The practice was based on the idea that certain functions were located in specific brain areas.

As a result, phrenologists proposed bumps were produced in those areas on the skull.

The practice did help increase scientific interest in the localization of different brain functions.

It was later popularized as phrenology by Gall’s assistant, a German physician named Johann Gaspar Spurzheim.

In his book on phrenology, Gall suggested thatmoraland intellectual faculties were innate.

In other words, people were born with their moral character and intelligence.

If you were a thief, it was because you were born with a predisposition to deceitfulness.

The form of the skull represented and reflected the form and development of the brain’s organs.

While Gall originally suggested that there were 27 faculties, more were eventually added.

Phrenology heads or charts typically show 35 different faculties, tendencies, and propensities.

Today, phrenology is regarded as a pseudoscience along the same lines as palm reading and astrology.

However, he chose to ignore any evidence that contradicted his ideas.

Gall’s ideas gained many followers, but also attracted considerable criticism from scientists as well as other groups.

Criticism from well-known brain researchers played an important role in this reversal of popular views of phrenology.

But its efforts are mere assertions, which will not bear examination for an instant."

Phrenologists also used what they concluded was an ‘average’ person as a tool for comparison.

Modern Findings Dispute Phrenology’s Claims

A 2018 evaluation of phrenology’s claims (i.e.

The researchers noted that this is the most rigorous scientific investigation into phenology’s claims.

The researchers found no evidence to support phenology’s main premise.

Phrenology also represented a form of scientific racism, since it was used to support racist beliefs and practices.

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