Heads Up!: Phrenology versus Definitive Science

This topic submitted by Andy Dooley, Nuri Pazol, Jene‡ Sanders (nuri@muohio.edu) at 11:36 pm on 1/30/01. Additions were last made on Tuesday, February 13, 2001. Section: Cummins.

"Phrenology is a true science. Step by step the result of observation upon the connection between development and function. In the coming century, Phrenology will assuredly attain general importance. It will prove itself to be the true science of mind. Its practical uses in education, in self-discipline, in the reformatory treatment of criminals and in the remedial treatment of the insane will give it one of the highest places in the hierarchy of the sciences."

A. R. Wallace, LL.D., F.R.S., O.M., "The Wonderful Century"


Are you skeptical that the bumps on your head are indicative of your mental faculties and character? – Or do you crave hard-core facts? Where does validity end and absurdity begin? Phrenology, the study of the conformation of the skull, is based on the belief that the biotopography of the scalp is theorized to correlate to the owner’s psychological and behavioral attributes.


Research Question:
Is there a bona fide or even correlating link between phrenology and the quantitative science of metirium caput¾ (head measurement)?


Research Methods:
We shall study the history of phrenology and its stigmatization as a true science. We will evaluate quantitative biometrics against phrenology to determine their relationship, if any. From there, we will compare scientific journals and other sources with our biometric and phrenologic findings and draw our own conclusions as to whether similarities or disparities exist.


Research Design:
First, we will study, analyze, compare, and contrast phrenological and biometrical methodology. Then we will research past scientific studies from both fields. Finally, we will conduct our own experiments on human subjects asking them to measure their own heads, rate their own personality and intellect, then request that they allow our group to “read” the bumps on their heads.


Our Expectations:
At present, we have no precise expectations or hypotheses. We conjecture, however, that modern quantitative science will “win out”, proving that phrenology should stay dead in the past.

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