Questionable Medical Devices: Phrenology Psychgraph (1931)
The terrifying colander fitted on this woman’s head is an artifact of pseudoscience. The device read the bumps on someone’s skull in an effort to determine personality traits and psychological conditions. This practice, called phrenology, believed each part of the brain controlled a specific personality trait. The bumps on someone’s head were the brain pushing out of the skull. This allegedly mapped ‘well developed’ traits in the individual.
In 1905, the patented psychograph helped phrenologists ‘read’ a patient’s personality. The patient would put the device on their head, and the sensors would rate each area of the skull (mapped to a specific personality trait) as “Deficient” to “Very Superior.” The readings would be printed out so the patient could see how their personality was defined. By the 1920s and 30s, as phrenology was relegated to a parlor trick. Psychometers became novelties found at department stores and theater lobbies.
