The 7 body types (or somatotypes): what are they?

The concept of somatotype or somatic type is well known in the world of physical exercise and nutrition., but also within the History of Psychology.

The concept was developed by psychologist William Herbert Sheldon in the 1940s. However, his predecessor was Ernst Kretschmer, who tried to relate the biotype and psychotype of the individuals, that is, he investigated and claimed to find connections between body composition and the temper.

Like any morphopsychological theory, Kretschmer's theory received much criticism., and has now been widely outdated and refuted. Nevertheless, Sheldon's somatotypes are still very popular today, especially in the fields of sport and nutrition, to broadly describe types of constitution physical. That is to say: although they do not provide information about the behavior of people, they help to "summarize" their body measurements from the point of view of anthropometry.

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The biotypes (body types) of Kretschmer

In the 1920s, Kretschmer, a German psychiatrist, decided to study and investigate the relationships that may exist between the morphological structure and human temperament. As a sample for his studies, he chose mental patients with different pathologies: schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder...

With the results he obtained, he established three types of basic body constitutions, and one that represented mixed and disproportionate groups. They are the following:

• Leptosomatic or asthenic
• Athletic or epileptoid
• Picnic or cyclothymic
• dysplastics

Below you can find a description of these body types and the psychological characteristics that according to this author were associated with each one.

1. Leptosomatic or asthenic

These people have a thin-shouldered body, are tall, with a narrow chest, elongated face and nose. and domed skull. They have an introverted personality, with adaptation difficulties. They are sentimental, speculative individuals with an interest in art.

According to the author, they have a schizotymic temperament, and their character oscillates between hypersensitivity and coldness. These people are more likely to have a serious mental disorder called schizophrenia.

2. Athletic or epileptoid

Epileptoid individuals have a strong body in both musculature and bone. They are more energetic and aggressive. Due to their robustness, they are strong, determined, adventurous and stand out for being quite passionate and sentimental, but also brutish. They are impulsive people prone to epilepsy.

3. Picnic or cyclothymic

These are people, who are short in size but very stout, have a rounded body, with voluminous and greasy viscera. They can be bald, with little muscular development. They are intelligent people, with a smiling and jovial character. They present oscillations in their mood, as they can go from being very excited and happy to sad and depressed. Picnic individuals inconsistent in their activities, and can be both optimistic and pessimistic. These people are more prone to bipolar disorder.

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4. dysplastic

These individuals have a disproportionate body and do not fall into any of the above categories. At a psychological level, these subjects do not have a defined character, but within this group it is possible to find people with a weak or schizoid character.

Criticism of Kretschmer's Theory

Although Kretschmer inspired other authors such as Sheldon, this typology has received strong criticism. Many of which point out that:

• The types are extremes and not averages.
• Being extreme, they divide individuals drastically and forget many individual differences.
• Does not take into account the physical changes that can occur from the change in diet
• His investigations are biased, since he used sick subjects and not normal individuals.

Attempts to link human body measurements to psychological traits are generally considered unfounded today.

Sheldon's somatotypes

Unlike the previous author, Sheldon conducted his research with normal subjects. This author was a professor at Harvard University. He began research on it in 1928 and published the results in 1940. He used more than 4,000 male students, and later conducted his research with women.

Sheldon's idea was different from Kretschmer's, because he first investigated somatotypes and, separately, tried to find out the correlation of these with personality traits and temperament, which according to him are the following: viscerotonia, somatotonia and cerebrotonia. His results indicate that in 80% of cases there is a correlation between endomorphism and viscerotonia, between mesomorphism and somatotonia, and between ectomorphism and cerebrotonia.

Next we delve into Sheldon's somatotypes; once again, the psychological characteristics associated with these body types are only proposals of the author, currently rejected by the community scientific (although the terms he used to describe the physical constitution of people are still used in disciplines such as Sport.

1. ectomorph

It's about tall, thin and weak people. That is, they are individuals with few muscles and relatively lighter bones than the other body types. Ectomorphs are easy to spot because they are slender, have long limbs, and tend to be tall. They rarely gain weight. Regarding personality, are emotionally sensitive people, who can suffer emotional problems and mood swings easily.

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2. endomorph

The body of the endomorph is rounded and as its main characteristic are people who have a natural tendency to accumulate fat in the abdomen in the case of men and in the hips in the case of women. The endomorph is very sociable by nature, funny, relaxed and good-natured. They love food and usually provide great company.

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3. Mesomorph

The mesomorph is the most balanced of the three somatotypes because its body is made up of a balanced combination of muscles and bones.. These individuals have an athletic build, with well-defined muscles and well-proportioned bones. They are short in stature but stocky in build. As for the personality, the mesomorph is balanced, very energetic, likes sports and adventures and has no problem doing physical activities. The mesomorph is highly tolerant and not as sensitive compared to the ectomorph.

Some clarifications about Sheldon's somatotypes

Leaving aside the psychological aspect of the theory that has been much criticized, above somatotypes represent extremes. However, in his studies, Sheldon achieves these somatotypes by studying five elements of the body (head, thorax, legs, etc.) separately and then adding them together to achieve these somatotypes.

But apart from these extreme body types, Sheldon's theory does not rule out that there are certain nuances in this categorization. In real life there are more than three somatotypes, and it is easy to find a perfect ectomorph, but also a mesomorph that has fat like the endomorphs, so this individual would be a combination of two extreme somatotypes and would share characteristics of both types of body.

Bibliographic references:

• Baten, J.; Komlos, J. (2004). Looking Backward and Looking Forward: Anthropometric Research and the Development of Social Science History. Social Science History. 28:pp. 191 - 210.
• Carter, J.E.L.; Heath, B.H. (1990). Somatotyping-development and Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Sheldon, W.H. (1940). The Varieties of Human Physique: An Introduction to Constitutional Psychology. New York: Harpers.