No one wants to be the victim of faulty science. Imagine going into the doctor’s office to have brain surgery. Like usual you check-in at the desk and sit in the waiting room until you are called to be prepped for the procedure. You may feel a bit nervous as it is a major surgery, but you are confident the doctors know what they are doing. Or do they? Suppose that neuroscience had not made any progress and that people still believed in phrenology theory and performed lobotomies. This would lead to an unexpected result from the surgery and possibly even death. Therefore, it is important to be able to recognize pseudoscience and to do accurate, precise research to achieve applicable results. Phrenology, or the study of the shape / contours of the human skull, is one such pseudoscience that was widely popular in the 19th century.
This theory of phrenology was originally derived from Franz Joseph Gall’s system of beliefs which can be summed up as follows: the brain is the organ of the mind, and it has many different functions which all must have a separate “seat” in the brain. The size is a measure of its power, and the shape is determined by its development. Therefore, since the skull takes the shape of the brain, it can be physically felt to determine psychological aptitudes and personality characteristics according to the theory (Van Whye, 2000). If the area thought to correlate with benevolence was larger, then it was thought that the person was benevolent. Of course, the scientists at the time did not look for any contradictory evidence, as that was immediately dismissed. Rather, any case that seemed to match with their theory was used as proof. This whole field of phrenology started in Britain which then spread to America and other European countries. This practice became so widely accepted that at one point employers were able to require a possible job applicant to go see a phrenologist to see if they had the right “qualities” according to their skull that would be suited for the job. Needless to say, this theory was disproved as there is no scientific evidence supporting these claims. Structure may help determine structure, but information cannot be extrapolated to the extent of knowing someone’s personality by their skull shape. In today’s terms, visiting a phrenologist would be like going to seek out advice from a psychic, astrologist, or fortune teller. However, it is obvious that this misinformation had quite an effect on society and the world.
Imagine if a phrenologist gave you a bad reading which prevented you from getting a job despite being completely qualified otherwise? This demonstrates how detrimental pseudoscience can be. Back then, they did not have the technology that we have today. It is understandable that mistakes were made. It just shows the importance of correcting mistakes and providing evidence for any claims that are made. After all, no one wants to have the contours of their skull determine who they are!
Source:
King Lab at Creighton University 