In 1780, German physician Franz Gall introduced the theory that a person's personality, character, and mental faculties could be understood by examining the bumps on their skull. Gall believed that measuring the distances between these bumps would reveal the size of the underlying brain regions, which in turn would indicate specific traits such as friendliness, pride, or kindness. Although this practice, known as phrenology, gained initial popularity, it was eventually discredited as a pseudoscience due to a lack of empirical support.