secondary temperament. Thus for example, if a person has a dominate choleric personality temperament with a melancholy temperament being a secondary influence, we would term that temperament combination: ChlorMel (Choloric dominate and Melancholy temperment being second). Let the reader note below the following extroverted temperament blends, as spelled out by Dr. Tim Lahaye:

1). The SanChlor = a mixture of two extrovertish temperaments. The SanChlorwill have a happy charisma combined with organizational skills. Lahaye mentions Simon Peter as a possible SanChlor, being that he had a combined charisma and natural ability to jump ahead and be the leader.

2). The SanMel = SanMels are highly emotional people who fluctuate drastically. Dr. Lahaye notes: "They can laugh hysterically one minute and burst into tears the next. It is almost impossible for themm to hear a sad tale, observe the tragic plight of another person, or listen to music without weeping profusely. They genuinely feel the grief of others." Dr. Lahaye then points out that King David could had possibly been a SanMel.

3). SanPhleg = Dr. Lahaye notes: "The easiest person to like is the SanPhleg. The overpoweringand often obnoxious tendencies of a Sanguine are offset by the gracious, easygoing Phlegmatic. SanPhlegs are happy-go-lucky people whose carefree spirit  and good humor make them lightheartened entertainers. Helping people is their regular business, along with various forms of sales." Dr. Lahaye conceives of the New Testament associate of the Apostle Paul, Apollos, as being a SanPhleg personality temperament.

4). The ChlorSan = As can be seen by the name, this temperment has a dominating chloric temperament with a blended secondary sanguine temperament. According to Dr. Lahaye, this is the second strongest extroverted temperament style. Lahaye notes: "ChlorSans are almost completely given over to activity. Most of their efforts are productive and purposeful, but watch out for their reactions; they can become volatile in a moment! They are natural promoters and can sell almost anything. And they have enough charisma to attract and get along well with others." According to Dr. Lahaye, the New Testament author James fits under this category, being that he wrote with a bold style and yet was very influential in the early church.

5). The ChlorMel = Dr. Lahaye notes regarding this personality temperament blend: "The optimism and practicality of a Chloeric overcomes the moodiness of the Melancholy, making the ChlorMel both goal-oriented and detailed. Such an individual usually does well in school, possess a quick, analytical mind, yet is decisive. The Chlor Mel develops into a capable leader, the kind you can always count on to do an extraordinary job."  According to Dr. Lahaye, the Apostle Paul may very well had been a ChlorMel. 

6). ChlorPhleg = According to Dr. Lahaye, this temperament blend is the most subdued of the extrovertish temperaments. He writes: "a ahhpy blend of the quick, active, and hot with the calm, cool and unexcited. ChlorPhlegs are not as apt to rush into things as quickly as the extroverts we've previously discussed in this chapter; they are more deliberate and subdued. Though they may not impress you that way at first, they are extremely capable in the long run." According to Dr. Lahaye, Titus, the young pastor to whom Paul wrote in the Epistle of Titus, may very well has been a Chlor Phleg.

The hope today has been in introducing the reader to this helpful area of understanding people's personalities and the further categories we can use in identifying key personality traits. We considered today six extroverted temperament blends. Tomorrow we will look at the introverted tempermant blends that are dominated by the melancholy and phlegmatic temperaments.