Describe the Kretschmer's System.

The first edition of Kretschmer's Kopterbau and Charakter appeared in 1921. He delineated four main types of physique: pyknic, athletic, leptosome, and dysplastic. The pyknic is typically short and thick set with large body cavities but short extremities. The chest is round, the hands and feet small, and the body is generally well padded with fat. The athletic physique has a well developed musculature and bony structure and the body is generally well proportioned. The leptosome is characterized by linearity of trunk, limbs, and face. The bones are small and there is little musculature. The category dysplastic covers individuals with incongruous admixtures of the other three types. It is clear that few individuals fit these idealized extremes of physique. In practice, a global assessment is made of an individual and he is placed in the category which best fits.

It is common knowledge to say that physical characteristics are largely inherited. Parents who are tall, slim, and blonde tend to have children who are tall, slim, and blonde. The association of temperament with physical characteristics is a more difficult problem.

Sheldon, an American investigator, has developed a system of physique and temperament typology which better reflects the continuous nature of physical and psycho logic variations among individuals of the species. His system of classification of physique is based on objective measurements which add reliability to the procedure and make it possible for others to employ the system and obtain comparable data. It also recognizes more fully the continuous nature of variation of physical traits, rather than forcing individuals into one of a small number of idealized types.

Sheldon and his associates photographed 4,000 college men in three poses: ventral, dorsal, and lateral. Eighteen anthropometric indices were derived from exact measurements made from the photographs as well as height and weight measurements. These indices are used to classify an individual according to the proportion of three basic components of structure: endomorphy, mesomorhy, ectomorphy. These terms for the three components of physique correspond to the three primary germinal layers: endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. Thus, endomorphy refers to a preponderance of the digestive viscera, and the individual with high endomorphy is characterized by roundness and softness of physique. A mesomorphic individual shows preponderance of the bone, muscle, and connective tissue and is characterized by a heavy muscular physique. The ectomorphic extreme shows a preponderance of ectodermal tissues; that is, the skin area and nervous system constitute a higher proportion of body weight than in the other physiques. The ectomorphic physique is characterized by linearity with little fat and muscle.

The familial or social mediation of the influence of genetically determined physical traits on personality development is also illustrated in the instance of gross congenital defects. A child born with a club foot or deformed hand may be treated very differently by his parents than his normal sibling. Open rejection of such a child during the formative years may lead to deep-seated feelings of inferiority and guilt about the defect. These in turn make difficult the normal development of personality in other areas. Alternatively, parents of the congenitally deformed child may react to their feelings of guilt and the tendency to reject their offspring with overly solicitous attitudes. Such an over protected child is shielded from many childhood stresses that are necessary in learning successful ways of dealing with problems later in life. Here again defects of personality and maladjustments may arise from genetically determined physical defects but are mediated by parental, i.e., social, agencies.

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Kavungya answered the question on May 8, 2019 at 11:21