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Physiognomy: Evaluating Personality Or Character Based On Physical Appearance

EnolaGaia

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Physiognomy (from the Greek φύσις physis meaning "nature" and gnomon meaning "judge" or "interpreter") is a practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. It is often linked to racial and sexual stereotyping. ...

Credence of such study has varied. The practice was well accepted by the ancient Greek philosophers, but fell into disrepute in the Middle Ages when practised by vagabonds and mountebanks. It was then revived and popularised by Johann Kaspar Lavater before falling from favour again in the late 19th century. Physiognomy as understood in the past meets the contemporary definition of a pseudoscience. ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy
 
Here's some research results indicating a person's personality or character can't be reliably discerned by studying his / her face. A genetics survey identified a number of gene locations that influence both brain and facial development, demonstrating correlations between face and brain shapes. However, the researchers found nothing to suggest there were any demonstrable connections or correlations between facial features and cognitive development or capacities.

The face may yield clues to the shape of the brain, but not the mind ...
Genetic Link Discovered Between Face and Brain Shape

An interdisciplinary team led by KU Leuven and Stanford has identified 76 overlapping genetic locations that shape both our face and our brain. What the researchers didn’t find is evidence that this genetic overlap also predicts someone’s behavioral-cognitive traits or risk of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. This means that the findings help to debunk several persistent pseudoscientific claims about what our face reveals about us. ...

To study genetic underpinnings of brain shape, the team applied a methodology that Peter Claes and his colleagues had already used in the past to identify genes that determine the shape of our face. ...

For the current study, the team relied on these previously acquired insights as well as the data available in the UK Biobank, a database from which they used the MRI brain scans and genetic information of 20,000 individuals. Claes: “... Our specific focus was on variations in the folded external surface of the brain ... We then went on to link the data from the image analyses to the available genetic information. This way, we identified 472 genomic locations that have an impact on the shape of our brain. 351 of these locations have never been reported before. To our surprise, we found that as many as 76 genomic locations predictive of the brain shape had previously already been found to be linked to the face shape. This makes the genetic link between face and brain shape a convincing one.” ...

At least as important is what the researchers did not find, says Dr. Sahin Naqvi from the Stanford University School of Medicine ... “We found a clear genetic link between someone’s face and their brain shape, but this overlap is almost completely unrelated to that individual’s behavioral-cognitive traits.”

Concretely: even with advanced technologies, it is impossible to predict someone’s behavior based on their facial features. Peter Claes continues: “Our results confirm that there is no genetic evidence for a link between someone’s face and that individual’s behavior. Therefore, we explicitly dissociate ourselves from pseudoscientific claims to the contrary. For instance, some people claim that they can detect aggressive tendencies in faces by means of artificial intelligence. Not only are such projects completely unethical, they also lack a scientific foundation.” ...

FULL STORY: https://scitechdaily.com/genetic-link-discovered-between-face-and-brain-shape/
 
Here are the bibliographic details and abstract from the newly published research.

Naqvi, S., Sleyp, Y., Hoskens, H. et al.
Shared heritability of human face and brain shape.
Nat Genet (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-021-00827-w

Abstract
Evidence from model organisms and clinical genetics suggests coordination between the developing brain and face, but the role of this link in common genetic variation remains unknown. We performed a multivariate genome-wide association study of cortical surface morphology in 19,644 individuals of European ancestry, identifying 472 genomic loci influencing brain shape, of which 76 are also linked to face shape. Shared loci include transcription factors involved in craniofacial development, as well as members of signaling pathways implicated in brain–face cross-talk. Brain shape heritability is equivalently enriched near regulatory regions active in either forebrain organoids or facial progenitors. However, we do not detect significant overlap between shared brain–face genome-wide association study signals and variants affecting behavioral–cognitive traits. These results suggest that early in embryogenesis, the face and brain mutually shape each other through both structural effects and paracrine signaling, but this interplay may not impact later brain development associated with cognitive function.

SOURCE: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-021-00827-w
 
During my police service (1974-2004) there were some forms with which l dealt where the only description required of the applicant was his height. This was because of a lingering vestige of the beliefs of Cesare Lombroso, an Italian scientist who, in the Victorian and Edwardian era, conducted research into what he named “criminology”.

Lombroso believed that one could identify criminals simply from certain physical characteristics or traits, one of them being their height. Shorter people, he theorised, were more likely to be criminals. He described shortness as a “degenerative marker”.

1411px-Schaeffer-Holzwarenhaendler-1905.jpg


Pedlar, 1905

The police form l distinctly remember as having associations with echoes of Lombroso was the application for a Pedlar’s Certificate. In my force, during my service, the only description of the application required, was his height. This was presumably because pedlars have historically been regarded as suspect characters. l couldn’t comment, obviously...

maximus otter
 
During my police service (1974-2004) there were some forms with which l dealt where the only description required of the applicant was his height. This was because of a lingering vestige of the beliefs of Cesare Lombroso, an Italian scientist who, in the Victorian and Edwardian era, conducted research into what he named “criminology”.

Lombroso believed that one could identify criminals simply from certain physical characteristics or traits, one of them being their height. Shorter people, he theorised, were more likely to be criminals. He described shortness as a “degenerative marker”.

1411px-Schaeffer-Holzwarenhaendler-1905.jpg


Pedlar, 1905

The police form l distinctly remember as having associations with echoes of Lombroso was the application for a Pedlar’s Certificate. In my force, during my service, the only description of the application required, was his height. This was presumably because pedlars have historically been regarded as suspect characters. l couldn’t comment, obviously...

maximus otter
Being a tall person i absolutely agree with shortness as a degenerative marker. But we have all done it, haven’t we, we look a mugshots of criminals and say ‘he looks dodgy’ but it’s just because we know they are. Not because of their forehead shape or whatever
 
Being a tall person i absolutely agree with shortness as a degenerative marker. But we have all done it, haven’t we, we look a mugshots of criminals and say ‘he looks dodgy’ but it’s just because we know they are. Not because of their forehead shape or whatever
For sure. I can remember seeing a TV documentary about early photography wherein a portrait of a man posing as Christ was presented (stereotypical long hair/beard/startlingly bright eyes) who turned out to be a convicted criminal.

Wish I could see that again.
 
This sounds like profile discrimination.

I was tall, always had trouble finding a school desk to fit in at grade school ( in U.S. kindergarten through 5th ).

I felt I was a outcast.

My wife always said heavy people and old people are invisible, nobody wants to mingle with these people.

I have read that the Ancient Greeks had a certain standard what a “ normal “ person should look like.

Well, in the real world there is no standard of appearance.

An old cartoon character “ Popeye the Sailor Man “ always said I am what I am, and that is all I am.

Sadly, racial profiling is used all the time today.
 
The most (publicly known about) dangerous and powerful gangster in London is 6 foot 5.
 
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