Annotation on Gould and Harris: Craniology and Human Evolution

Student
Instructor
Anthro2A
DATE
Annotation-Gould and Harris
Article 1:
Gould, Stephen Jay. 3 “Measuring heads” in The Mismeasure of Man. W.W. Norton, 2008.
 In chapter 3, Measuring heads, Gould focuses on attempts at measuring intelligence in the field of craniometry during the 19th century.
 There was an assumption that if one had a large head to body ratio and, by extension, brain, they were better and more intelligent. 
Paul Broca was one of the craniology researchers who argued that there was a direct relationship between the size of the brain and intelligence. Broca used data to prove men had larger brains than women, the elderly, and those with inferior talents, singling out white men as having larger brains and more intelligence.
Physician Robert Bennett Bean also focused on biological determinism to demonstrate man’s superiority over women and both race and class indicating superiority. However, criminal anthropologists and craniometricians researchers could not explain large-brained criminals. 
While there was the use of data, the problem is that data was cherry-picked to confirm biases. Biases based on how data is used shaped perceptions, public opinion, and attitudes. Gould further p...