What is frenology?

Phrenology is a theory, popularized at the beginning of the 19th century, which combines the shape and measurement of the skull with personality features. Frenology has met with skepticism and on its early days and is now considered a pseudo -scientific, developed by incorrect application of the scientific method. Modern scientists, however, recognize frenology as a precursor for more accepted brain theories. Similar ideas were discussed in the classic era, for example in the writings of Aristotle, but Franz Joseph Gall, founder of Frenology, was the first to use head measurement to predict personality traits. Gall, who called his theory craniology , divided the brain into 27 different areas, each with a specific function such as affection, pride, religious feeling, poetic skill and tendency to murder. In the first half of the 19th century, the flourishing of frenology, theory was used to predict the future of children and to screen job seekers, as well as personality tests are ever used today.

To make a frenological analysis, the scientist measured the patient's head with a caliper and then felt a surface for raised and depressive areas. It was assumed that the raised areas indicated that part of the brain located below this site was well developed, while the depressive areas indicated the opposite. Unfortunately, frenology was sometimes used to support racism, especially the Nazis.

While phrenology has been replaced by neuroscience, psychology and other modern scientific work on the brain, it is still well known and often refers to them in popular culture, usually in a joking context. Many people are familiar with the view of phrenologists a graph that usually shows the head in a profile with outlined areas indicating certain aspects of personality. Often the sentence heard: "You should have your head explored," there is actually a reference to frenology, not psychology, as is often assumed.