Really Bad Science #1: Phrenology Edition
Channel: Brains Applied
Date: 2019-12-23

Hi there,

Today we're talking about the pseudoscience named Phrenology, invented by Franz Gall and Johann Spurzheim.
Phrenologists thought they could read your character and talents based on the bumps and dimples on your skull.
In this video, we talk about how the pseudoscience came to be, how popular it was and about its downfall.

Enjoy the ride! Don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE!

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Music by Bensound.com
3D rendering of the ventricles (lateral and anterior views) By BruceBlaus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventricular_system#/media/File:Blausen_0896_Ventricles_Brain.png
Johann Caspar Spurzheim, Lithography by J.h. Bufford after A. Fisher. By Wellcome Collection gallery
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johann_Caspar_Spurzheim._Lithograph_by_J.H._Bufford_after_A._Wellcome_L0025128.jpg#/media/File:Johann_Caspar_Spurzheim._Lithograph_by_J.H._Bufford_after_A._Wellcome_L0025128.jpg
Combe as sculpted by Lawrence Macdonald. By Stephencdickson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Combe#/media/File:George_Combe_c.1825_by_Lawrence_Macdonald.JPG

References:
Eling, P., & Finger, S. (2019). Franz Joseph Gall's non‐cortical faculties and their organs. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences.
Gall, F. J. (1835). On the functions of the brain and of each of its parts: With observations on the possibility of determining the instincts, propensities, and talents, or the moral and intellectual dispositions of men and animals, by the configuration of the brain and head (Vol. 1). Marsh, Capen & Lyon.
Green, C. (n.d.). The 27 faculties of Franz Joseph Gall. York University. Retrieved from https://www.yorku.ca/rsheese2/1010/gall.htm
Parssinen, T. M. (1974). Popular Science and Society: The Phrenology Movement in Early Victorian Britain. Journal of Social History, 8(1), 1–20. doi:10.1353/jsh/8.1.1 
Rafter, N. (2005). The murderous Dutch fiddler: Criminology, history, and the problem of phrenology". Theoretical Criminology. Sage Publications, Ltd.
Wells, S. R. (1873). How to Read Character: A New Illustrated Hand-book of Phrenology and Physiognomy, for Students and Examiners. Wells.
Whitaker, H., & Jarema, G. (2017). The split between Gall and Spurzheim (1813–1818). Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 26(2), 216-223.