What Is Temperament vs Personality?
Short Answer
Temperament is your innate, biologically-rooted behavioral style present from infancy (activity level, emotionality, sociability); personality is your learned, adapted character developed through experience and choices. Temperament is "nature"—the raw material; personality is "nurture"—the shaped result.
Full Answer
Temperament is your inborn baseline — the neurological wiring that shapes how you naturally respond to stimuli, regulate emotion, and engage with others. A high-activity infant who becomes an energetic adult likely has an extraverted temperament. Kagan's landmark 1989 longitudinal research showed shy infants remain shy adults at rates far higher than chance, indicating biological continuity.
How it differs from personality
Personality is what you do with that temperament — your learned patterns, habits, values, and adaptive strategies. You can inherit an anxious temperament and develop healthy coping mechanisms through therapy, shaping your personality toward resilience.
Old model vs. modern
The historical and the current frameworks track different layers:
- ●Four Humors (choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic) — the famous old model that tracked temperament.
- ●Big Five and MBTI — modern models that track personality built on top of that foundation.
Hardware vs. software
Think of temperament as personality's hardware and personality as the software. Your temperament constrains your range — an introvert won't become an extrovert — but doesn't determine your fate. A shy temperament can develop confident social skills.
Explore yours
Use the JobCannon Temperament (Four Humors) test to explore your temperament foundation, then see how your life experience has shaped who you are today.
Find Out for Yourself
Take the Temperament (4 Humors) test free — full result with strengths, blind spots, and matching careers.
Take the Free Temperament (4 Humors) TestRelated Questions
Can you change your temperament?▼
Temperament is largely biologically fixed and stable from infancy. However, through neuroplasticity and deliberate practice, you can shift your expression and management of it. An anxious-temperament person can't eliminate anxiety but can develop robust coping skills.
How does temperament affect career choice?▼
Temperament influences natural strengths: high-activity suits fast-paced roles; low-reactive suits high-stress environments (surgery, trading); high-sensitivity suits detail-oriented, reflective work.
More on MBTI & Cognitive Type
It depends on the framework: MBTI has 16 types, Enneagram has 9 (27 with wings), Big Five doesn't use types at all (5 continuous dimensions). There is no single "correct" number — different systems capture different aspects of personality.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality framework that sorts people into 16 distinct types based on four dimensions: how you direct energy (Extraversion vs. Introversion), process information (Sensing vs. Intuition), make decisions (Thinking vs. Feeling), and organize life (Judging vs. Perceiving).
INFJ is the rarest MBTI personality type, representing approximately 1.5-2% of the population. INTJ is the second rarest at about 2%. Female INTJs are particularly rare at only 0.9% of the female population.
ISFJ (Introversion, Sensing, Feeling, Judging) is the most common MBTI personality type, representing 13.8% of the general population. Among women specifically, ISFJs make up 19.4%—nearly one in five women.
According to Myers-Briggs theory, your core MBTI type does not change—it represents stable personality preferences. However, how you express and apply your type evolves significantly throughout life as you develop skills and adapt to different environments. About 50% of people get a different result when retaking, usually due to mistyping rather than genuine change.
MBTI cognitive functions are eight mental processes—four judging (Ti, Te, Fi, Fe) and four perceiving (Si, Se, Ni, Ne)—that explain HOW each personality type processes information and makes decisions. Each type uses four functions in a specific stack order, with the dominant function being your primary mental process.