Part of the Temperament/Social media series in collaboration
with Elemental Truths. You can find all of the relevant articles
linked at the bottom of the Introduction.

C holerics: goal oriented, independent, problem-solving leaders of .. well… everything. They want (and need( to be in charge - in charge of themselves, in charge of their environment, in charge of others.

They like affection, appreciation and attention well enough, but only when it’s offered on their terms, and generally, they’d prefer start a group, rather than join someone else’s. But don’t be fooled - they aren’t afraid to gate crash either, and are happy exert their influence and divert existing communities to their own purposes.

What’s the Web2.0 appeal for a Choleric?

Social Media is filled with endless communities, networks and discussions ready to be taken over, subverted, and bent to the Choleric’s will. Alternately, Cholerics can just create their own community, reigning over it as Grand-Emperor-Virtual-Poohbah.

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Long term readers are aware of the American Pseudo-Buddhist influence which underlies much of my thought process. (It’s good stuff, that Pseudo-Buddhism, especially when served over steamed rice and chased with saki -or so I’m told.)

You may also familiar with my unrelenting book addiction, fueled by frequent trips to the Half-Price book store, that dark-alley drug dealer that forces me to snort, smoke and mainline wholesale words and ideas indiscriminately.

So you’d probably expect me to have a pile of dusty books about Buddhism, Zen, and the like, right? Right. Last week, heeding the call of addiction, I dug through the stack and plucked out an unassuming white paperback from flipped through its pages and landed on a rather nice little meditation. Being the sharing sort (and feeling a bit lazy today) I thought I’d share it as this week’s mind tweak. Explanation of just why it’s a tweak follows, but first…

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Part of the Temperament/Social media series in collaboration
with Elemental Truths. You can find all of the relevant articles
linked at the bottom of the Introduction.

Phlegmatic temperaments play an interesting and oft-underplayed role in social circles: they’re maintainers.  When the Melancholies have retreated into a moodiness, the Sanguines have flitted off to the next big thing, and the cholerics and supines are busy with their causes and goals, it’s the Phlegmatics that provide the calm, quiet consistent presence that keeps a network together until the rest of us get over ourselves and wander back.

But what do Phlegmatics  get out of modern social media?

I remember taking some of my phlegmatic friends to dance clubs years ago.  They’d sit quietly in the literal shadows of the building, watching others. I’d always be sure they were bored to tears, but on the way home, they’d tell me what a really wonderful time they had, and tell me about everything they’d observed.

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Part of the Temperament/Social media series in collaboration
with Elemental Truths.

With low needs for socialization and attention, Melancholies may not be the stars of social networking, but they may find it an attractive medium all the same.

The Melancholy personality is motivated by a drive towards intimacy- not necessarily romantic intimacy, but the sort of intimacy that comes with the transparent mythical sharing and baring of the soul of poetry and art… the intimacy of kindred spirits.

And in the search for kindred spirits, social media offers countless benefits.

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Taking a break from the social media/temperament series, I thought we all needed a good laugh. 

When does it rain brains?  During a brain-storm of course!
Where does a brain go to college?  A hippocampus. 
What did Mr.Brain say to Mrs.Brain on their anniversary?  “I lobe you!”

Ok, maybe those weren’t GOOD laughs…   there’s a reason I don’t write a humor blog, you know!  Here, is this better?

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Part of the Temperament/SocialMedia series  with ElementalTruths. 

Since we started this series, a lot of folks have been asking for an online 5 temperaments test. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t one I could send you to… until now!

Reg has agreed to make a version temporarily available here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfs7hphz_304ctkffrcp

Its old fashioned pen and paper - which, personally? I think makes it more likely to be accurate since it engages the brain differently. Anyway, you’ll need to print it out. For the best accuracy, you’ll need to ask two of your friends to fill it out for you, too.

Please keep in mind this is a rough version. Reg would really appreciate your feed back about how well it works/doesn’t work, or anything that’s confusing.   If we get enough positive feedback, we’ll work together and try to technologize it for a web version, so leave a comment and let us know if you try it

…and thanks Reg, for making it available!

MindTweak: “The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.”                                                      -  Tom Bodett

Part of the Temperment/Social media series in collaboration
with Elemental Truths.  You can find a list of the relevant articles in the MindTweaks Sidebar, or linked at the bottom of the Introduction.

Sanguines: entertaining, outgoing, responsive, warm, and friendly - that’s just part of Reg’s description of Sanguines. They thrive on attention and affection, they love being included, and they go out of their way to include others. So social media should be a breeze for those with strong Sanguine traits, right?

Well, yes and no.

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Part of the Temperament/Social media series in collaboration
with Elemental Truths. You can find all of the relevant articles
linked at the bottom of the Introduction.

When Reg suggested we kick off this series by looking at the Supine temperament, I got excited. As a Supine/Sanguine, I can vouch for the difficulty that the Supine temperament presents when dealing with social media.

Most obviously, there’s the somewhat wacky Supine approach to socialization. As Reg puts it in his post,

“They have very little need to initiate association or socialization, but have a high need to be approached by many people for association and socialization.”

MMhmm. It’s against the Supine nature to reach out to others - we want others to approach us.

But most popular Social Media sites reward an aggressive style of socialization. To build a network of friends on services like Twitter, Facebook or you need to promote yourself heavily… it means inviting (and even nagging) people to join the service, and use it actively. It means talking to strangers, even when the strangers don’t talk back.

See the problem?

Social networking services just don’t work in ways we Supine types socialize.

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Ok, so it’s not as addictive as The Brain Button, but still pretty darn cool

(Click the image above to launch the page. Flash required)

Part of the introduction for the Temperment/Social
media series with Elemental Truths

(written in my most serious of voices. ahem)

The most modern interpretation of Temperament Theory (as outlined by Drs Phyllis and Richard G Arno) recognizes 5 temperament types: Sanguine, Choleric, Phlegmatic, Melancholy, and Supine. These elemental types come together in of our individual natures, making each of us a unique and complex blend of needs, wants and drives.

Below is a rough overview of each temperament in it’s idealized form:

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Choleric: Control-Oriented Leaders
Motto: “When I say jump…” [click to continue...]