Phrenology is basically the study of personality through the study of the shape of the skull. The basis of this theory is that the brain conforms to the shape of the head and its contours. This pseudoscience says that because we have isolated where different parts of personality come from we can tell how dominant this trait would be in a person’s life by the size of the piece of the brain. We have since proven that this theory is not true.
Franz Joseph Gall is considered to be the founder of the direct scientific link between the morphology of the skull and personality traits. Gall was one of the first scientists to consider the brain the home of all mental activities. His main work was called The Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System in General, and of the Brain in Particular. In this article he put forth five points that phrenology was based on in general.
1. That moral and intellectual faculties and innate.
2. That their exercise or manifestation depends on organization.
3. That the brain is an organ of all the propensities, sentiments, and faculties.
4. The brain is composed of many particular organs as there are different propensities, sentiments, and faculties which differ from one another.
5. That the form of the head or cranium represents the form of the brain, and thus represents the relative development of the brain organs.
Gall linked the faculties with precise brain localizations through careful observation and expensive experimental measures.
Johann Spurzheim’s contribution to phrenology was also great. He helped Gall in a study of brain injuries with the phrenology concept Gall had created. He also studied many cases of aphasia following victim’s cranial injuries in battle. In 1832, he arrived in America, which was at that time desperate for insight into human personality, and started on a lecture circuit that eventually killed him only six months into it.
While Spurzheim was in America he managed to inspire two young, frustrated evangelists whose names were Lorenzo Niles Fowler and Orson S. Fowler. These two are largely responsible for spreading phrenology throughout the country. They traveled from town to town carrying the truth of phrenology. They offered lectures, readings, and to evaluate the charteristics of total strangers through the bumps and valleys on their heads. Soon everyone from small-town folk to the rich and famous were getting readings. It became a fad throughout America.
p1. The brain is constructed like a computer, since both contain parts which enable them to function.
There are 4 main parts of the brain. Each part of the brain is responsible for different systems in our body.
Born in Gotha, Germany in 1752, Blumenbach went on to Jena to study medicine. He completed his doctoral training at Gottingen in 1775. Just a year later, he was appointed as an extraordinary professor of medicine. His study of the history of man showing the value of using comparative anatomy and his classification of the five varieties of man were two important contributions made by Blumenbach (1911 Edition). He wasted no time in becoming one of the most influential members of the fields of comparative anatomy, zoology, physiology, anthropology, and craniology, in fact, Blumenbach is considered to be the founder of anthropology as well as craniology. In his construction of this new field of physical anthropology, he used the methods of natural historians, and applied those methods to the human species (Keith 106). Objectifying the study of mankind, Blumenbach collected numerous specimens from various races. Skulls, skin, hair and pictures were among the items collected. From each item, the location, as well as race of the item, was known and recorded. Prior to Blumenbach's systematized assortment of specimens, the only collections "consisted of miscellaneous oddities preserved in the 'cabinets' of noble houses, for the idle amusement of the curious." (Keith, 106). Blumenbach' s more complete collection allowed intensive study into the racial history of mankind, which is just what he wanted to do. Blumenbach was also the first to study the actual form of skulls (Retzius 283).
Penfield’s recherce and brain stimulation he was able to map the brain and its functional organization in living people. During his experiments he found that sending a shock to certain parts of the brain would have different reactions. By using this method Penfield was able to find the cause of epilepsy seizers and destroy it. In one case the patient would smell burnt toast right before a seizer, he used this knowledge to probe the limbic system to recreate the smell. None of this would have been possible without the map he created, the map was so influential that it is still used today. However, we no longer need to cut open the skull to see what inside, thanks to modern medicine MRIs are used to see what’s going on in our
While Gall was incorrect in theorizing that the external skull reflects the personality and tendencies of an individual, he was surprisingly correct and in fact pioneered the idea that specific human functions and emotions are related to specific regions of the brain. His way of coming to this conclusion was scientifically incorrect but the implications of this idea helped modern science discover the idea of cerebral localization that is present today.
Experiments performed on animals and humans are showing that the brain has evolved to shape itself according to what it e...
For example, in Marshall Hall and Pierre Flourens’ exploration of the brain, they attempted to map out brain functions. While Hall was able to locate the root of voluntary and involuntary movement in the brain, Flourens assigned physical locations on the brain to different vital functions of the brain, including, but not limited to: auditory and visual reflexes, heartbeat, respiration, higher mental processes, and coordination. While Descartes’ was able to theorize about the functions of the brain as a whole, Hall and Flourens expanded upon his original theory and they revealed the functions of individual parts of the brain. Also exploring the brain, Franz Joseph Gall wanted to know whether or not the shape or the size of the brain could reveal something about a person or animal’s personality characteristics or intelligence. Gall attempted to “map the brain from the outside” (70), and his research reinforced the belief that specific brain functions could be generally localized. While Gall failed in his effort to map the brain from the outside, he was able to distinguish white or gray matter and to further Descartes ' evolving
...e, it is clear that the mind and brain are not the same thing. If they were, then the two would not have any contradicting qualities. The mind is not divisible, but the brain is. Therefore, the two have a characteristic that is different, which makes them not identical.
The main concern of the discipline of psychology in ancient times was the “[speculation of] the nature and locus of the mind, sensation and perception, memory, and learning”. There existed a strong connection between psychology and medicine, physiology, and neurology. The purpose of psychology, for the ancient physicians and philosophers, was to describe its procedures and demeanor in terms of science (e.g. medicine). In order to understand the emergence of psychology, the advances in medicine in these ancient cultures must be discussed. That way, one can see how psychology was linked to each one of them, in one way or the other.
During the event I learned a variety of information that relates to our biology and human relation classes. Through this seminar I was taught that our personalities are all related to neurology and that each person has more prominent personalities. The left side of the brain is the side that associates with the facts, data, order, and logic. On the other side of the brain, the right half of our brain is associated with creativity, ‘big pictures’, and independence. Finally, the event taight me to be satisfied with my personality color and to embrace my stregths and weaknesses.
Rieber, R. W. (2001). Wilhelm Wundt in history: the making of a scientific psychology. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
The study of the brain has come a long way, but there is still a lot to be learned. Today, Francis Crick is greatly respected for the valuable work he has done in the exploration of the brain.
Mental illness, today we are surround by a broad array of types of mental illnesses and new discoveries in this field every day. Up till the mid 1800’s there was no speak of personality disorder, in fact there was only two type of mental illness recognized. Those two illnesses as defined by Dr. Sam Vaknin (2010), “”delirium” or “manial”- were depression (melancholy), psychoses, and delusions.” It was later in 1835 when J. C. Pritchard the British Physician working at Bristol Infirmary Hospital published his work titled “Treatise on Insanity and Other Disorder of the Mind” this opened the door to the world of personality disorder. There were many story and changes to his theories and mental illness and it was then when Henry Maudsley in 1885 put theses theories to work and applied to a patient. This form of mental illness has since grown into the many different types of personality disorder that we know today. Like the evolution of the illness itself there has been a significant change in the way this illness is diagnosed and treated.
In all historical aspects, psychology can show us the diverse ranges of how it is evolving throughout our world today. Ancient Greeks and philosophers in the 4th century, show us the early development of personality psychology. They wanted to figure out what actually makes us who we are. Aristotle was one of the first individuals to hypothesize connections between physical aspects of the body and behavior. Today there are many different theoretical vi...
The beginning of anatomy and physiology, ironically, began with a curiosity in biology. The first man to create an important contribution to biology was Alcmaeon, in the 5th century, BC. He was the first scientist to have worked with dissection. His focus was in trying to find out from where and how human intelligence came to be. His research never intended to be anatomical. He merely stumbled upon anatomical research. Alcmaeon thought that when someone had a concussion it affected the mind. He believed this was where he was going to find his answer to where intelligence comes from. He began to think more and more on this idea and finally began dissecting bodies to try and find his answer. He discovered many new things in, near, and around the brain such as, the optic nerve and Eustachian tubes.