Phrenology

Phrenology was a pseudoscience that claimed to determine character traits, personality, and mental faculties based on the shape and size of the skull. Developed by Franz Joseph Gall in the late 18th century, it proposed that the brain was the organ of the mind and that different areas of the brain were responsible for specific mental functions. Phrenologists believed that the more prominent a particular area of the brain, the stronger the corresponding mental faculty. This would, in turn, lead to a corresponding bump or indentation on the skull's surface.

Practitioners would examine a person's head, feeling for these bumps and depressions, and then interpret them according to a phrenological chart. This chart mapped specific "organs" of the brain to particular traits such as benevolence, combativeness, or intellect. Phrenology gained significant popularity in the 19th century, influencing fields like psychology and criminology, and was even used in education and personal assessment. However, it lacked scientific validity. Modern neuroscience has shown that the brain's functions are not localized to discrete, rigid areas corresponding to skull shape, and that the brain's structure is far more complex than phrenology suggested. The practice has long been discredited by the scientific community.