The Mental Highway
	Character Analysis <  Previous Contents Next  >

"Know thyself" is the first step to knowing the other fellow. You may have birth, environment, education, brains and opportunity, and utterly fail because you cannot get along with other people. That inability arises from the fact that you never understood yourself, and therefore, did not understand the people about you. You can change this failure to success by training your powers of observation, and then using your common sense. This will enable you to know them, encourage them to like you, and inspire and motivate them.

We are all character readers in a crude way. We instinctively form impressions about people when we first meet them. Many of us trust our first impressions, but there is a surer way. The body becomes an external expression of our emotions and other mental acts and states. It follows that we may not only gather a good idea of the character of another’s thinking by the way the body reports in health or sickness, but we may know the general elements of character itself by their outstanding physical characteristics.

Character analysts differ as to the relative importance of the various indications of character, such as form, bulk, color, facial and cranial characteristics. Since the first contact with the individual challenges the attention to his bulk, we make that the first element in character analysis. In biological evolution, the first system developed was the digestive tract, next the lungs and heart or the thoracic tract. Third, the muscular, fourth, the bony framework, and fifth, the mental system. Each individual is the expression of one of these types, or of the combination of two or three. Your first step in character analysis, therefore, is to determine whether your subject of study is an alimentative, thoracic, muscular, osseous or mental. We cannot be mistaken as to the type, the general characteristics of which are set forth as follows:

1. The Alimentative Type consists of those individuals in which the entire digestive and nutritive systems are more highly developed than any other system in the body. Your first impression is that this person is overweight. It is a physiological fact that the obese person has from six to twenty feet more intestines than the other types. The keynote of the alimentative type is enjoyment. They enjoy most "the good things of life": Plenty of rich food, a good car, a warm room, good cigars, good clothes, the best of everything, and they worship food. The strongest point of the alimentative type is their good nature, and their disinclination to cause trouble. They mix well, and mold themselves to fit the company they keep. Their weakest point is self indulgence.

Occupation: They hate both physical and mental work, and are inclined to find occupations in which they will direct the work of others. They have splendid facility in capitalizing the brain and muscles of other people and letting them work for him. When they have little brain power, they get a job by flattery, usually as an administrator of some sort. The alimentatives of the lower mentality make good butchers, restaurant-keepers, bartenders, saloon keepers, night club owners, bakers, chefs, grocers, or commission merchants. Since this type likes good things to eat, expensive clothes and all the luxuries of life, they are interested in them in all their forms and phases, and make good merchants, for they can interest others in them. They will sell and buy these goods. Because of their ability to get along with others, they make successful politicians and bosses. When endowed with good brain capacity, they become corporate types. Many rich people of all countries are of this type.

2. The Thoracic Type includes those individuals in whom the lungs, heart and blood vessels are highly developed. The first impression is that they are very florid (red-faced), have a high chest development, and are long-waisted. They give you the impression of being "chesty." The keynote of the thoracic type is their affectability. They are always a bit excited, and are intensely responsive to all stimuli. They are people of changeable moods, and are inclined to be flighty. The strongest point of the thoracic type is their capacity for getting their second wind, and their quickness in responding to orders. They get the point at once, and are off like a shot to do the necessary thing. Besides these qualities, they possesses a large share of what we know as personality. Their weakest point is their changeability and flightiness.

Occupation: The pure thoracic must choose work that gives freedom of movement, is full of rapid changes, and gives much variety. Their nature demands ceaseless change. They like to meet people, especially new ones, and are popular and entertaining. They are fitted for work which calls for these outstanding qualities. They excel in advertising, salesmanship, publicity work, reception experts in large businesses where a special person meets the public. They are interested in anything that promises increased efficiency.

3. The Muscular Type is that group of individuals in whom the muscles are more highly developed than any other system. They may not be large, but their muscles are well defined. Your first impression is that they are solid, well knit. The keynote of the muscular type is physical activity. They enjoy physical exercise, particularly if strenuous, love the open air, and are adapted to open-air work. They love motion, speed, activity, physical contests and movement of every sort. They are apt to have deep emotion, and great enthusiasm. They work all the time. The strongest point with the muscular type is their vigor and enthusiasm, ability to accomplish, and capacity to help others. They do not express as much sympathy as the thoracic, but do things to relieve suffering. Their weakest point is their tendency to anger; pugnacity goes with muscularity, just as amiability goes with alimentativeness. They may have a chip on their shoulder, frequently get angry or start something.

Occupation: Musculars should choose vocations which give freedom of movement, plenty of it, and fairly rapid movement. They handle all sorts of machinery, especially large and powerful machinery, more expertly than any other type. They make the best chauffeurs, engineers, motormen, miners, lumbermen, foresters and orators, for possessing much emotion themselves, they are able to arouse it in others. They are the most hard working of all types. As employees, they act efficiently, and as employers, they demand efficiency. The muscular is interested in any machine, method or proposition which increases the volume and efficiency of work.

4. Osseous Type. This is the fourth stage in human evolution, and these individuals have a pronounced bony framework, whose function is to hold the body upright. Your first impression of the osseous type is that they are raw-boned. Abraham Lincoln was a striking figure of this type. Immovability is the keynote of the osseous type. This gives them stability, unchangingness, hard-headedness, and all the ramifications of stubbornness. Their strongest point is their reliability and determination, their absolute fidelity to an ideal when once it is formed. Their weakest point is obstinacy, and they lose many of the good things they could otherwise get out of life.

Occupation. The osseous type succeeds better in farming, stock-raising, and other pioneer vocations. They do not get on well with people. They cannot dictate to others, nor be dictated to by them. When the osseous is combined with the mental, it makes a powerful boss; otherwise they are drivers, incurring the hostility of subordinates.

5. Cerebral or Mental Type. The fifth, latest and last stage in human evolution was the development of the brain and nervous system. We know these individuals in whom the brain and nervous system are more highly developed as the mental type. The first impression is that they are frail and delicate. Their features are more refined, more sensitive, than those of other types. Sensitivity is the keynote of the mental type, and the instinct to think characterizes them. Their aim in life is to be let alone to think, imagine, dream, plan and read. Their strongest point is that they think where the other types feel. They keep abreast of their time, and are usually ahead. They lead in the world of ideas, and create the world’s ideals. Their weakest point is their impracticality.

Occupation: This type must follow mental work. They cannot be successful in any other kind. Children of the mental type should be given a good education, for only failure awaits the mental who is without it. To them physical labor is drudgery, and the touch of material things fills them with shrinking and repugnance. Teaching, library work, research work of all kinds, translating, and proofreading are the lines that this type should follow.

Coloring is the second class of physical characteristics. The two general types are fair-haired and dark-haired. The fair-haired are the path-finders. The dark-haired are the road-makers. The fair-haired have given the world leadership in exploration, discovery, invention, material progress and government. The dark-haired have led in language, arts, music, literature, philosophy and religion. One appeals to the fair-haired through love of publicity, display, material advantages, and progress. One appeals to the dark-haired through sentiment, love of comfort, leisure and family.

The characteristics of the fair-haired type are energy, daring, courage, alertness, hustling, ambition. They are dynamic, fond of physical and mental activity, of games of conquest. They love variety, like change in interests, and in their activities. They like new problems, to see new places, make new acquaintances, and to do original, creative work. They hate confinement and restraint, have little patience for detail, and do not like monotony and routine. They tend to action. All of their bodily processes tend to be positive, active and vigorous. The intellect is naturally creative, resourceful, inventive and original. They are optimistic, hopeful, eager and fearless, speculative, impatient, restless, very fond of change and variety. They love to rule, to handle and manage affairs, to meet life at as many points as possible. They like excitement, crowds and gaiety, and are usually good mixers. They push into the limelight, engage in politics, promote and build up great enterprises, and are particularly adapted to selling, advertising, organizing, colonizing, invention, creation. They are liable to tax themselves physically too far. They are often too changeable, scattering and irresponsible, therefore not always dependable. The fair-haired may be merciless drivers of others. They are liable to extremes of dissipation. Excess of sunlight first stimulates, then irritates, then exhausts, and finally kills fair-haired people.

Occupation. The fair-haired type loves distribution, advertising, selling, inventing, creating new plans, new markets, new products. They love athletics rather than profound study, and do not specialize well. They prefer authorship, construction and engineering, exploration, fishing, hunting, forestry, invention, public work, journalism, law, politics, the stage, and being executives in places free from routine.

The dark-haired type is enduring, intense, imitative, fond of detail, spiritual, meditative, persistent, patient, dependable, slow to anger, constant, conservative. They are inclined to adapt, improve upon and apply already existing ideas, rather than strictly original work. They tend to thought and philosophy, also pessimism. They are not as active, positive, rapid and vigorous physically as the fair-haired, but have greater physical endurance. They are more conservative and more constant, are inclined to concentrate, to specialize, to persevere, to attend to details with painstaking care. They prefer a few friends, a quiet home, affection and the beauties of nature. They tend to introspection, to the development of philosophy, religion, mystery, metaphysical and spiritual activity. They are less aggressive, but more inclined to revenge. They are imitative, and excel in all those situations calling for endurance, sympathy, painstaking and plodding.

Occupation: The dark-haired type prefers business building, calling on same customers, selling same goods, cementing friendships, establishing trade, agriculture, involving patience, specialization, study, isolation, and love for plants and animals. They do well in service rendering jobs, such as art, authorship, medicine, the ministry, music, personal service, research, social service statistics, theology, endurance. Also those kinds of athletics calling for endurance, such as long races, prize fighting, auto racing, art, journalism, law, manufacture, merchandising, administration, detail work.

When some features are fair-haired, and others are dark-haired, the individual has some of both sets of qualities. A medium or combination of the two types modifies the variety loving, impatient and original impulses of the distinct fair-haired, also altering the patient, careful, conserving, constant and meditative marks of the distinct dark-haired.

The next class of character signs is found in the study of profiles. There are three main types: concave, convex and plane, with two combinations, convex upper-concave lower, and concave upper-convex lower.

The marks of the convex are the forehead prominent at the brows, sloping back as it rises. Eyes full and prominent. Nose long, high in the bridge, and curving outward from root to tip. Mouth prominent, lips pushed outward, the chin receding, or sloping backward toward the throat. Convex traits: Quickness of thought and action, practical, keen observer, interested in facts, ready in speech. Energy is the keynote, impatient, impulsive, short endurance. This is the keen, quick, practical, impulsive person, the worker.

The concave marks are, the forehead prominent above and flat at the brows. Chin prominent at the point, sloping inward towards the lips. The eyes are deep-set, hose short, low in the bridge, curving inward from root to tip. The mouth recedes. Concave traits: Slowness of action and thought and speech, great endurance. Interested in theories, meditative, absent minded, philosophizes about everything, mild, moderate energy, patient, determined, impractical, staunch, dependable. They are the calm, deliberate, good natured, theoretical types, the thinkers.

Marks of the plane profile are, the forehead equally prominent at brows and top. Eyes are neither protruding nor deep set. Nose moderate in length, and straight. Mouth neither in nor out, but straight up and down in the profile. Chin neither, protruding nor receding, but in profile shows a vertical line. Plane Traits: Balanced in action, thought and speech. Good judgment, great capacity for both thought and action.

Marks of the convex upper-concave lower. Prominent brows, sloping backward as it rises; eyes full and prominent; nose long, high in bridge, curving outward, concave mouth and concave chin. This is the person who thinks before he acts. Traits of the convex upper-concave lower: Quickness of thought, keen observation, practicality, command of language, abundant energy, patience, good nature, deliberate, determined, with good physical equipment. This type is found everywhere among leaders, executives, rulers, in business, professional, political, artistic and practical lines.

Concave upper-convex lower is just the reverse of the preceding type. The traits are slowness of thought, impracticality, quickness of speech, excitability, good intellect, moderate energy, impulsive, skillful and rapid in carrying out a plan, physically frail.

These are the five great types of character as judged by the profile: First, the quick-thinking, quick-acting type. Second, the slow-thinking, slow-acting type. Third, the moderate, balanced type in thought and action. Fourth, the quick-thinking, slow-acting type. Fifth, the slow-thinking, quick-acting type.

We see the next class of character signs in a study of the proportions of the face, from the full front view. The three divisions are the forehead, eyes and nose, and base of the nose to the chin. The more the forehead slopes back, the more practical it is. The broader the forehead, the greater the power of imagination, and constructive ability. The corners on forehead show good nature. Slants in these places show lack of humor. A rounding of the forehead shows optimism.

This first may be called the Intellectual Section, and in it are found the marks of the thinker. The head is somewhat large for the size of the body, the forehead is high and wide, jaw, chin and lower part of the head usually small, giving the face a triangular shape, broad above and tapering to a point below. The body is usually frail, bones small, muscles slight, shoulders narrow, sloping, features finely chiseled, hands and feet usually small, hair also fine.

The second section, including the eyes and nose, marks the Motive type. These people have square jaws, high cheek bones, the whole face has rather a square appearance. This type is the doer. They are square built, and are persons of achievement.

The next type as indicated by the face is the Mental-Motive type, having the wide, high forehead, square jaw, large nose, and high cheek bones. This is a combination of the two, and is the doer with a brain.

The next is the Mental-Vital, which is marked by great breadth in the second section, eyes and nose. The mark of the type is the width of the head between the ears. This is the organizer, the financier, the judge and the leader.

The next type is the Vital-Motive type, who looks very much like the typical obese person, but is marked by squareness of the jaw, squareness of the shoulders and large bones in the wrists and ankles, high cheekbones, and a large, high-bridged nose.

The final type is the Balanced type, combining them all, mental, motive and vital. This is the all-round person, whose head is big and well developed in all directions, square jaw, high cheekbones, full cheeks and fullness of the neck. They are found everywhere among the leaders. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an excellent illustration of this type.

Eyes. Other signs of the face are seen in the eyes themselves. If the eyes are too close together, they show shrewdness. If the eyes are small, they may go to the point of cunning. Eyes far apart show that one is gullible. Wide-open eyes indicate innocence. The eyes are the indication of the soul. Wrinkles at the side of the eyes are laughing wrinkles. In a catty person the eyelids almost come together. People with nothing to conceal keep the eyes wide open.

Noses. A person with a long nose is more likely to be dependable than one with a short nose. A high bridge indicates strength of character.

Lips. If the lips are thick, it shows sensuality. If thin, coldness; close together, persistent; turned up at the corners, optimistic, turned down, pessimism. If lips are very thick and full, the person is sensual; if too thin, cruelty. An upper lip that curves inward shows severity. A short upper lip, which rolls upward when smiling, indicates a love of praise.

Chin. A person with a weak, receding chin is not a fighter. A very pointed and receding chin shows that others easily influence them. This type does well in work that does not call for courage or pugnacity. A pointed chin shows adaptability and tactfulness. Squareness of chin, breadth, shows endurance, persistence, stubbornness, and fighting characteristics.

No one can tell a lie without twitching the lips at the corners. The voice tends to be a trifle raised in telling a lie. The individual who, constantly repeats explanations is probably not telling the truth. A person who sits still, without movement, is unsympathetic. If a person seems conscious of looking you square in the eye, look out.

We have covered, thus far, in the briefest outline the working points for reading character. Notice the general correspondence between certain types in the different classes of signs. Keep in mind the fact that coloring simply accentuates the qualities in these various types, or modifies them.

The best way to apply this lesson is to practice on yourself, then on the people whom you know the best. Reading character isn’t magic. It consists in knowing what the signs of character are, in observing them, and working out their various combinations. With the simple outline given here, anyone, by steady attention, can learn to read character unerringly.