The Face as Diversity: What Was the Medical-Scientific Value of Lombrosian Morphoanthropology?

J Nerv Ment Dis. 2018 Dec;206(12):962-963. doi: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000000908.

Abstract

The face as an element of diversity. The ugliness of a face or a body and deformities were considered in 1800 as symbols of atavism, regression to being primates, or expression of inferior beings. The Italian physician Cesare Lombroso was the author of the concept of morphoanthropology, according to which the human being is judged on the basis of his or her physical connotations. The ugly person, with particular marks on his or her face and body, would be brought in as a criminal. Time has dissolved the value of Lombrosian theories, and scientific research has highlighted the influence of various factors in the genesis of crime. Genetic, biological, socioenvironmental factors, regulated by neurophysiology, which adds the effect of antagonism between the prefrontal cortex and the limbic cortex, explain the tendency to commit crime.

Publication types

  • Biography
  • Historical Article
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anthropology, Physical / history*
  • Biological Variation, Population*
  • Brain / anatomy & histology
  • Brain / physiology
  • Crime
  • Criminal Behavior / physiology
  • Face / anatomy & histology*
  • History, 19th Century
  • Humans
  • Limbic System / anatomy & histology
  • Limbic System / physiology
  • Prefrontal Cortex / anatomy & histology
  • Prefrontal Cortex / physiology
  • Primates
  • Risk Factors

Personal name as subject

  • Cesare Lombroso