海外文化:英美民俗 顱相學
【英文原文】
摘要：顱相學的理論是由德國醫生加勒與他的學生斯帕津姆創建的，他們研究如何靠分析人頭骨的開頭來測定特定的性格與才能。顱相學一度被認爲是科學，但現在人們認爲它缺乏科學根據。
Phrenology is the practice of analyzing a person' s character by examining the shape of the skull. It was developed during the early 19th century by two German physicians. Fanz Joseph Gall and his student Johann Kaspar Spurzheim. Phrenology was once considered a science, but now we know the theory has no scientific basis. So it should be called a pseudoscience.
Phrenology was based on the belief that the brain is composed of many areas, each of which governs different character traits and intellectual abilities. Gall and Spurzheim believed a map could be made of the skull to show where these areas were. The strength or weakness of each trait or ability is determined by the size of the area where it is centered. They said they could tell whether a person was a musician, a poet, a businessman, a thief, or anything else, simply by feeling the bumps on the person' s head.
Phrenology became very popular in Western Europe and North America during the 19th century. Maps showing the different intellectual qualities centered in each of the brain' s areas were printed and sold in large numbers. Studies on phrenology continued to be popular until the early 20th century. Famous people who believed in phrenology included Queen Victoria of Britain, the American poets Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman.
Today, scientists know the shape of the skull does not correspond to the shape of the brain, and there is no evidence that particular character traits are centered in specific areas of the brain. Different parts of the brain have different functions, but the parts interact in a more complex way than phrenologists realized. Nevertheless, phrenology did help pave the way for the scientific study of personality, and thus for modern psychology.
【中文譯文】
顱相學的理論是由德國醫生加勒與他的學生斯帕津姆創建的，他們研究如何靠分析人頭骨的開頭來測定特定的性格與才能。顱相學一度被認爲是科學，但現在人們認爲它缺乏科學根據。
顱相學認爲，人的大腦可劃分爲許多區域，各個區域與不同的性格和能力相聯繫。加勒與斯帕津姆相信可以畫出一幅顱相圖來，指明各個區域的確切位置。各區域的突起或凹陷的程度決定某種性格的強弱和某種能力的大小。他們聲稱能夠靠觸摸人的頭骨猜測一個人是音樂家、詩人、商人、盜賊或是其他什麼人。
顱相學盛行於19世紀的歐美直至20世紀初。顱相圖一度發行量很大。英國維多利亞女王、美國詩人埃德加·愛倫·坡和沃爾特·惠特曼都是顱相學的信奉者。但面代科學證明，人的頭骨的形狀與大腦的形狀並不相符，也沒有證據證明人的性格與大腦的特定區域相關。大腦的不同區域確有不同的功能，但它們之間的聯繫遠比顱相學家想像的複雜得多。然而顱相學也並非一無是處。它對人格的研究爲現代心理學奠定了基礎。
