Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Phony Phrenology
Phrenology is the archaic science relating ones character and mental abilities to the shape and size of their head. It was believed that the brain is divided into many sections, each holding a specific characteristic or ability like wit, memorization and faithfulness. During the 1800's when phrenology was widely accepted, the workings of the human brain and body were little known, which made this science easily justifiable and therefore could not be falsified. In this case, the confirmation bias is very powerful. There was no way to prove the theory wrong, so there was no reason not to believe it. The idea of phrenology is very appealing because it gives humans the ability to identify an honest man, from a liar by the shape of his or her skull. So without any evidence stating otherwise, who wouldn't want to be able to confirm it to be true? Humans are pattern-seeking primates searching for meaning in the world. It's hard for us not to jump to conclusions, especially when we don't have all the information. Although phrenology was failed attempt to uncover the inner workings of our brain, it put psychologists on the right path and also taught us that appearance and character have nothing to do with each other.
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Julia,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your section on how humans are searching for a meaning to the world. I completely agree with this statement. The theory of phrenology is pure evidence of this. People wanted to know more about the brain so in turn they infer that the shape of skull determines how large ones brain is. Or if ones eyeballs bulge, that they must possess a very large brain. Humans jump on every chance to find or to give meaning to things.
Julia,
ReplyDeleteI thought that your topics you wrote about in your post were very interesting, I had never thought to consider that maybe it was not that it seemed like a valid theory, that maybe people just wanted to believe it because it appealed to them. However, phrenology is very flawed and I wonder if it was new to our society, would people believe it at first?
Julia,
ReplyDeleteI find the concept of phrenology similar to the old notion that the Earth was flat. In those times, there was no way to empirically prove its validity or falsehood, so people assumed it true. In the same vein, there was no way to test phrenology until the recent invention of imaging devices.
Julia,
ReplyDeleteI liked the approach you took for this blog because you took the falsehood of phrenology and turned it into a positive as to how it has benefited us and taught us new things. I agree that without going through this hypothetical science, we would never have gotten to the point we are with scientific research today.
Julia,
ReplyDeleteI like how, jut as i did you took the falsified info from phrenology and turned it around so it discusses the benefits of such a theory and how it truly helped us discover more of the brain parts actual functions.
Julia,
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more with your post. Without any bumps and bruises, psychology would not be where it is today. Gall's studies especially proved that questioning each other does more benefit than harm.