Physiognomy personality. Physiognomy is also sometimes referred to as anthroposcopy, though the expression was more common in the 19th century when the word originated. Notions of the relationship between an individual's outward appearance and inner character are historically ancient, and occasionally appear in early Greek poetry. Siddhars from ancient India are also known to have defined "samudrika lakshanam" that identifies personal characteristics with body features. Chinese physiognomy or face reading ("mianxiang") reaches back at least to the Northern Song period. The first indications of a developed physiognomic theory appear in fifth century BC Athens, with the works of Zopyrus (who was
Physiognomy doctor Claude Sigaud (1862–1921), incorporating his idea of "dilation and retraction" into morphopsychology. Research in the 1990s indicated that three elements of personality in particular – power, warmth and honesty – can be reliably inferred. Some evidence indicates people can detect male homosexuality by looking at facial characteristics or at the pattern of whorls in the scalp, though subsequent research has largely refuted the findings on hair whorl patterns. A February 2009 article in "New Scientist" magazine reported that physiognomy is living a small revival, with research papers trying to find links between personality traits and facial traits. A study