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词汇 phrenology
释义

Definition of phrenology in English:

phrenology

noun frɪˈnɒlədʒifrəˈnɑlədʒi
mass nounhistorical
  • The detailed study of the shape and size of the cranium as a supposed indication of character and mental abilities.

    〈主史〉颅相学

    Example sentencesExamples
    • He finds himself drawn on a journey involving phrenology, the dodgy science of determining mental prowess from bumps on the head, involving a machine called a psychograph.
    • Once a lively ‘science’, phrenology disappeared because what it proposed was incorrect and hence irrelevant.
    • In Bentham's day, the cutting edge of brain science was phrenology - the idea that you could read someone's character by feeling the contours of his or her skull.
    • At this point, many no longer considered phrenology a legitimate science, and America was now looking to the most recent European import, the emerging field of psychoanalysis, to explain human behavior.
    • As the prototype for a normalizing physical anthropology, however, phrenology, with its value-laden stereotyping psycho-techniques, introduced new ethical problems.

Derivatives

  • phrenological

  • adjective frɪnəˈlɒdʒɪk(ə)lˌfrɛnəˈlɑdʒək(ə)l
    historical
    • These reports summarized the ethnic makeup of the United States, and included phrenological studies of different races.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • I'm studying women's phrenological characteristics.
      • The phrenological examiner also had to take into account the development of the ‘intellectual’ faculties relative to those that governed the ‘animal’ functions.
      • True, his working environment is near-Victorian, with polished walnut desk, silver candelabra and a porcelain phrenological head.
      • Other resources were in short supply as well: in 1887 the journal of the National Museum in Rio reported despondently on the difficulties of obtaining Indian skulls for phrenological research.
  • phrenologist

  • noun frɪˈnɒlədʒɪstfrəˈnɑlədʒəst
    historical
    • No one these days would argue such a thesis at length any more than they would pontificate on the brain-measuring taxonomies of 19th-century phrenologists who took the white man's superiority for granted.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • Professor Hubert, the eminent phrenologist and psychologist, delivered to a very large audience in the Central Hall of the Exhibition Buildings, a lecture entitled ‘How to read men and women at a glance.’
      • Instead of countering these puny charges, let me just say that these allegations of inferior innards recall those of the phrenologists and racial purists in one of the darkest eras of modern history.
      • His death mask, which showed him to have had a sharply receding forehead, created problems for nineteenth century phrenologists since it ‘left no room for the organ of causality’.
      • Eventually it became fashionable to have a reading done by the famous phrenologists, and many celebrities of the day had their heads examined, including Julia Ward Howe, Clara Barton, Hiriam Powers, Theodore Weldand, and Edwin Forrest.

Origin

Early 19th century: from Greek phrēn, phren- 'mind' + -logy.

Definition of phrenology in US English:

phrenology

nounfrəˈnäləjēfrəˈnɑlədʒi
historical
  • The detailed study of the shape and size of the cranium as a supposed indication of character and mental abilities.

    〈主史〉颅相学

    Example sentencesExamples
    • He finds himself drawn on a journey involving phrenology, the dodgy science of determining mental prowess from bumps on the head, involving a machine called a psychograph.
    • As the prototype for a normalizing physical anthropology, however, phrenology, with its value-laden stereotyping psycho-techniques, introduced new ethical problems.
    • Once a lively ‘science’, phrenology disappeared because what it proposed was incorrect and hence irrelevant.
    • In Bentham's day, the cutting edge of brain science was phrenology - the idea that you could read someone's character by feeling the contours of his or her skull.
    • At this point, many no longer considered phrenology a legitimate science, and America was now looking to the most recent European import, the emerging field of psychoanalysis, to explain human behavior.

Origin

Early 19th century: from Greek phrēn, phren- ‘mind’ + -logy.

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