What Is Phrenology?

Phrenology was developed in the late eighteenth century and was widely accepted as a valid way to evaluate a person's character in the nineteenth century. Though the popularity of phrenology has waned and the theories associated with it have been discredited, phrenology has not been forgotten and is practiced to this day.

What is Phrenology?

• Phrenology is the study of the shape of the human skull to reveal a person's character traits.

Do You Have Large Eyes?

• Franz Joseph Gall, the founder of phrenology, believed that if your eyes were very prominent, you had superior intelligence and a better-than-average memory.

Can I Feel Your Skull?

• Gall visited schools, prisons and asylums for the mentally unstable to gather data, which involved measuring skulls. Using this information, he created a list of twenty-seven characteristics that he could link to specific skull shapes.

Psychograph

• A psychograph was a phrenology machine developed in the twentieth century. It had nearly two thousand parts that evaluated a subject sitting in a chair.

Phrenology in the Modern World

• Phrenologists contend that there is still a place for the study of character traits in the present day. They recommend using phrenology to further examine law enforcement officials and increase one's level of self-awareness.