phrenology

American  

[fri-nol-uh-jee, fre-] / frɪˈnɒl ə dʒi, frɛ- /

noun

1. a psychological theory or analytical method based on the belief that certain mental faculties and character traits are indicated by the configurations of the skull.

---

phrenology British  

/ ˌfrɛnəˈlɒdʒɪkəl, frɪˈnɒlədʒɪ /

noun

1. (formerly) the branch of science concerned with localization of function in the human brain, esp determination of the strength of the faculties by the shape and size of the skull overlying the parts of the brain thought to be responsible for them

---

Other Word Forms

• phrenologic
  adjective
• phrenological
  adjective
• phrenologically
  adverb
• phrenologist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of phrenology

An Americanism dating back to 1795–1805; phreno- + -logy

Explanation

If you think that the shape of a person's head can tell you everything you need to know about him, you believe in phrenology, or the study of skulls. Phrenology is outdated today, but it was a popular area of study in the nineteenth century. It was considered a "pseudoscience," or false science, even at the time, yet phrenology was taken seriously by some psychiatrists and neurologists, who would feel a patient's head for bumps they believed revealed aspects of personality, character, and health. The literal Greek meaning of phrenology is "mental science," from the root word phrenos, or "mind."

Example Sentences

Phrenology had a similar run of credibility; even some widely respected scientists thought the contours of a person’s cranium could be “read” for what it said about intelligence and character.

From Washington Post • Nov. 8, 2022

Phrenology, exclusionary college admission policies, Freud, inevitably, with his idea of character as the “outward sign, so to speak, of an inward personality” — there’s plenty to paddle around in, but do we arrive anywhere?

From New York Times • Jul. 7, 2020

Phrenology was a model that relied on pseudoscientific nonsense to make authoritative pronouncements, and for decades it went untested.

From The Guardian • Sep. 1, 2016

They were disappointed by its outcome, admitting that they “could have wished a better case for the introduction of the light of Phrenology, into the dark passages of our Criminal Law.”

From Slate • Dec. 16, 2015

Phrenology then is one of those beautiful revelations of applicable science which could only have been made known in an æra of intellectual cultivation.

From Christian Phrenology A Guide to Self-Knowledge by Bunney, Joseph