THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS

A few years ago we were content to guess, to follow tradition, and to charge up to the caprices of fate or an all-wise Providence the failures we experienced as a result of our ignorance. Then someone, less bound by tradition than the average, discovered that exact knowledge was obtainable about most subjects. Scientific research took the place of guess-work or mere haphazard leaps in the dark. We began to observe, classify, measure, weigh, test, and record, instead of guess. Thus science was born.

As far back as human records go men have made observations upon others, have formed certain conclusions as a result of these observations, and have recorded them. Some were accurate and valuable; others merely ludicrous and misleading. Tens of thousands of men and women have attempted to analyze human character, but most of them became lost in a maze of apparent contradictions and gave up in despair, content to follow impression and intuition. Though they became discouraged and abandoned the field, each of these workers contributed something of value to the subject, and to-day we have a science of character analysis exact enough to add very greatly to our wisdom in dealing with humanity and its problems.

LIMITATIONS OF THE SCIENCE

We do not wish you to misunderstand our claims for the science. Character analysis is not a science in the mathematical sense. As we said in our introduction, we cannot place a man on the scales and determine that he has so many milligrams of industry, or apply measurements and prove that he has so many centimeters of talent for salesmanship. Nor can we, using the method of the chemist, apply the litmus to his stream of consciousness and get his psychical reaction in a demonstrable way. We are glad we cannot, else humanity might lose the fine arts of coquetry and conquest. Perhaps we never shall be able to do these things, but that is small cause for discouragement. What we do claim for the science of character analysis is that it is classified knowledge based upon sound principles; that it is as accurate as the science of medicine; that it can be imparted to others; and, best of all, that anyone can test it for himself beyond any question of doubt.

TESTS SHOW UNTRAINED JUDGMENT UNRELIABLE

“Oh, I’m a pretty good judge of men,” people say to us. We have heard this declaration thousands of times in the last seventeen years. Occasionally it was, no doubt, true, but more often not, even when the statement was made in the greatest sincerity. So we determined to test the ability of the public to analyze men. The first test appeared in a number of magazines, giving a profile and full-face view, showing the hands of a young man. A few simple questions were asked concerning him, such as these:

“Would you employ this man?

“If so, would you employ him as salesman, executive, cashier, clerk, chemist, mechanic?

“Is he healthy, honest, industrious, aggressive?

“Would you choose him as a friend?”

Of 5,000 replies but 4.1 per cent were right or nearly right. Some of the replies were astounding. One manager of a big business wrote: “This man would be an exceptionally honest and trustworthy cashier or treasurer.” One sales manager replied: “I would like to have this man on my sales force. He would make a hummer of a salesman, if I am any judge of men. His hands are identical with my own,” etc., etc. But the climax was reached with this letter from a young lady: “He would be a devoted husband and father. I would like him as a friend.”

Our own analysis of this man, from photographs on a test, was as follows:

“We would not employ this man.

“He is not healthy.

“He is intelligent.

“He is not honest.

“He is not industrious.

“He is aggressive in a disagreeable way.

“We would not choose him as a friend.

“John Doe is a natural mechanic who has had very little training in that line of work. Being exceedingly keen and intelligent, without right moral principles, he has used his natural mechanical ability in illegitimate lines.”

Here is a brief sketch of John Doe, furnished by a gentleman who befriended him and has followed his career for years:

“John is thirty-one years of age and has just been released from a term in Sing Sing Prison. The crime for which he served sentence was burglary. He made a skeleton key with which he gained access to a loft where were stored valuable goods. He stole three thousand dollars worth of these from his employer. He admits that he has committed other crimes of forgery and theft. Perhaps the cleverest of these was forgery which was never discovered. He is exceedingly friendly and makes friends easily. He is, however, very erratic and irritable in disposition and often quarrelsome. He is a fair example of a common type which has intelligence and skill but has not learned to direct his activities along constructive lines.”

A more complicated advertisement followed this first one, giving the portraits of nine men, each successful in his chosen work because well fitted for it by natural aptitude as well as by training. People were asked to state the vocation of each. Out of 4,876 replies but three were correct.

SOME FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS

Surely, when the untrained judgment of intelligent people goes so wide of the mark, it is worth while to inquire whether or not science can come to the rescue. Perhaps a brief examination of some well-established truths about human beings will aid in finding an answer to our query.

The science of character analysis by the observational method is based upon three very simple scientific truths:

First, man’s body is the product of evolution through countless ages, and is what it is to-day as the result of the combined effect upon it of heredity and environment.

Second, man’s mind is also the product of evolution through countless ages, and is what it is to-day as the result of the effect upon it of the same heredity and the same environment as have affected his body.

Third, man’s body and man’s mind profoundly affect each other in all of their actions and reactions and have affected each other through all the centuries of their simultaneous evolution.

EVOLUTION OF BLONDES AND BRUNETTES

Men’s bodies differ from one another in many ways. A little scientific investigation soon proves to us that these differences are the result of differences in heredity and environment. Men’s minds differ from one another in countless ways. Scientific investigation also proves that these mental differences, or differences in character, are also the result of differences in heredity and environment.

For example, people whose ancestors, through countless ages, lived in the bright sunlight and tropical luxuriance of the warmer climes, have dark eyes, dark hair, and dark skin because nature found it necessary to supply an abundance of pigmentation in order to protect the delicate tissues of the body from injury by the actinic rays of the sun. The same soft luxuriance of their environment has made these people slow, easy-going, hateful of change, introspective, philosophical and religious. On the other hand, people whose ancestors dwelt for centuries in the cold, dark, cloudy and foggy climate of Northwestern Europe have less need for pigmentation and are, therefore, flaxen-haired, blue-eyed and white-skinned.

The hardships and rigors of this Northern climate made these people aggressive, active, restless, fond of variety, and, because of their fierce struggle for existence, exceedingly practical, matter-of-fact, and material.

WHY NOSES DIFFER IN SIZE AND SHAPE

Another example illustrates this truth clearly: The type of human nose evolved in warm, humid climates is low and flat, with large, short passageways directly to the lungs. People living in such a climate have little need for great energy and activity, since there is food in abundance all around them. On the other hand, the type of nose evolved in a cold, dry climate is high in the bridge, with thin nostrils, so that the air may be both warmed and moistened before reaching the lungs. People living in such a climate have great need for activity, both in order to secure the means of subsistence and in order to keep themselves warm. Thus we find that the low, flat nose is everywhere the nose of indolence and passivity, while the large nose, high in the bridge, is everywhere an indication of energy and aggressiveness.

WHY SOME HEADS ARE HARD, OTHERS SOFT

In brief, then, darkness of color is not the cause of deliberation and conservatism, but both darkness of color and conservatism are results of the same causes, namely, a heredity and environment which produce these characteristics. Blonde coloring is not a cause of restless activity, but both the color and the activity are the result of evolution in a cold, dark, rigorous climate.

A striking example of the working out of the three truths which we have given is seen in the consistency of the body. Hard hands, hard muscles, and, in general, a dense, compact, unyielding consistency of fiber, are both inherited and acquired as the result of hard physical labor and the enduring of hardships. As is well known, those who spend their lives in grinding toil in the midst of hard conditions care little for the finer sentiments and sympathies of life. They have no time for them, no energy left for them. By the very necessities of their lot they are compelled to be hostile to change, free from all extravagance, and largely impervious to new ideas. Therefore, wherever we find hardness of consistency we find a tendency to narrowness, parsimony, conservatism, and lack of sympathy. Looking at this fact from a little different angle, we see that, since the body affects the mind and the mind the body so profoundly, the body of hard fiber, being impervious to physical impressions, will yield but slowly and meagerly to those molecular changes which naturally accompany emotional response and intellectual receptivity.

These are but a few examples of the truths upon which the science of character analysis by the observational method is based. Many others may occur to you. Many others have been observed, traced and verified in our work upon this science.

A BRIEF RECAPITULATION

Briefly recapitulating, we see that for every physical difference between men there is a corresponding mental difference, because both the physical differences and the mental differences are the result of the same heredity and environment. We see, further, that these physical and mental differences are not only results of the same environment affecting the individual through his remote ancestry, but that they are tied together by cause and effect in the individual as he stands to-day.

BASIS OF CLASSIFICATION

We have told you that the science of character analysis is classified knowledge. It is clear to you by this time that the knowledge which lies at the basis of this science is knowledge concerning physical and mental differences and their correspondences. In this science, therefore, since we are to observe physical differences and from them to determine differences in intellect, in disposition, in natural talents, in character in general, our first classification must deal with these physical differences.

Men differ from one another in nine fundamental ways These ways are: color, form, size, structure, texture, consistency, proportion, expression, and condition. Let us consider each of them briefly.

COLOR

Color is, perhaps, the most striking variable. You instantly observe whether a person is white or black, brown or yellow. Indeed, so striking are these variations that they were formerly the basis upon which humanity was divided into races.

We have already briefly touched upon the cause for pigmentation and the indications of differences in color. For many years anthropologists were at a loss to understand exactly why some men were black and others white. About twenty years ago, however, Von Schmaedel propounded the theory that pigmentation in the hair, eyes and skin was Nature’s way of protecting the tissues from injury by the actinic or ultra-violet rays of the sun, which destroy protoplasm. Following the enunciation of Von Schmaedel’s theory, prolonged experimentation was made by many anthropologists, chief among whom was our own late Major Charles E. Woodruff, of the U.S. Army. In Major Woodruff’s book, “The Effects of Tropical Light Upon White Men,” are to be found, set forth in a most fascinating way, evidences amounting almost to proof of the correctness of Von Schmaedel’s theory.

Since Major Woodruff’s book appeared, many other anthropologists have declared their acceptance of the theory, so that to-day we may assert with confidence that the black man is black because of the excessive sunlight of his environment, and that the white man is white because he and his ancestors did not need protection from the sun. Mountain climbers cover their faces and hands with a mixture of grease and lamp-black in order to prevent sunburn. When in India we wore actinic underwear, dark glasses, and solar topees to protect us from the excessive light.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BLONDES AND BRUNETTES

Now, in regard to differences in character between the dark races and the white races, you have only to consider the languorous air of the tropics and sub-tropics, the abundance of food, the small need for fuel, clothing and shelter in general, everything in the environment which tends to make man indolent and to give him plenty of time for introspection, philosophy, theology, and the occult.

The dweller in Northern climes has had to wrestle with rapid changes, demands for food, clothing, shelter and fuel, relative scarcity of all these and difficulty of securing them in short, nearly every possible element in his surroundings which would compel him to get out and hustle, to take an active interest in material things, to be constantly on the alert both mentally and physically in a word, to master and conquer his environment.

These are some of the differences between the dark and the white races. We find the same differences in proportion between blondes and brunettes in the white races.

HAVELOCK ELLIS ON BLONDES AND BRUNETTES

The noted anthropologist Havelock Ellis says, in regard to this:

“It is clear that a high index of pigmentation, or an excess of fairness, prevails among the men of restless and ambitious temperament; the sanguine, energetic men; the men who easily dominate their fellows and who get on in life, and the men who recruit the aristocracy and who doubtless largely form the plutocracy. It is significant that the group of low-class men artisans and peasants and the men of religion, whose mission in life it is to preach resignation to a higher will, are both notably of dark complexion; while the men of action thus tend to be fair, men of thought, it seems to me, show some tendency to be dark.”

The practical application of this truth is seen in the fact that the white races of the earth seem to have a genius for government, for conquest, for exploration, and for progress; while the dark races of the earth seem to have a genius for art, for literature, for religion, and for conservatism. Not long ago we read the conclusions of several anthropologists on this subject. One declared that the first men were undoubtedly brunette, and that the blonde was an abnormality and rapidly becoming extinct. Another was equally sure that the pure white blonde was a special creation but little lower than the angels, and that all the dark races were so colored by their sins. This is a matter upon which we hesitate to speculate. It would, however, be of some interest to know the respective coloring of these two investigators.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF LAW OF COLOR

Color has its commercial application. The active, restless, aggressive, variety-loving blonde is found in large proportions amongst speculators, promoters, organizers, advertising men, traveling salesmen; while the more stable and constant brunette predominates amongst the plodders, the planners, the scientists, the administrators, and the conservators. Even the poets bring out the difference. They sing of the fickle, light-hearted coquette with golden hair and azure eyes, and of the faithful, constant, true, undying affection of the lady with soft, brown eyes.

FORM

The second variable Form refers to form of face and features as seen in profile. The sharp face, with the long, pointed nose, prominent eyes, retreating forehead, prominent teeth and retreating chin, is the extreme convex form. The hammock-shaped face, with high, prominent forehead, flat brows, deep-set eyes, small snubbed or sway-back nose, retreating teeth and long, prominent chin, is the extreme concave in form of profile.

It would involve much dry, technical writing to explain in detail the scientific reasons why the extreme convex in profile indicates extreme energy, quickness, impatience, impulsiveness, keenness and alertness of intellect, and great rapidity in action. The large nose, high in the bridge, however, indicating, as you have already seen, great energy, is one of the scientific reasons for this. In a similar way it would take me too long to tell in detail why the extreme concave of profile indicates just the opposite qualities.

It is a scientific fact that that which is sharp is penetrating and moves quickly; that which is blunt is non-penetrating and of necessity moves slowly. The needle darts through the cloth more quickly than the bodkin. The greyhound is swifter than the bulldog. The stiletto does quicker work than the bludgeon. This, of course, is only a symbolism which may make vivid the truth that the convex man works more rapidly than the concave.

In commercial work, the man who is successful in positions requiring quick decision and quick action has a convex profile, while the man whose duties call for patience, deliberation, reflection, and the ability to plod should have some modification of the concave form of profile.

SIZE

It is an old saying that large bodies move slowly. It would be more scientifically correct to say that large bodies get under way slowly. Difference in physical size between men is important in many ways. If, as William James says, “the causes of emotion are indubitably physiological,” then the smaller the physical bulk which must be affected in order to have an intense emotion, the more quickly and easily is that intense emotion aroused.

Other things being equal, the small man is more excitable and becomes angry more easily than the large man. He also cools down more quickly. When the huge bulk of the big man becomes thoroughly aroused, thoroughly wrought up, it is time to get out of the way and stand from under.

STRUCTURE

Hall Caine, the novelist, has an immense head, a slender jaw, and a small, fragile body. James J. Jeffries, the pugilist, has a comparatively small head, a large jaw, and huge bones and muscles. Ex-President Taft has a comparatively small head, round face, round body, round arms and legs. These are differences in structure.

Hall Caine is of the mental type. He is by nature unfitted to be either a pugilist, a hammer-thrower, an explorer, a banker, or a judge. He is, however, pre-eminently fitted to dream dreams of truth and beauty, to construct those dreams into stories and plays. James J. Jeffries is by nature and physique fitted for the trade of boiler-maker, for the sport of pugilism, and for physical and manual accomplishment in general. Ex-President Taft is by nature and physique fitted to sit quietly in a big chair and direct the work of others, to administer affairs, to sit upon the bench and weigh impartially causes of dispute between his fellow men. As you see, these three are our old friends, the physically frail, the man of bone and muscle, and the fat man.

The assignment of vocation according to structure is but common sense. The dreamer has too slender a body for manual labor and is both too nervous and too impatient of confinement to sit in an easy chair or on the bench. The big, corpulent man enjoys the good things of life. He is well nourished and free from anxiety. He is, therefore, especially well fitted to judge calmly, deliberately and impartially. The man of bone and muscle is too busy with his physical activities for dreams and too impatient of confinement to sit in an easy chair or on the bench.

TEXTURE

Men also differ from one another very markedly in texture. This is easily observable in the texture of hair, skin, features, general body build, hands and feet. According to Prof. Ernst Haeckel, the skin is the first and oldest sense organ. Indeed, all the other sense organs and the nervous system and brain which have evolved in the use of them, are simply inturned and specialized skin cells. This being true, the texture of the entire organism, and especially the brain and nervous system, is accurately indicated by the texture of the skin and its appendages, the hair and nails.

Even the most casual observer notes the differences between the man with coarse hair, coarse skin, rugged features, large, loosely-built limbs, hands and feet, and the man with fine skin, silky hair, delicate, regular features, slender limbs, and finely moulded hands and feet. The individual of fine texture is sensitive and naturally refined. He loves beauty. He does his best work when he is creating something or handling something which is fine and beautiful. The coarse-textured individual is strong, vigorous, virile, and enduring. He can do hard, unpleasant work, can go through hardships, and can remain cheerful even in the midst of grimy, unpleasant and unlovely surroundings. For these reasons, fine-textured people do their best work in such lines as art, literature, music, jewelry, dry goods, millinery, and fine, delicate tools, machinery and materials; while we must rely upon coarse-textured people to do the heavy, hard, rough, pioneering and constructive work of the world. Even in art and literature coarse-textured people produce that which is either vigorous and virile or gruesome and horrible.

Because of their refined sensibilities, fine-textured people usually sympathize with the classes, the aristocracy; the coarse-textured people with the masses. It is a remarkable fact that practically all of our great liberators, radicals and revolutionists have been and are men of coarse texture. There is a great scientific truth underlying the saying amongst the people that certain ideas or books are “too fine-haired” for them.

PROPORTION

One of the most important of all the nine fundamental variables is proportion. This refers to proportion of one part of the body to another, of one part of the head to another. Each part of the body and of the head has its own particular function. Nature is orderly and systematic in all her work. She does not, therefore, try to digest food with the feet or pump blood with the hands. She does not try to use our stomachs as means of locomotion. Neither does she try to make us think with the backs of our heads.

No one needs to be told that the long, slender, wiry legs of the deer were made for swiftness, or that the huge, square, powerful jaw of the bulldog was made to shut down with a vise-like grip that death itself can scarcely relax. These are crude examples of proportion. In our study and research we have learned to associate many fine gradations of differences in proportion with their corresponding differences in mental aptitudes and character.

EXPRESSION

Everything about a man indicates his character. Color, form, size, structure, texture, consistency, and proportion indicate almost entirely the man’s inherent qualities. It is important for us to determine, however, in sizing up men, what they have done with their natural qualifications. This we do by observing Expression and Condition.

The cruder, simpler emotions are so frankly expressed that even a child or an animal can tell instantly whether a man is happy or loving, grieved or angry. These emotions show themselves in the voice, in the eyes, in the expression of the mouth, in the very way the man stands or sits or walks, in his gestures in fact, in everything he does. In the same way, all of the finer and more elusive thoughts and emotions express themselves in everything a man says or does. Even when he does his best to mask his feelings, he finds that, while he is controlling his eyes and his voice, his posture, gestures, and even handwriting are giving him away. No living man can give attention to all of the modes of expression at once, and the trained observer quickly learns to discriminate between those which are assumed for the purpose of deception and those which are perfectly natural.

Transient emotions have transient expression, but the prevailing modes of thought and feeling leave their unmistakable impress just as surely as does a prevailing wind mould the form of all the trees growing in its path. The man who is sly, furtive, secretive, and fundamentally dishonest need not deceive you with his carefully manufactured expression of open-eyed frankness and honesty. If you have ever been “taken in” by a confidence man or a swindler, you either gave very slight attention to his expression or, what is more likely, suspected him but hoped to “beat him at his own game.”

CONDITION

Discriminating employers long ago learned to observe carefully the condition of every applicant. It is now a pretty well accepted fact that the accountant who neglects his finger nails will probably also neglect his entries; that the clerk who is slovenly about his clothes will also be slovenly about his desk and his papers; that the man who cannot be relied upon to keep his shoes shined and his collar clean is a very weak and broken reed upon which to lean for anything requiring accuracy and dependability.

HOW THE SCIENCE IS VERIFIED

We have presented to you, in a brief way, the fundamental principles of the science of character analysis and the nine fundamental variables in man to which those principles apply. Are we not justified in saying that a body of knowledge which has been so classified and organized that the main fundamental facts of it can be presented in a few pages, is, indeed, a science? Add to this the fact that every conclusion is not only based upon these fundamental scientific principles, but has been carefully verified by investigation and observation in not only hundreds but thousands of cases, and has been used daily for years under the trying conditions of actual commercial practice, and this science has passed out of the merely experimental stage.