Chapter 1 – The Contours of Murder: Phrenology and the Logic of Reductionism
Chapter Summary
This chapter critically examines the rise and fall of phrenology, a nineteenth-century system that claimed mental faculties could be localised in specific brain regions and revealed through the shape of the skull. Positioned at the intersection of medicine, education, political reform, and science, phrenology provides a rich case study for exploring the concept of reductionism in the history of psychology. The chapter introduces key figures such as Franz Joseph Gall, Johann Spurzheim, George Combe, and the Fowler brothers, who popularised and commercialised phrenological theory and practice across Europe and America.
The chapter examines how phrenology gained legitimacy, how it naturalised social hierarchies, and why it eventually lost scientific credibility. Despite being discredited, phrenology’s historical echo continues to inform debates around psychological testing, brain-based explanations of psychological functioning, and the limits of biological determinism. In this chapter readers are encouraged to consider what counts as science, and who decides what science is, and to critically reflect on the enduring appeal of simplified, measurable models of the mind. By revisiting this early psychological movement, the chapter cultivates historical literacy, critical thinking, and ethical awareness about the uses and misuses of psychological knowledge.
Chapter 1 – Quiz
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Chapter 1 – Flashcards
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Chapter 1 – Key Readings
Combe, G. (1828). The Constitution of Man Considered in Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan & Stewart.
Eling P., & Finger, S. (2020). Franz Joseph Gall’s non-cortical faculties and their organs. Journal of the History of the Behavioural Sciences, 56(1), 7-19. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhbs.21994
Finger, S., & Eling, P. (2022). The quest for objectivity and measurements in phrenology’s “bumpy” history. History of Psychology, 25(3), 211‑244. https://doi.org/10.1037/hop0000213
Finger, S. (2019). Mark Twain’s life-long fascination with phrenology. Journal of the History of the Behavioural Sciences 55(2), 99-121. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhbs.21960
Lilleleht, E. (2015). “Assuming the privilege” of bridging divides: Abigail Fowler-Chumos, practical phrenology, and America’s Gilded Age. History of Psychology, 18(4), 414–432. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039476
Lilleleht, E. (2022). An organ of murder: Crime, violence, and phrenology in nineteenth-century America. Rutgers University Press.
Parker Jones, O., Alfaro-Almagro, F., & Jbabdi. S., (2018). An empirical, 21st century evaluation of phrenology. Cortex, 106, 26-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.04.011
Poskett, J. (2019). Materials of the Mind: Phrenology, race, and the global history of science, 1815-1920. University of Chicago Press.
Sysling, F. (2021). Phrenology and the average person, 1840–1940. History of the Human Sciences, 34(2), 27-45. https://doi.org/10.1177/0952695120984070
Van Wyhe, J. (2004). Phrenology and the origins of Victorian scientific naturalism. Aldershot: Ashgate.
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Chapter 1 – Reflective Questions
- In what ways did phrenology reflect both Enlightenment ideals and nineteenth-century social anxieties?
- Why was phrenology so compelling to different groups, including reformers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and the general public?
- What does phrenology teach us about the risks of reductionism in psychology?
- How did phrenology contribute to, and benefit from, existing power structures such as racism, sexism, and colonialism?
- Can you think of contemporary examples where psychological or neuroscientific claims might be reductionist in a similar way?
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Chapter 1 – Weblinks
‘The Welcome Collection’
https://wellcomecollection.org/works
A collection of over a million documents/records covering a variety of disciplines with an easy-to-use search function to enable more specific research.
‘Is phrenology the weirdest pseudoscience of them all?’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/reel/video/p099tghy/is-phrenology-the-weirdest-pseudoscience-of-them-all-
A 4-minute video from the BBC giving an overview of the history of Phrenology, alongside easy-to-understand graphics which should help to build a fundamental understanding of the theory.
‘The Dark Story of Phrenology’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR9x3KVmE48
A 20-minute YouTube video that goes over the origins and development of Phrenology in some more detail and also discusses some of the practical applications of this theory and how it led to some real-world atrocities like the ‘Trail of Tears’.
‘Familiar Lessons on Physiology and Phrenology’
A link to a full copy of Lydia Folger Fowler’s book, which gives an example of the, at the time, culturally and psychologically relevant texts used in the study of Phrenology as it existed at the time (1860)
‘The Constitution of Man Considered in Relation to External Objects’
A digitized version of George Coombe’s 1828 book, with Coombe being credited with popularising Phrenology as a pseudoscience, thus making this book an interesting read when attempting to understand how this theory developed.
‘Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy – Scientific Reduction’
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-reduction
This resource provides a useful overview of the concept of Scientific Reduction, making it invaluable for students attempting to evaluate concepts like Phrenology on an academic level.