Understanding the Four Temperaments

A Quick Self-Test

Taken from the books The Temperament God Gave You andThe Temperament God Gave Your Spouse.

Try out this humorous, non-scientific test to get an idea of the temperaments.

Read the questions below and click on the reaction that you would be most likely to give in that situation. Try to think of your first or immediate inclination (even if you would end up doing something differently).

1. The sirens begin to whirl behind you and you realize that the police car is pulling you over. You think to yourself:

  His radar gun couldn't possibly be correct. I was hardly going over the speed limit. The cars in front of me were speeding.
  Oh, no! I've heard of people getting arrested for this!
  Was I driving fast? What's the speed limit on this road, anyway?  Do I have my wallet? Where did I put the car registration?!

2. You are on a silent weekend retreat. Your cell phone rings. What do you do?

  You take the call because it might be important. You are confident it won’t impact things negatively.   I’m not going to answer! Don't they realize I am on a silent retreat? Why are they bothering me? They are so thoughtless!
  You answer on the first ring and start chatting away. After all, you've been silent too long already. 
  You don't want to disappoint the person on the other end, so you take the call, but you whisper, so no one will hear.

 3. Your boss asks you to please come into his office. You think to yourself:

   He has finally recognized my superior contributions. I'm getting a raise!
  What's gone wrong now? I'll bet that new division manager has gotten caught in one of those boondoggles of his! 
  He probably liked my idea for the Christmas party theme! 
  I hope he doesn't want me to work late tonight…oh well, I guess I’ll have to stay ... sigh. 

4. You, your spouse and the kids are driving to the grocery store. You notice that the gas gauge indicates you are getting close to empty. You

  gasp, "We'll never make it to the store! I told you to get gas the last time we were out. Pull over at the nearest gas station!" Then you begin to say Hail Marys. 
  shrug, "Oh, we'll probably make it. There is always some left even when it's on empty."
  don’t say anything, because you never looked at the gas gauge.
  You are driving. Your spouse is in the passenger seat.

5. Your spouse surprises you by coming home for lunch and saying he/she has the rest of the day free--to spend with you! You

  are rather annoyed, because you had already planned your day.
  say, "I'll just cancel everything else and let’s go shopping, out to lunch, and maybe we can even catch a movie without the kids!"
  are a bit embarrassed because you still haven't gotten the morning dishes put away, because after you dropped the kids off at school, you stayed a long time just chatting with the office secretary.
  aren't home because you are at your monthly board meeting.

6. The kitchen sink is completely backed up, and when you call the plumber, you discover that he is out of town for the weekend. You

  flip out. You simply cannot go a day without the use of a garbage disposal. You tell your spouse that he needs to get a plumber immediately or somehow fix it.
  call your neighbor and ask for a recommendation on a plumber, and then chat for a half hour about the neighborhood, the kids, the weather, and the state of the housing market.
  say, “Oh, well, we can use the bathroom sink for a few days until our plumber gets back in town."
  fix it yourself, even if you have never had any plumbing experience. Then you gloat about how you fixed it all by yourself.

Click on each of your choices to discover your temperament!

A more comprehensive test on your temperament is available on p. 249 of the book The Temperament God Gave You.

This text was copied from http://temperaments.veraprise.com/main.cfm?r1=3.00&ID=43&level=1