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Somatotyping Theory.

Somatotyping theory links body physique to behavior and criminality, originating from Ernst Kretschmer's classification of body types: asthenic, athletic, and pyknic, which he associated with various psychiatric disorders. William H. Sheldon expanded on this with his own somatotypes, suggesting that mesomorphs are more prone to illegal behavior, while Earnest A. Hooton examined the relationship between physical characteristics and criminality, proposing that body shape could predict the type of crime committed. Hooton believed that biological predispositions influence deviant behavior and advocated for the removal of criminals from society.

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30 views4 pages

Somatotyping Theory.

Somatotyping theory links body physique to behavior and criminality, originating from Ernst Kretschmer's classification of body types: asthenic, athletic, and pyknic, which he associated with various psychiatric disorders. William H. Sheldon expanded on this with his own somatotypes, suggesting that mesomorphs are more prone to illegal behavior, while Earnest A. Hooton examined the relationship between physical characteristics and criminality, proposing that body shape could predict the type of crime committed. Hooton believed that biological predispositions influence deviant behavior and advocated for the removal of criminals from society.

Uploaded by

Js Deohj
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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SOMATOTYPING THEORY

Somatotyping is a theory which associates body physique to behavior and


criminality; it began with the work of German psychiatrist neurologist, psychopathologist,
Ernst Kretschmer (1888-1964) who constituted three principal types of body physiques

1) The asthenic-lean, slightly built, narrow shoulders;

2) The athletic-medium to tall, strong, muscular, coarse bones, and

3) Pyknic-medium height, rounded figure, massive neck and broad face (Adler et al., 2010).
Since Kretschmer was a psychiatrist, he related these body shapes to various psychiatric
disorders: pyknics to manic depression. Manic depression according to Merriam-
Webster's Dictionary refers to any of several psychological disorders of mood
characterized usually by alternating episodes of depression and mania. It is also known as
bipolar disorder. On the other hand, he related asthenics and athletics to schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that is characterized by disturbances in thought (such
as delusions), perception (such as hallucinations), and behavior (such as disorganized
speech or catatonic behavior), by a loss of emotional responsiveness and extreme apathy,
and by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in everyday life. It is also called
dementia praecox (Merriam-Webster's Dictionary).
• William H. Sheldon, Jr.
• Kretschmers work was brought to the United States, William H. Sheldon, Jr.
(1898-1977) an American psychologist and physician who devised his own group of
somatotypes: the endomorph, mesomorph and the ectomorph. According to Sheldon,
people with predominantly mesomorph traits (physically powerful, aggressive and
athletic physiques) tend more than others to be involved in illegal behavior (Adler et al.,
2010).
• Earnest A. Hooton
• He examined the relationship between personality and physical type, with regards to
criminal behavior. Hooton (1887-1954) an American physical anthropologist believed in
Cesare Lombroso's theory of the borm criminal, according to which criminals could be
identfied based on their physical characteristics. Through his own research surveying
American criminals, Hooton tried to find evidence supporting Lombroso s theory,
suggesting that criminals have inferior characteristics compared to people who do not
commit crimes, He classified those characteristics into sociological, psychological physical,
morphological, and pathological areas. For example, according to Hooton:

 criminals are less often married and more often


 divorced criminals often have tattoos
 criminals have thinner beards and body hair, and their hair is more often reddish-brown and
straight
 criminals often have blue-gray or mixed colored eyes, and less often dark or blue eyes
 criminals have low sloping foreheads, high nasal bridges, and thin lips
 criminal's ears often have rolled helix and a perceptible Darwin's point
• He suggested that human somatotype (body shape and physique) can
even determine which type of crime a person will commit: tall-
slender men are predisposed for murder and robbery; tall-medium
heavy men for forgery; tall-heavy men for first-degree murder,
medium height-heavy for antisocial behavior, short-slender for
burglary and larceny; short-medium heavy For arson; while short-
heavy men for sex offenses. Since he believed that biological
predispositions determine deviant behavior. (Hooton advocated the
removal of criminals from society, seeing no hope in their
rehabilitation

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