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Did you know that … faces do not lie!

By etavares On 30 April, 2009 Open Space | 2009 Comments Off on Did you know that … faces do not lie! No tags

There is a technique or an art, as it is considered by some, of interpreting people’s character, personality and state of health through their faces, known as physiognomony (or physiognomy). Giovanni Battista Della Porta (1538-1615) and Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741-1801) were well-known physiognomists with impressive techniques of interpreting character and guessing the future, with works that were published and have been widely studied.


Figures taken from the book De Humana Physiognomonia by Giovanni Battista Della Porta.

However, these researchers were not the first physiognomists. Human faces had fascinated the peoples of Babylonia, the Egyptians and ancient China, were this art had emerged over 2,000 years ago as an aid to medicine.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was the first person to grant a scientific character to humans’ and animals’ expressions of emotion. In 1872 he drew up the general laws covering expression in the whole animal kingdom with his work The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Thus, throughout the centuries, investigators, scholars, doctors and scientists have used physiognomy in order to interpret and know a person. As an example, since the XVIII century some physiognomists have used their method to detect criminal characteristics, believing that certain physical features corresponded to certain mental perversions, yet this aspect do not survive modern analysis.

Although physiognomy still has connotations of charlatanism, the idea that physique and personality are linked cannot be completely rejected. Nowadays there is scientific proof that corroborates the relationship between bodily and facial characteristics and psychological ones. Research on the genetic and embryonic level confirms that genes play a predominant role in the development of the face. For example, Down’s syndrome, which, due to a chromosome alteration, is associated to easily identifiable facial characteristics.

“Faces don’t lie!” might be the motto of the physiognomists, who believe they can describe the personality of a person they do not know. We all have a little of the “physiognomist” in us, as who has never assessed or judged someone by their appearance? There is nothing scientific in this, only a purely human, rational and elementary reaction. We are quick to judge other people by their expressions. Indeed, as children we interpret our parents’ reactions by their faces, with this being the form of communication that is possible at a tender age. Sadness, joy, rage, disheartenment, passion, disappointment, etc., are feelings that it is difficult to disguise, because they are shown on a person’s face.

But physiognomy goes further; it is based not only on an analysis of the face, but on a set of signs visible on the body, head, skin, in the voice, on the hands, in the gestures, psychological state, etc., even resulting, in the area of medicinal physiognomy, in a diagnosis of several illnesses.

In other fields of this subject it is generally believed that an oval face, eye set apart and a large, wide forehead are synonymous with an imaginative person; low, narrow forehead indicates avarice; thick, clearly marked eyebrows indicate a strong personality; horizontal eyebrows, virility; round cheeks show strong ideas; straight nose with a rounded point means a good capacity for earning money; large mouth means frank, impulsive people; small mouth, not a very sensitive person; large earlobe, tendency to materialism; large eyes, calm but energetic person; small, round eyes, a curious person; a happy face reflects harmony and prosperity; etc… A quick check in the mirror will show us some of these characteristics, but, wait … Before turning to plastic surgery, I remind you that it is the physical and emotional interior that is reflected on the outside … Faces can’t lie, but neither can peace of mind!

 

Ana Silva (acsilva@fm.ul.pt)
Academic Nucleus
217985100 (Ext.: 41003)
Works and sites consulted:
Viagem ao Desconhecido, Selecções Reader’s Digest, 1999
http://papiros.bravehost.com/ciencias_ocultas/fisiognomia/Fisiognomia.html
http://www.leituraderosto.com.br/
Pictures taken from:
http://www.summagallicana.it/lessico/d/Della_Porta_Giambattista.htm
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin

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Index - News #5 | abr. 2009
 Message from the Director of the Faculty of Medicine
 Swearing-in of the Assembly of the Faculty and the Pedagogical Council
 The Evolution of the Curricular Reform of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon
 Competition for the Position of Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon
 Letter to a teacher at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon
 Visit to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon by Evaluators from the EUA
 Tutorial Clinical Practice in Tropical Medicina – Training Periods in Angola and Cape Verde
 Alumni Association of the Lisbon Faculty of Medicine – The Dynamic of an Association
 Studying Medicine at the FMUL – Candidate’s Day
 “Obesity in Portugal and in the World”
 Digital Repository
 Remodellings in our School
 Book of the Month
 Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon PhD Programme
 FMUL PhD in Neurosciences
 Academic Exams carried out at the FMUL
 Teacher Participation on Juries for Academic Assessment in other Institutions
 Did you know that … faces do not lie!
 Questionnaire evaluation of the news@fmul
 SYMPOSIUM SPPV 2009 – HPV PORTUGAL
 Researcher’s Night 2009
 XXXIV Genetics Colloquia
 Medicine Conference: Methods of Living – NANCY ANDREASEN
 FMUL 2009 Outdoor Event
 Bial Prize
 Ceremony of Awarding the Pulido Valente Teaching Prize 2009
 Crioestaminal Prize 2009
 University of Oporto Spring Course
 Workshop “VESALIUS – THE REDISCOVERY OF ANATOMY”
 Third Edition of Expo Health Portugal & Conferences
 Genomic Disorders, Disease-Associated Chromosome Rearrangements and Position Effect
 Food Bank Against Hunger – May Campaign 2009
 Rafting on the River Paiva
 III Course in Thanatology of the Sao Paulo University Faculty of Medicine
 Advanced Training Institute Post-Graduate Courses
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100 AnosPropriedade e Edição: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa NIPC: 502662875  Periodicidade: Mensal  Diretor: Prof. Doutor Fausto J. Pinto Conselho Editorial: Prof. Doutor Fausto J. Pinto, Profª. Doutora Ana Sebastião, Prof. Doutor Mamede de Carvalho, Prof. Doutor António Vaz Carneiro, Prof. Doutor Miguel Castanho, Dr. Luís Pereira  Equipa Editorial:  Ana Raquel Moreira, Cristina Bastos, Isabel Varela, Joana Sousa, Maria de Lurdes Barata, Rui Gomes, Sónia Teixeira  Colaboração:  Gabinete de Relações Públicas, Internacionais e Comunicação  Versão Inglesa: AP|PORTUGAL- Language Services  Conceção: Metatexto, Lda. e-mail: news@medicina.ulisboa.pt  Sede do Editor e Sede da Redação: Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz, 1649-028 Lisboa Estatuto Editorial Anotado na ERC 

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