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This article or section is missing citations or needs footnotes. Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (July 2007) |
Constitutional psychology is a theory, developed in the 1940s by American psychologist William Herbert Sheldon, associating body types with human temperament types. Sheldon proposed that the human physique be classed according to the relative contribution of three fundamental elements, somatotypes, named after the three germ layers of embryonic development: the endoderm, (develops into the digestive tract), the mesoderm, (becomes muscle, heart and blood vessels), and the ectoderm (forms the skin and nervous system).
In his 1954 book, Atlas of Men, Sheldon categorised all possible body types according to a scale ranging from 1 to 7 for each of the three "somatotypes", where the pure "Endomorph" is 7–1–1, the pure "Mesomorph" 1–7–1 and the pure "Ectomorph" scores 1–1–7. From type number, an individual’s mental characteristics could supposedly be predicted.
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Sheldon’s “somatotypes” and their supposed associated psychological traits can be summarised as follows:
The idea that these general body-types may correlate with general psychological types did not originate with Sheldon. In general outline it resembles ideas found, for instance, in the tridosha system of Ayurveda in the Bhagavad Gita and Plato's "Republic" and propounded in the twentieth century by George Gurdjieff. In addition, Friedrich Nietzsche says that "nature...distinguishes" three different physiological body types, which correspond to a Republic-esque hierarchy.1 Sheldon's ideas may also owe something to Aristotle's concept of the soul.citation needed
Roughly the three corresponding personality types proposed by Sheldon are somewhat akin to Jung's categorisation of thinking, feeling and sensing types. As such they correspond quite closely to popular stereotypes of the skinny nerd, the jolly fat man, the slow-witted tough guy.
There is evidence that different physiques carry cultural stereotypes. For example, one study found that endomorphs are likely to be perceived as slow, sloppy, and lazy. Mesomorphs, in contrast, are typically stereotyped as popular and hardworking, whereas ectomorphs are often viewed as intelligent but fearful.2 Stereotypes of mesomorphs are generally much more favorable than those of endomorphs. Stereotypes of ectomorphs are somewhat mixed.
The three body type descriptions could be modulated by body composition, which can be altered by specific diets and training techniques. In a famine a person who was once considered an endomorph may begin to instead resemble an ectomorph, while an athletic mesomorph may begin to look more like an endomorph as he ages and loses muscle mass. However, some aspects of the Somatotype cannot be changed: muscle and adipose mass may change but the bone structure is a fixed characteristic. In the same way, cultural conditions might mask a tendency to one or another temperament.
Sheldon failed to produce a personality test that supported his notions statistically. His research did show that a predisposition towards criminality might be influenced by a somatotype high in mesomorphy and intermediate in ectomorphy. In contrast, a predisposition towards suicidality might be influenced by a somatotype high in ectomorphy, and ectomorphs were found to be more common in mental institutions. These tendencies might be taken to support a theory of the aggressive and the nervous temperament, but no coherent demonstration of Sheldon's ready-made thesis has been forthcoming.
Sheldon's theories had popularity through the 1950s, influencing Abraham Maslow, Aldous Huxley and Robert S de Ropp.The majority of scientists today generally consider such theories outdated.citation needed Some found the idea of somatotypes reminiscent of eugenics and racial hygiene, they went against the fashionable emphasis on nurture, presenting a ready-made paradigm that had strong resonances with mystical thought.
Sheldon's 4,000 photographs of naked Yale undergraduates and other similar photographs were destroyed.34
The words endomorphic, mesomorphic and ectomorphic are still sometimes used to describe body types, as for example in association with weight training aimed at gaining muscle, but interest in this kind of correlation between physiology and psyche remains largely the province of the occult philosopher. The psycho-somatic linkage is fairly simplistic and is seen as undemonstrated in physiological science, but the account of somatotypes is still probably a valid, if limited, way to sort basic body types. Advanced triploblastic animals, such as mammals, or modern humans in particular, do have these three basic tissue layers.
Different versions of the notion are attracting new interest. Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan has convincingly shown the existence of inborn temperament across diverse cultures, linking cardinal traits to neurochemical activation patterns involving the autonomic nervous system.citation needed Antonio Damasio's theory of frontal lobe function, the somatic markers hypothesis, posits goal-directed behavior as primarily directed by heavy somatosensory input from the internal milieu.citation needed It is not a large leap to consider a role for different patterns of somatosensory input in persons with different body types.citation needed
Sheldon himself was more a behavioral psychologist than either an anatomist or a physiologist. His behavioral conclusions were based largely on interviews which he or his students carried out over a long span of time, and the actual psychometric data was often more suggestive than conclusive. The prevalence of kindred ideas in folklore and spiritual philosophy, though, suggests that ideas similar to Sheldon's will continue to be held until they are conclusively proven or disproven.
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