5 September, 2008

Body and Temperament Types

Posted by Socrates in anthropology, science, Socrates at 3:08 pm | Permanent Link

Sheldon’s work – linking body type with temperament/behavior – was too close to Nazism for the Jewish intellectuals in American universities. Others called his work pornographic:

[Article].


  • 5 Responses to “Body and Temperament Types”

    1. shabbos s. shabazz Says:
      5 September, 2008 at 4:42 pm

      Ready for the fight:

      http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00003/F_200703_March13Corin_3279a.jpg

    2. Zarathustra Says:
      6 September, 2008 at 1:59 am

      Hmmm. Sounds like another discredited pseudo-science to me, like phrenology.

    3. THoor Says:
      6 September, 2008 at 5:26 am

      Sheldon’s work on the three major somatotypes makes it plain that the ectomorphs (brainiacs) are skinny, despite the fact that they eat a lot.
      Jews are typically ectomorphs.

    4. jim donaldson Says:
      6 September, 2008 at 7:58 am

      From the wikipedia article on “Somatotype and Constitutional Psychology”, the reference section :

      “Nude Photos Are Sealed At Smithsonian”, New York Times (January 21, 1995). Retrieved on 2008-03-11. “The Smithsonian Institution has cut off all public access to a collection of nude photographs taken of generations of college students, some of whom went on to become leaders in American culture and government. The pictures at first were taken to study posture. Later they were made by a researcher examining what he believed to be a relationship between body shape and intelligence.”

      “The Great Ivy League Nude Posture Photo Scandal”, New York Times (January 15, 1995). Retrieved on 2008-03-11. “Shocking, because what he found was an enormous cache of nude photographs, thousands and thousands of photographs of young men in front, side and rear poses. Disturbing, because on closer inspection the photos looked like the record of a bizarre body-piercing ritual: sticking out from the spine of each and every body was a row of sharp metal pins.”

      “Nude Photos of Yale Graduates Are Shredded”, New York Times (January 29, 1995). Retrieved on 2008-03-11. “The Smithsonian Institution has destroyed nude photographs taken decades ago of Yale University students who were unaware the pictures were to be used in the pursuit of a form of science. The science has since been discredited.”

      First, the Smithsonian makes the claim (through the reporter) that the photos are “bizarre” and “disturbing”–in other words, the work of someone “mentally ill”; then they cut off access to the photos; then they destroy them. Why? Even if the photographed people (Yale students) are still living, these are posed photos–they knew they were photographed. And what reason could the Smithsonian have for destroying scientifically valuable photographs (even IF the reason they were taken is “discredited”)? This, from an institution that preserves the sets from “MASH”!
      My thoughts run toward the political.

    5. jim donaldson Says:
      6 September, 2008 at 8:02 am

      Re: “the photos looked like the record of a bizarre body-piercing ritual: sticking out from the spine of each and every body was a row of sharp metal pins.”
      According to everything I’ve read about this, Sheldon initially took the photos to study posture; pins attatched to the vertabrae would show deviations in alignment pretty easily. I doubt they were “pierced”–more likely stuck on with putty. But then, we’ll never know, will we.
      Now, who likes to suppress knowledge they fear?