9780198811398_Ch1

Chapter 1 Introduction to Personality Psychology 20

In his 1954 book Atlas of Men (see ‘Inside the Research’), Sheldon outlined the measurement system that assigned a three-digit somatotype on a scale of 1 to 7—each of the three digits referring to one of the three components of the physique mentioned by Sheldon. Under this system, an extreme endomorph would re ceive a score of 711, an extreme ectomorph would receive a score of 117, while an average person would receive a score of 444. Sheldon developed a 20-item list of traits that he believed distinguished three different categories of behaviour or temperaments. In apparent support of Sheldon’s theory, it was found, not surprisingly, that among prisoners there is a prev alence of muscular mesomorphs. We might assume, without much psychological or medical knowledge, that violent crimes are most suited to strong, muscular men, who might have to engage in physically challenging ac tivities to carry out crime. Frankly, what we are to make of the association of somatoform and criminal behaviour is anyone’s guess, but there are some fairly obvious candi dates (e.g. imprisoned criminals tend to be young males, were eventually used to illustrate Sheldon’s book on body types, the Atlas of Men . Thinking about this very peculiar practice in American universities, ask yourself: 1. If you were asked to participate in this peculiar form of research, would you agree? Elaborate your reasons. 2. Is it unethical (or immoral) to photograph students, even with their permission, for somatotype scien tific research? 3. Assuming systematic relationships (i.e. correla tions) between body type and psychological attri butes (e.g. occupational success in life) were found, would the direction of causation be obvious? More generally, what are the methodological problems with any such studies? 4. What might be some of the psychological con sequences of graduates, many of them now well known, realizing that there may be nude photos of them, somewhere?

The ectomorphic somatotype, also called cerebro tonic (related to thinking), is said to have personality traits opposite to that of the endomorph. They have narrow shoulders, thin legs and arms, little fat on the body, a narrow face, and a narrow chest. They are said to be self-conscious, rather private, introverted, inhib ited, quite intense, socially anxious, artistic, thought ful, quiet, and private. The mesomorphic somatotype, also called somato tonic (related to the body), has a body and personal ity traits that are intermediate between endomorphic and thin ectomorphic somatotypes. They tend to have broad shoulders with a narrow waist, and have a strong muscular body and strong arms and legs and little fat on the body. Mesomorphic people are said to be adventurous, courageous, assertive/bold, enjoy physical activity and are competitive; they are also said to have a need for power and to be dominant and are indifferent to what others think or want from them. Attesting to the evaluative labels imposed on these so matoforms, they are said to have an ‘attractive’ body. Data collection for William Herbert Sheldon’s somato type psychological studies took a very peculiar form, and one that would certainly not be permitted today. A New York Times (1995) article by Ron Rosenbaum chronicles the case of the ‘Ivy League nude posture pho tos’. These photos were taken in the 1940s through to the 1970s of incoming students at leading universities in the US (e.g. Harvard, Yale, Princeton)—ostensibly to measure the prevalence of rickets, scoliosis, and lordosis (disorders of the spine) in the population. The photos are black and white photographs of upright students in front, back, and side views with metal pins attached to their bodies (the skin was not pierced, but 4-inch metal pins were attached to the vertebrae with glue at regu lar intervals from the neck down). Subsequent publica tion of these photos would have been embarrassing to many of the students (e.g. George Bush, Meryl Streep, and Hillary Rodham) who later obtained prominent po sitions in government and society. At the time, students were not informed of what the photos would be used for, and a large number of the Harvard nude photos INSIDE THE RESEARCH

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© Oxford University Press

© Oxford University Press