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Another approach, known as somatology, championed by the psychologist William Herbert
Sheldon (1898–1977), was based on the idea that we could determine personality from people’s
body types (Figure 11.2 "Sheldon’s Body Types"). Sheldon (1940) [2] argued that people with
more body fat and a rounder physique (“endomorphs”) were more likely to be assertive and bold,
whereas thinner people (“ectomorphs”) were more likely to be introverted and intellectual. As
with phrenology, scientific research did not validate the predictions of the theory, and
somatology has now been discredited in contemporary psychology.
Figure 11.2 Sheldon’s Body Types
William Sheldon erroneously believed that people with different body types had different personalities.
Another approach to detecting personality is known as physiognomy, or the idea that it is
possible to assess personality from facial characteristics. In contrast to phrenology and
somatology, for which no research support has been found, contemporary research has found that
people are able to detect some aspects of a person’s character—for instance, whether they are
gay or straight and whether they are Democrats or Republicans—at above chance levels by