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Phrenology

Phrenology. In the beginning…. Phrenology came from the theories of the idiosyncratic Viennese physician Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828). In a nutshell…. Phrenology: Popular 1819/1820 in Britain (Victorian Period) Coined by the physician T.I.M. Forster in 1815.

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Phrenology

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  1. Phrenology

  2. In the beginning… • Phrenology came from the theories of the idiosyncratic Viennese physician Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828).

  3. In a nutshell… • Phrenology: • Popular 1819/1820 in Britain (Victorian Period) • Coined by the physician T.I.M. Forster in 1815. • Greek Roots: phren: 'mind' and logos: 'study/discourse'. • Gall never approved of the term phrenology. He called his system simply organology and Schädellehre and later simply 'the physiology of the brain.’

  4. The basic assumptions of Gall… • That moral and intellectual faculties are innate. • That their exercise or manifestation depends on organization.  • That the brain is the organ contains all of the capacities for sentiments and faculties.  • That the brain is composed of many particular organs that fulfill different intellectual and emotional capacities.  • That the form of the head or cranium represents the form of the brain, and thus reflects the relative development of the brain organs. 

  5. The bottom line… • So it was believed that by examining the shape and unevenness of a head or skull, one could discover the development of the particular cerebral "organs" responsible for different intellectual aptitudes and character traits.

  6. Example • For example, a prominent protuberance in the forehead at the position attributed to the organ of Benevolence was meant to indicate that the individual had a "well developed" organ of Benevolence and would therefore be expected to exhibit benevolent behavior.

  7. Abuse of the System • In the early 19th century, Phrenology gained a rapidly growing interest. • Abuse of the science for commercial purposes in the Victorian period • Phrenological Parlors • Stain the image of Phrenology as a real science, and their bad influence lives up to today

  8. Twentieth Century Revival • Evolutionism • Criminal Anthropology • London psychiatrist Bernard HOLLANDERThe Mental Function of the Brain (1901) and Scientific Phrenology (1902) are an objective appraisal of the teachings of Gall. • Prof. Bouts, Belgium psychologist. Founded institutes for characterology in Canada and Brazil. His works "Psychognomie" and "Les Grandioses Destinées“

  9. 20th Century Attacks on Phrenology • Again under attack because of the development of psycho-analysis. • Subjective approach = psychoanalysis clearly opposed objective approach = Phrenology.  Furthermore, fascist ideologies like Nazism have misused some elements of craniometry in the framework of their infamous racist doctrines. • These theories, albeit completely distinct from scientific Phrenology, have given a very bad name to the science. 

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