Characterology

{{Short description|The study of character}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}

{{About-distinguish-text|the branch of personality studies in German psychology|Physiognomy, which is sometimes referred to in similar terms}}

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Characterology ({{etymology|grc|{{noitalics|χαρακτήρ}}|character||{{noitalics|‑λογία}}, ‑logia}}) is the academic study of character which was prominent in German-speaking countries during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.{{unbulletedlist|{{cite encyclopedia|title=Characterology|dictionary=Merriam-Webster.com Medical Dictionary|publisher=Merriam-Webster|access-date=28 September 2020|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/characterology }}|{{cite encyclopedia|title=Characterology|dictionary=Collins English Dictionary|edition=Complete and Unabridged, 12th|year=2014|access-date=28 September 2020|via=TheFreeDictionary.com|url=https://www.thefreedictionary.com/characterology }}|{{cite encyclopedia|title=Characterology|first1=Iu. N.|last1=Popov|first2=A. A.|last2=Puzyrei|year=1970–1979|encyclopedia=The Great Soviet Encyclopedia|edition=3rd|access-date=28 September 2020|via=TheFreeDictionary.com|url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Characterology }}}}{{cite journal|last=Arens|first=Katherine|date=1986|title=Schnitzler and Characterology: From Empire to Third Reich|journal=Modern Austrian Literature|volume=19|issue=3/4|pages=97–127|issn=0026-7503|jstor=24647600}} It is considered a historic branch of personality psychology, which extended into psychoanalysis and sociology.{{unbulleted list|{{cite journal|title=Traditional Psychoanalytic Characterology Reexamined in the Light of Constitutional and Cognitive Difference Between the Sexes|first=Michael H.|last=Stone|year=1980|journal=Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis|volume=8|issue=3|pages=381–401|doi=10.1521/jaap.1.1980.8.3.381|pmid=7410148}}|{{cite journal|title=Social Characterology|first=Carl-Göran|last=Heidegren|journal=Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory|year=2005|volume=6|number=2|pages=87–95|doi=10.1080/1600910X.2005.9672915|s2cid=144624603}}|{{cite encyclopedia|title=Characterology|first1=Iu. N.|last1=Popov|first2=A. A.|last2=Puzyrei|year=1970–1979|encyclopedia=The Great Soviet Encyclopedia|edition=3rd|access-date=28 September 2020|via=TheFreeDictionary.com|url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Characterology }}}}

The name dates from 1867, having been introduced by the German philosopher Julius Bahnsen, though the discipline itself dates back to classical antiquity.{{unbulleted list|{{cite encyclopedia|title=Characterology|first1=Iu. N.|last1=Popov|first2=A. A.|last2=Puzyrei|year=1970–1979|encyclopedia=The Great Soviet Encyclopedia|edition=3rd|access-date=28 September 2020|via=TheFreeDictionary.com|url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Characterology }}|{{cite encyclopedia|title=Typologies|encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences|access-date=28 September 2020|via=Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/art-and-architecture/architecture/typologies |quote=A related historical tradition also going back to classical antiquity is the field of characterology and personality studies.}}}} In German psychology, the term character was often used in place of personality. As such, characterology was the study of personality, its development, and its differences between individuals. The term personality however, which was dominant in English use, came to be preferred after the end of World War II.

In the 1920s, the term characterology was appropriated by American writer Leander Hamilton McCormick to promote a physiognomical and phrenological pseudoscience. McCormick's views have further been regarded as scientific racism.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}