What is "morphopsychology"

n. The supposed correspondence between facial features and personality

Morphopsychology is a field of alternative science that proposes a correspondence between human facial morphology (the shape and configuration of the face) and individual personality. The concept of morphopsychology was developed by Louis Corman (1901–1995), a French psychiatrist who argued that the workings of vital forces within the human body resulted in different facial shapes and forms. For example, full and round body shapes are considered the expression of the instinct of expansion while the hollow or flat shapes are an expression of self-preservation.

The term "morphopsychology" is a translation of the French word morphopsychologie, which Louis Corman coined in 1937 when he wrote his first book on the subject, Quinze leçons de morphopsychologie (Fifteen Lessons of Morphopsychology).

Corman was influenced by the French doctor Claude Sigaud (1862–1921), incorporating his idea of "dilation and retraction" into morphopsychology.