The appearance of our face can in no way predict our behavior, contrary to what supporters of morphopsychology maintain.
- Each face is unique, which makes it a basis for the identification of people (identity photography, anthropometry, facial recognition…).
- Morphopsychology claims to establish correspondences between the morphology of an individual’s facial features and his psychology.
A genetic link between the shape of the face and that of the brain does exist, according to new research published in Nature Genetics. On the other hand, no link has been established between the figure and behavioral or cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia or even bipolar disorders.
76 genetic locations
In concrete terms, a multidisciplinary team led by KU Leuven and Stanford has identified 76 genetic locations that shape both our face and our brain. “Clues to establish a genetic link between the shape of our face and that of our brain had already been unearthed”, explains Professor Peter Claes, co-director of the study. But this time, “We identified 472 genomic locations that impact the shape of our brain. 351 of these locations had never been identified before. To our surprise, we found that no less than 76 genomic locations predicting the shape of the brain were already linked to face shape, so the genetic link between facies and brain shape is compelling.” he continues.
“Pseudo-scientific claims”
On the other hand, his team’s results confirm that there is no direct link between a person’s face and their behavior. “Therefore, we explicitly dissociate ourselves from pseudo-scientific claims to the contrary. For example, some people claim to be able to detect aggressive facial tendencies using artificial intelligence. Not only are such projects completely unethical, but they also lack scientific basis”, concludes Peter Claes.
In this sense, his research indicates that at the beginning of embryogenesis, the face and the brain shape each other, but that this interaction does not necessarily have an impact on the later development of the cognitive function of the brain.
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