Somatotype
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The somatotypes are basic classifications of animal body types according to the prominence of different basic tissues types, roughly: digestive, muscular, and nervous tissues. They form the core of a theory, developed in the 1940s by American psychologist William Sheldon, associating body types with human temperament types. This linkage is fairly simplistic and is seen as outdated in physiological science, but the account of somatotypes is still probably a valid, if limited way to sort basic body types.
Somatotype theory
Using anthropometric methods Sheldon studied the photographed bodies of some 4,000 men from front view, side view, and back view. He concluded that the physique of men can be divided into the contribution of three fundamental elements: the somatotypes. He named his somatotypes after the three germ layers of embryonic development: the endoderm, that develops into the digestive tract, the mesoderm, that is to become muscle, heart and blood vessels, and the ectoderm that is to form the nervous system. Sheldon’s “somatotypes” and their associated psychological traits can be summarised as follows:
- The endomorphic body type is centered around the digestive system and is easily overweight. The endomorphic person also has a visceral temperament, which means that they are tolerant, love comfort and luxury, and are extroverted—in short he or she loves food and people. Stereotype: the “jolly fat person.”
- In July 2006, a study contradicted this stereotype, indicating that obese individuals in the United States were more likely to have been diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, and panic disorder/agoraphobia (PMID 16818872). Of note, they had a 25% lower lifetime risk of substance abuse.
- The mesomorphic body type is centered around muscle and the circulatory system and has well developed muscles. The mesomorphic person has a somatotonic temperament, and is courageous, energetic, active, dynamic, assertive, aggressive, competitive, and often a risk taker. Stereotype: the “jock” or “GI Joe.”
- The ectomorphic body type is centered around the brain and nerves. These people are slim and possibly underweight. The ectomorphic person has a cerebrotonic temperament, and is artistic, sensitive, apprehensive and highly self-aware. Another way to put it is that he or she is introverted and socially restrained. Stereotype: “effeminate artist” or “awkward nerd.”
Modern assessments
Some of this is useful general and human biology, if weak behavioral science. Advanced triploblastic animals, such as mammals, or modern humans in particular, do have these three basic tissue layers. If you disect a cadaver, and weigh the tissue broken down into the three layers of origin, you obtain results that support Sheldon’s thesis, but only to a degree. [[Citing sources citation needed]] Sheldon himself was more a behavioral psychologist than either an anatomist or a physiologist. His behavioral conclusions were based largely on conjecture and stereotype, and are not thought to have much if any validity. The physical traits are still a useful way of defining body types, and filtered of these conclusions, may provide a base-line for future research.Health danger from trying to change one’s body-type perception
Researchers have noted that many Americans growing up in and after the period of Sheldon’s work consciously tried to “morph” into a different somatotypic group. Nobody wanted to be the proverbial 98-pound weakling. Many slender men consciously “carbed up” to gain an unhealthful forty extra pounds so that they could look more like the stereotypical mesomorphic “jock.” These same men may now be more obese than they appear, or may have even died from the transformation. Seventy pounds over ideal weight for your true body type can be deadly. #redirectSheldon's body types in popular culture
The Chipmunk characters Alvin (mesomorph), Simon (ectomorph), and Theodore (endomorph) adhere strongly to Sheldon’s types in both mind and body.The words endomorphic, mesomorphic and ectomorphic are still sometimes used to describe body types, maybe especially in association with weight training aimed at gaining muscle. In some types of New Age there is an interest in this kind of correlation between physiology and psyche, but the majority of scientists today generally consider these theories from the 1930s and 1940s, outdated possibly because of politicial rather than rational reasons. Sheldon's theories arose during World War II and somatotypes were (falsely?) considered linked to the Nazi ideology of genetic cleansing and racial hygiene. Secular humanist psychologists dominated the discourse and advocated a purely environmental approach to personality development. Any interest in studying inborn temperament was quickly rejected as anti-democractic, or worse. Not surprisingly, behaviorism and psychoanalysis with their emphases on environmental shaping dominated. Sheldon's 4,000 photographs of nude Yale undergraduates were destroyed. A interesting footnote is that the collection included George H. W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, and many other famous political figures.
Sheldon's ideas about links between body type, temperament, and cognition are under revival because of the neurobiological revolution and development of new scientific methods. Sheldon's ideas were not original but a variation on an old idea, beginning with Aristotle's concept of the "vegetative soul". Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan has convincingly shown the existence of inborn temperament across diverse cultures, linking cardinal traits to neurochemical activation patterns involving the autonomic nervous system. Antonio Damasio's theory of frontal lobe function, the somatic marker theory, posits goal directed behavior as primarily directed by heavy somatosensory input from the internal milieu. It is not a large leap to consider a role for different patterns of somatosensory input in persons with different body types.
Sources
- Psychology and Life, 7 ed. by Richard Gerrig and Phillip G. Zimbardo
See also
External links
- [About William Sheldon at Age of the Sage]
- [On Jung and Sheldon in Tracking the Elusive Human]
- [At kheper.net, a web site dedicated to the new scientific and esoteric evolutionary paradigm concerning the nature of existence and its infinite metamorphoses]
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