CONSTITUTIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:The Structure of Physique, Evaluation

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SHELDON’S SOMATOTYPE THEORY:The Structure of Physique >>

Personality Psychology PSY 405

Lesson 17

CONSTITUTIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Constitutional psychology looks at the physique or soma or body type as possible explanation of human

behavior.

Sheldon's Somatotype Theory

Sheldon looks at the physique or body type (soma) for the explanation of human behavior.

Sheldon defines:

1- A discrete Number of Physical

2- Temperamental variables that he considers of primary importance in representing human behavior.

A complete description of the process of somatotyping the male body is contained in Sheldon's Atlas of

men (1954) which includes representative somatotype photographs of over one thousand men derived from

a total sample of 46,000 photographs.

The physical measurements provide ratings for the five different areas of the body: head-neck, chest-trunk,

arms, stomach-trunk, and legs.

Core Concepts of Sheldon's Theory

1- The Structure of Physique

Dimensions of Physique

Primary Components of Physique

1- Endomorphy

2- Mesomorphy

3- Ectomorphy

2-The Secondary Components

Dysplasia.

Female Somatotyping

3- The Analysis of Behavior (Personality)

Dimensions of Temperament

Primary Components of Temperament

4- The Relation of Physique to Behavior (Personality )

1-Factors Mediating the Physique- Temperament Association

2-Biological and Genetic Orientation

3-Unconscious Processes

5- Characteristic Research and Research Methods

1-Physique and Mental Disorder

2-Physique and Delinquency

6-Evaluation

Sheldon's Constitutional Psychology

The constitutional psychologist is one who looks to the biological substratum of the individual for factors

that are important to the explanation of human behavior.

Sheldon's Constitutional Psychology

Personality Psychology PSY 405

Theories that suggest a relation between physique and behavior antedate by many centuries the birth of

academic psychology. Not only did these formulations begin in the dim past but more surprisingly many of

them show a remarkable correspondence to formulations that are still popular. The individual who is

generally credited with having begun work in this area is Hippocrates who suggested not only a typology of

physique but also a temperament typology and a conception of humors that is highly congruent with the

current emphasis upon the importance of endocrine secretions as determinants of behavior. He suggested a

twofold classification of physiques, dividing subjects into those who were short and thick and those who

were long and thin.

In the measurement of physique Kretschmer was surprisingly systematic and painstaking. As the result

of it, Kretschmer arrived at a conception of three fundamental types of physiques.

1-The first type is called asthenic and refers to a frail, linear physique.

2-The second physique type is the athletic which a muscular vigorous physique is.

3-The third type is the pyknic physique which is characterized by plumpness.

In addition to the three types outlined above an additional type was added-the dysplastic. This includes the

small group of cases where There are strikingly deviant aspects to the individual's build so that they appear

to even the casual observer as "rare, surprising and ugly."

Ernst Kretschmer provides an indispensable backdrop against which Sheldon's formulations and

procedures evolved. Although it is true that Sheldon's work is vastly superior in many respects to that of

his predecessors, it is unlikely that his achievements could have been accomplished without the imaginative

and painstaking efforts of these earlier figures

William H. Sheldon

Sheldon was born in the year 1899 in Warwick, Rhode Island, where he grew up in a farm setting. The

rural atmosphere of his early life and his close relationship with his father, who was a naturalist and animal

breeder, had a lasting effect upon his values and upon his view of human behavior.

Sheldon's professional writings follow a remarkably consistent main stream. With only two interesting

excursions, they represent an attempt to identify and describe the major structural components of the

human body (The varieties of human physique, 1940), the major components of temperament (The

varieties of temperament, 1942), and the application of these findings to the area of delinquency (Varieties

of delinquent youth, 1949). Sheldon returned to the problem of description of physique in his Atlas of men

(1954) and several other publications. Up until the time of his death Sheldon was actively working on an

"Atlas of Women," an "Atlas of Children," and a volume concerned with physique and organic disease.

In Sheldon's theory we find a clear and vigorous exposition of the crucial importance of the physical

structure of the body as a primary determinant of behavior. Moreover, he identifies a set of objective

variables that can be used as a bridgehead for describing physique and behavior. Furthermore, his

techniques for assessing the structural characteristics of the body involve the use of standard photographs

and a much more carefully specified and reproducible procedure than that of his predecessors.

1-The Structure of Physique

One of the fascinations of Sheldon's theory of personality lies in its simplicity and specificity. Sheldon

defines a discrete number of physical and temperamental variables that he considers of primary importance

in representing human behavior.

Dimensions of Physique

Primary Components of Physique

After a considerable period of carefully examining and judging these pictures Sheldon and his associates

concluded that, with a list of three, they had exhausted the possibilities of discovering new components.

These three dimensions became the core of the technique for assessing the physical structure of the body.

The first component was endomorphy. The individual who is high in this component and low in both of the

Personality Psychology PSY 405

others is characterized by softness and a spherical appearance. Consistent with the softness and rounded

quality is an underdevelopment of bone and muscle and a relatively low surface-mass ratio. Such an

individual has a low specific gravity and floats high in the water. The fact that the digestive viscera are

highly developed in this physique and that the functional elements of those structures develop primarily

from the endodermal embryonic layer accounts for the use of the term endomorphy.

The second component was referred to as mesomorphy. A physique heavily developed in this component,

and showing a decrement in both the other components, is hard and rectangular, with a predominance of

bone and muscle. The mesomorphic body is strong, tough, resistant to injury, and generally equipped for

strenuous and exacting physical demands. The athlete, adventurer, or professional soldier might best be

endowed with this type of physique. The dominant portions of this physique have derived primarily from

the mesodermal embryonic layer, hence the term mesomorphic.

The third component was labeled ectomorphy. An individual who is at the upper extreme in this component

and low in the other components is linear and fragile, characterized by flatness of the chest and delicacy of

the body. He is usually thin and lightly muscled. Relative to his mass the ectomorph has more surface area

than the other types of physique; he shows a preponderance of surface over mass. He also has the largest

brain and central nervous system in proportion to his size. From this, Sheldon reasons that his physique is

made up, more so than the other physiques, of tissues that have derived from the ectodermal embryonic

layer. The ectomorph, because of his large proportionate surface area, is overexposed to external

stimulation.

The physical measurements not only lead to an over-all score for each of the components; they also provide

ratings for these components for five different areas of the body: head-neck, chest-trunk, arms, stomach-

trunk, and legs. A complete description of the process of somatotyping the male body is contained in

Sheldon's Atlas of men (1954) which includes representative somatotype photographs of over one thousand

men derived from a total sample of 46,000 photographs.

In his major publication of recent years, Sheldon has presented (Sheldon, Lewis, and Tenney, 1969) a full

discussion of these basic somatotype variables together with a series of tables (The Basic Tables for

Objective Somatotyping) that permit one to establish the correct somatotype given scores on the three

variables. An abbreviated version of this monograph (Sheldon, 1971) provides the historical context of this

work and a brief summary of the new procedure.

The somatotype of the individual is the patterning of the primary components of physique as expressed by

three numerals derived from the seventeen measures mentioned above, or some equivalent set of

operations, viewed against an adequate history of the individual. The first of these numerals always refers

to endomorphy, the second to mesomorphy, and the third to ectomorphy. The numerals range from 1 to 7

with J representing the absolute minimum of the component and 7 the highest possible amount. Thus, an

individual rated 7-1-1 is extremely high in endomorphy and very low in mesomorphy and very low in

ectomorphy. An individual rated 4-6-1 is about average in endomorphy and very high in mesomorphy but

markedly deficient in ectomorphy.

2-The Secondary Components

One of the most important of the secondary components is dysplasia. Borrowing the term from Kretschmer,

Sheldon uses it to refer to "any inconsistent or uneven mixture of the three primary components in different

regions of the body" (1940, p. 68). Thus, it is a measure of disharmony between different areas of the

physique, for example, head and neck of one somatotype and legs of another. The measure of dysplasia is

arrived at by taking the separate somatotype ratings for the five regions of the body and summing the

differences for each of the components among the five areas of the body. In other words, it represents the

amount of discrepancy in the somatotype as computed for each of the five areas of the body. One can

derive separate dysplasia scores for each of the three components as well as a total score. Preliminary

findings indicate that there is more dysplasia associated with the ectomorphic component than with either

of the other two components, and also more dysplasia observed in the female physique than in the male

physique. Sheldon (1940) also reports that there is more dysplasia among psychotics than among college

students.

Female Somatotyping

Personality Psychology PSY 405

The bulk of the initial work that was done with Sheldon's physical dimensions was carried out with males.

In his first volume on physique Sheldon (1940) states that the evidence then available indicates that the

same seventy-six somatotypes seemed to occur among women as had been observed among men, although

probably with different frequencies. He also suggests that endomorphy, and endomorph, combined with

ectomorphy, are more common among women; while mesomorphy, and mesomorphy combined with en-

domorphy, are more common among men.

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