A new hypothesis developed by the author of this site explains how human personality types evolved during the Stone Age.
The Climate Response Hypothesis
By reviewing recent studies in archaeology, anthropology, endocrinology, and climatology, the author developed a hypothesis to explain why we humans vary so widely in our personalities. This Climate Response Hypothesis, as he calls it, describes how our various personality types evolved:
- Cycles of climate change, occurring over a million years, impelled humans to evolve two different mating strategies, which gave rise to two basic human temperaments.
- Toward the end of the Paleolithic, climate change enabled humans to begin living in larger hunter-gatherer bands. This impelled us to evolve new social roles, which gave rise to eight natural human talents.
- These two basic temperaments and eight natural talents combined to form 16 personality types, which still exist today.
The Hellenic Personality Framework
Although this hypothesis might not be accurate in all its particulars, the author thinks it’s fundamentally sound. That’s why he developed a personality typing system based on it: the Hellenic Personality Framework.
The framework takes its name from the fact that figures from Greek, or Hellenic, mythology are used to designate the various personality types.
It’s based on the idea that your natural proportion and amount of two hormones form the core of your personality. This core is unique, but it falls into one of 16 general categories: the 16 types described in the framework.
