What Is Phrenology?

Why Phrenology Is Now Considered a Pseudoscience

Phrenology head.
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Could a bump on the back of your head offer a clue to your inner personality? This idea was a central theme in the pseudoscience known as phrenology, a discipline that involved linking bumps on a person's head to certain aspects of the individual's personality and character.

Let's take a closer look at how phrenology came to be, its rise to popularity, and its influence on psychology.

A Brief History of Phrenology


Gall noticed that the cerebral cortex of humans was much larger than that of animals, which he believed was what made humans intellectually superior. Eventually, he became convinced that the physical features of the cortex could also be seen in the shape and size of the skull. In other words, he believed that bumps on the surface of the brain could be detected by feeling the bumps on the surface of an individual's head.

After examining the heads of a number of young pickpockets, Gall found that many of them had bumps on their skull just above their ears. He then suggested that the bumps, indentations, and overall shape of the skull could be linked to different aspects of a person's personality, character, and abilities. With his young pickpockets, for example, he suggested that the bump behind their ears was associated with a tendency to steal, lie, or deceive.

In his book on the subject of phrenology, Gall suggested that:

  • Moral and 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 exercise or manifestation of these faculties depended on their organization.
  • The brain controlled all of the propensities, sentiments, and faculties. 
  • The brain was composed of as many organs as there are different faculties, propensities, and sentiments.
  • The form of the skull represented and reflected the form and development of the brain's organs.

Gall sought support for his ideas by measuring the skulls of people in prisons, hospitals, and asylums, especially those with odd-shaped heads. Based on what he found, Gall developed a system of 27 different "faculties" that he believed could be directly diagnosed by assessing specific parts of the head.

He also created a chart that showed which areas of the skull were associated with specific traits or characteristics.

The 27 "Faculties" in Phrenology

So what exactly were Gall's 27 faculties? The following list accounts for the one's he identified, each of which he believed corresponded to a particular region of the head.

  1. Reproductive instincts
  2. The love of one's offspring
  3. Affection and friendship
  4. Self-defense, courage, and fighting
  5. Murderous instincts
  6. Guile, acuteness; cleverness
  7. Sense of property; the tendency to steal
  8. Pride, arrogance, haughtiness, love of authority, loftiness
  9. Vanity, ambition, love of glory
  10. Circumspection, forethought
  11. Aptitude for being educated
  12. Sense of locality and place
  13. Recollection of people
  1. Verbal memory
  2. Language ability
  3. The sense of colors
  4. Sense for sound and musical talent
  5. Mathematical abilities
  6. Mechanical abilities
  7. Comparative sagacity
  8. Metaphysics
  9. Satire and wit
  10. Poetic talent
  11. Kindness; compassion; sensitivity; moral sense
  12. Imitation and mimicry
  13. Religiosity
  14. Perseverance, firmness

Problems With Gall's Phrenology

However, Gall's methods lacked scientific rigor and he chose to simply ignore any evidence that contradicted his ideas. Despite this, phrenology became increasingly popular from the 1800s well into the early 1900s. Having your head examined by a phrenologist was a popular activity during the Victorian era and it remained fairly popular even after evidence began to mount against Gall's ideas.

Gall's ideas gained many followers, but he began to attract considerable criticism from scientists as well as other groups. The Catholic church believed that his suggestion of a "religion organ" was atheistic, and in 1802, his publications were added to the Index of Prohibited Books.


Despite phrenology's brief popularity, it eventually became viewed as a pseudoscience much like astrology, numerology, and palmistry. Criticism from some of the best-known brain researchers played an important role in this reversal of popular views of phrenology.



Influence of Phrenology




Fancher, R. E. Pioneers of Psychology. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.; 1996..

Hothersall, D. History of Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.; 1995.

Megendie, F. An elementary treatise on human physiology. Harper and Brothers; 1855.

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