Modern Assessments
Sheldon's theories enjoyed a vogue as the "pop-psych flavor of the month" through the 1950s. Modern scientists, however, generally (with occasional exceptions, some relying on outdated – 1978 or prior – studies) dismiss his claims as outdated, if not outright quackery.
Sheldon's photographs of naked Ivy League undergraduates, numbered in the thousands, were taken under the umbrella of a pre-existing program ostensibly evaluating student posture. The photos were in fact collected by Sheldon to provide data for his ideas about somatotypes. However, as "part of a facade or cover-up" the students and schools were told that the photos were taken to evaluate posture.
Read more about this topic: Somatotype And Constitutional Psychology
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