What is Morphopsychology
Morphopsychology (or physiognomy) is the study of a face to determine the main features of one’s personality. It is essential to mention that it is not made to evaluate one person or to “rank” people. There is no good or bad, there is just different people and different styles, adapting differently to various situations.
Morphopsychology gives some clue about someone’s potential and about what would be easier for him/her to achieve. As some people like strawberries and others don’t, some people are naturally good at personal relationships and others need to work on it.
“We are all in a boat, we did not choose its size and its shape, we did not choose where the wind blows or where goes the current, but you can choose where you go”
Your face and your personality are your boat, where do you want to go?
Introduction
The relationship between face and personality was already used in Ancient Greece. Hyppocrates defines four types of temperaments based on the four humors of the body (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile), and his theory was used until the end of the Roman Empire. It was forgotten during the Middle Age and was reinvented during the 20th century mainly in France, with the work of Claude Sigaud, Louis Corman, and Edward Laidrich.
Louis Corman was the first to define the law of expansion / conservation: All living being tends to expand when the environment is favorable and tends to huddle up when it is not. Our face, being the host of the nervous system and of most of our sensorial organs, is also the part of the body which interacts the most with the external world, and that’s why it responds so well with the law of expansion / conservation. For example : If you look at the development of the human body, you note that at birth the baby’s face is all round and plain marking the maximal expansion phase. At an advanced age the face is irregular with a thin skin, marking the conservation phase. An adult individual with “round and plain” features on its face shows similarities with the behavior of a young child (sleeps well, is quick to laugh and to get angry, forgives easily, acts before thinking) whereas “irregularities and a thin skin” on an adult’s face indicates a more mature mind (does not give in easily, hold grudges, thinks before acting). All variations in the middle are possible of course… that’s the beauty of it.
Why use it ?
For personal and professional reasons: Knowing your strength and your area of development give you a better understanding of yourself and of your potential. Knowing the features of your personality helps you work on it. It is an incredible tool for self-development.
Is it an art or a science ?
A bit of both. It has laws (such as expansion / conservation above) but it is subject to the interpretation of the morphopsychologist, so it does not really fit to the requirements of a science. Anyway the “craft” of morphopsychology is still in progress.
Does beauty or symmetry matter?
No it does not. As indicating before, there is no good and bad. However, we will look at the global balance of the face: Is there a balance between expansion and conservation? If not, the individual will spent more energy trying to compensate.
Does plastic surgery matter?
Yes it does. If the surgery has changed the shape of your face, it can impact the portrait.