For example, he looks like a thief, with a big belly, a hooked nose, thick eyebrows and a moustache, and so on. For these, in our impression, it seems that they are all bad people.
We can understand that these inherent cognitions have been slowly precipitated and solidified by people in the past years.
However, in today's advanced science, all knowledge needs experimental methods and foundations. Is past knowledge reliable?
In other words, do bad people have any physical characteristics without scientific experiments? And are these physical characteristics necessarily related to whether they are bad people?
That's what we're going to discuss today: what are the physical characteristics of bad people? I'll take you to take stock of the relevant research results in this field and tell you the final truth.
How does phrenology judge bad people?
What is phrenology?
Brain functionalism, in short, is the theory of brain function orientation, that is, the study of the relationship between brain and brain.
This subject was mainly founded by Goyle and Spitz Heim. They think that the human brain is an organ of thought. They found through anatomy that there is a very close correspondence between psychology and the human brain.
They believe that the size and shape of the human skull are highly related to the functions of various regions in the human brain. Because people's brains and psychology are also highly related, we can also judge people's psychology by looking at their skulls.
So they think that by measuring people's cranial phase, we can accurately know everyone's personality. In other words, we can judge whether a person has a violent tendency or not by the skull.
According to the findings of craniofacial theory, they believe that people with sunken heads indicate that the cerebral cortex is underdeveloped and prone to violence.
Later, the craniofacial theory was introduced into the field of criminology by some scholars, that is, the Italian criminologist Cesare Cesare Lombroso proposed "born criminal". However, phrenology has proved that there is no necessary connection between people's appearance characteristics (skull images).
An experiment of identifying the appearance characteristics of bad people by artificial intelligence
With the rapid development of computer science and artificial intelligence, people also try to use artificial intelligence to find out the external characteristics of bad people.
In 20 16, a professor of Shanghai jiaotong university used an algorithm to let the computer look at 1856 faces with advanced technologies such as learning and face recognition, trying to find the appearance characteristics of the bad guys.
In his research achievement "Automatic Criminal Probability Inference Based on Facial Images", he pointed out the criminal's facial features. According to these characteristics, the machine can distinguish between ordinary people and criminals with high accuracy.
So, what are the physical characteristics of these bad guys? According to his findings, there are three main points.
The first point is the human mouth. A person with a small mouth is one of the characteristics of a bad person.
The second point is people. Those bad guys are very clear, but ordinary people are very vague;
The third point is the pupillary distance. The pupillary distance of bad people is smaller than that of ordinary people.
This experimental study looks very scientific and convincing, but it is not convincing. Because these scientific data only reflect a proportional problem, there is no inevitability. Moreover, appearance is determined by genes, and people can also change their appearance through plastic surgery. Such a scientific experiment is untenable.
The truth about the relationship between appearance and bad people
After reading the above two main theories and experiments, I want to ask again: what are the physical characteristics of bad people?
My answer is, from a scientific standpoint, judging whether a person is a bad person or not according to his physical characteristics lacks scientific basis, and there is no necessary connection between the two.
Many research results in psychology show that it is inaccurate to judge whether a person is a bad person only by analyzing his appearance characteristics. We can laugh at those who look at people well and look at them badly through their appearances.
Since we can't identify the physical features, can we find a way to judge the bad guys from other aspects?
Cognitive psychologists did an experiment and recruited a woman. The amygdala in her parents' brain region became violent after receiving painless electric current stimulation, which proved the connection between nervous system and violent tendency.
If there is a real connection between appearance and bad people, it is also an indirect connection. In psychology, there is a labeling theory that can explain it.
When we see some people with ugly eyes, big bellies, crooked noses, thick eyebrows and moustaches, we will subconsciously think that they are not good people. These solidified perceptions are just labels.
When we put these labels on others, these people will gradually strengthen these perceptions, which will lead to violent tendencies. Therefore, this is an indirect connection.
Ok, that's all for today's sharing. In fact, from a scientific point of view, judging a person's good or bad according to his appearance characteristics, although there is a certain possibility in probability, lacks convincing scientific inevitability.
The reason why we think there is a connection between the two is actually due to our solidified cognition of bad people in the past. People with these characteristics are labeled, and this labeling behavior will strengthen their violent tendencies.
Ok, the topic of our interaction today is: Do you think a person can judge him as a bad person by his appearance?