Paper Summary

Earnest Albert Hooton was an American anthropologist scholar who gained his knowledge from various universities such as the University of Wisconsin. Hooton was also a lecturer at Harvard University where he taught anthropology and Iron Age archeology and concentrated much on the study of the skeleton and remains. Based on his background as a talented cartoonist, he wrote books expressing his ideas through cartoons and artworks throughout his life and career. Hooton works included The Ancient Inhabitants of the Canary Islands, the American Criminal, Up from the Ape, Why Men Behave like Apes among others. The works were majorly on human evolution, racial differentiation, and population classification. As an anthropologist, he critically examined the physical and behavior type of human being with specific respect to criminal behavior. In his studies, Hooton attributed personal attributes as the leading factors to criminal behavior.

Hooton was also able to come up with a model for undertaking mass surveys allowing for data analysis by employing punched cards as well as card sorting equipment. The model had a usage in the application of human engineering with the Air Force, Chemical Warfare Service, as well as Quartermaster Corps. Hooton’s impact on anthropology was far much greater than his formal classroom teaching, as he was active in undertaking research throughout the length of his career. Hooton inspired and mentored gifted students that carry on the various undertaking that he had originally started resulting in the growth of physical anthropology. Hooton honors include membership at the National Academy of Sciences; he received the Viking Fund Medal in Anthropology as the second recipient, and Lawrence College bestowed on him an honorary degree.

Introduction

Numerous anthropology scholars have made a crucial headway in understanding the origins and evolution of human beings. Consequently, their works have contributed immensely to understanding human behaviors in the modern world. Earnest Albert Hooton, an American anthropologist scholar whose contributions to anthropology have had significant impacts on the national and international history of humanity. Hooton made a crucial headway regarding human evolution, racial differentiation, and population classification. Also, he critically examined the physical and behavior type of human beings with specific respect to criminal behavior. This essay seeks to discuss the invaluable undertakings and the great contributions that Earnest Albert Hooton made in the field of anthropology (Giles, 2012).

Earnest Albert Hooton

Due to his contribution concerning human evolution studies, Earnest Albert Hooton was a well-known figure both on a national level as well as on the international scene for over forty years. In his studies, Hooton made a comprehensive assessment regarding nonhuman primates and managed anthropometric studies on a massive scale on the living population as well as the skeletal population. Since, Hooton promoted physical anthropology as well as human engineering he influenced various improvement concerning workspace, clothing sizing as well as seating and airframe design. For numerous years, Earnest Hooton had been the primary foundation in the discipline of physical anthropology for graduate students. Hooton with the help of his students enhanced the growth and direction of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (Roberts, 2012).

Birth and Early Life

Anthropologist Earnest Hooton, the only son to an English Methodist minister and the third child, was born on 20th November 1887 in Clemansville, Wisconsin. His father was of an English origin while his mother was a Canadian of Scotch-Irish descent. His childhood life was spent in many small towns in the state as a result of his father’s occupational movements. He was a talented cartoonist who expressed most of his ideas through cartoons and artworks throughout his life and career (Garn and Giles, 1995).

Education

At the age of 15, Hooton graduated with a distinction from Manitowoc High School. He later joined the Lawrence College and studied classics up to 1907 when he graduated. He later graduated with a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1908 and a Ph.D. in 1911(Gale, 2008). During his studies as a graduate student, he received a Rhodes scholarship and spent three years in Oxford at New College. Earnest was influenced by the ideas of R.R Marett and other anthropologists in Oxford. Sir Arthur Keith, whom Hooton studied with, was a scholar of human evolution and a British anatomist and greatly influenced Earnest’s interests towards anthropology. There he progressed to studying classical anthropology to Iron Age and also assisted in excavating Viking boat burials and analysis of the remains (Garn and Giles, 1995).

Career

Earnest Hooton began his teaching career at Harvard University in 1913 with the help of Marett. He would go on to spend forty years at the university where he taught physical anthropology and iron-age archeology and concentrated much on the study of the skeleton and remains. He also contributed to individual reports and studies (Garn and Giles, 1995). He voluntarily joined the Civilian Military Centre at Plattsburgh, New York training after being disqualified for military service as a result of his short-sightedness. In his service as a civilian-military rifleman, he assisted in revising the standards of military recruitment.

Works and Contributions

Hooton’s first works ‘The Ancient Inhabitants of the Canary Islands’ published in 1925, was a reconstruction of the island’s population history through the classification of the Guanche skeletons and cranium. In the 1930s, he developed a national scheme that was an analysis of the Pecos Pueblo extinct (the New Mexico) which he believed were of Indian origin (Wiley Online Library, 2006). In the 1930s, he widened his scope of studies to include criminology. He conducted research in a bid to provide a biological explanation for criminal behaviors. He performed a survey among the American population to determine whether criminal activities were racial or physically linked. Hooton’s investigation resulted in his book, ‘The American Criminal: An Anthropological Study’ that was published in 1939 and ‘Crime and the Man’ (also published in 1939), although both books were controversial and catalyzed criticism (Wiley Online Library, 2006).

Earnest’s other contributions and works include the establishment of the mass surveys model and data analysis method using cards and cards sorting implements preserved in the Peabody Museum’s analytical laboratory (Garn & Giles, 1995). He made great contributions outside the anthropology profession. His other work includes, ‘Up from the Ape’ (1931), ‘Apes, Men, and Morons’ (1937) and ‘Why Men Behave like Apes’, among others.

Earnest Hooton Research Work

Hooton, in 1920, diversified his research from the description of skeletal remains to undertake analyzes of the metric and morphology of huge skeletal assemblages, for instance, the ancient remains initially collected in 1915 in the Canary Islands. He studied remains obtained in Pecos Pueblo that included 500 individuals of different ages that made a crucial change concerning skeletal biology. The remains at Pecos Pueblo were large enough to allow for the study of variation caused by aging in a prehistoric population, in addition to providing a detailed description of the pathological condition within the population (Watkins, 2012)

In the 1930s, Hooton embarked on anthropometric surveys and studies of living human beings comprising of a huge number of criminals across ten states. Years later, he was also able to undertake an anthropometric study for the Irish. It was a mammoth management task to undertake the studies, for instance, tracking workers from distant locations. Hollerith card sorter and IBM Punched cards were a vital role in managing a huge number of individuals. Despite, the immensity of the task there were major accomplishments in the handling of data as well as data analysis. Also, Hooton had an anthropometric booth in operation at the World’s Fair in New York that played a crucial role in gathering a narrative dimensional data on visitors. He also undertook annual anthropometric studies on Harvard freshmen, consequently enhancing crucial investigation into the work that Dudley Sargent initially started (Watkins, 2012).

Hooton is still well known for his work in criminology, where he utilized his work as a part of racial characterization in addition to connecting it to the aspect of criminal conduct. Hooton placed full confidence in Cesare Lombroso's hypothesis concerned with the perceived criminal that indicated the identification of lawbreakers given their physical attributes. Through his particular investigation by reviewing American criminals, Hooton attempted to discover proof supporting Lombroso's hypothesis, proposing that culprits have the second rate attributes contrasted with individuals who do not perpetrate violations. He arranged those attributes into sociological, mental, physical, morphological, and neurotic dimensions.

Hooton indicated that, for instance, lawbreakers are less frequently get married and in most cases undergo a divorce, most have tattoos. Criminals possess thinner body hair and beards, while the hair is often straight with a reddish-brown color. Criminals have mostly mixed colored eyes or blue-grey in color. Also, they have low inclining brows, high nasal scaffolds, and thin lips. Criminal's ears frequently have rolled helix and a distinguishable Darwin's point. Given these perceptions, Hooton inferred that the fundamental reason for criminal conduct is to be found in physical attributes, that is, physical mediocrity (Watkins, 2012).

In 1939, Hooton published “The American Criminal” that constituted the finding from his extensive study of criminals. He proposed that human body shape and constitution could even indicate out which sort of criminal an individual would confer. Tall and slender men have an inclination for homicide and theft; tall-medium substantial men for phony; tall-overwhelming men for first-degree murder; medium tallness overwhelming for standoffish conduct, short-slim for robbery and burglary; short-medium overwhelming for illegal conflagration; while short-substantial men for sex offenses. Pickpockets are smaller in stature, while on the other hand, forgers are taller as well as the best-educated (Roberts, 2012).

Hooton deduced that natural inclinations made a crucial determination concerning degenerate conduct. He demonstrated that the various classes of felons substantially differed regarding the proportions and body size. Therefore, criminals’ occupational selection and self-selection accounted for proportional and dimensional differences. Hooton advocated for the expulsion of lawbreakers from society, stipulating there is no hope for their restoration. Hooton's hypotheses were intensely influenced by eugenic thoughts that received immense criticism. His procedure was genuinely addressed, and his convictions described as supremacists (Roberts, 2012).

Application of Hooton’s Research

While undertaking his anthropometric studies, Hooton developed an important model for undertaking mass surveys allowing for data analysis by employing punched cards as well as card sorting equipment found in his statistical laboratory. The model was highly useful in undertaking large surveys especially in regards to equipment design in both the civilian and the military population. Hooton aided in organizing and providing crucial guidance. Therefore, many of his students involved themselves in the application of human engineering with the Air Force, Chemical Warfare Service, as well as Quartermaster Corps (Watkins, 2012).

Human engineering developed better-fitting, comfortable, user-friendly gadgets such as oxygen masks, gas masks, G-suits, military uniforms, tank interiors, aircraft seating, as well as tank helmets due to Hooton efforts as well as directions. Hooton believed that garments and equipment ought to fit the user rather than the other way round. Also, Hooton was an advocate of ergonomic even before Le Gros Clark coined the term. Numerous nutritional surveys on a national and international level employed Hooton’s designs as well as contributions. After conducting an anthropometric study in Boston’s North Station concerned with commuters, the Hooton study enabled Heywood-Wakefield Company to develop comfortable seats (Roberts, 2012).

Hooton Literary Contribution

In addition to research, Earnest Hooton has some literary works. “Up from the Ape” (1931, 1946) is one of his well-known work that covers the scope of physical anthropology in addition to providing detailed illustration lessons on anthropometry. In 1942, “Man’s Poor Relations” literary work provides a comprehensive treatise concerning primates, their taxonomy, and behavior. Hooton’s literary works have catchy titles, thus attracting a large number of appreciative audiences. Furthermore, the friendly expository writing style allowed students to have a pleasant time reading despite the technicality of the material comprising of Greco-Latin names used in identifying individual genera as well as species of individual fossil (Hefner & Stephen, 2012).

Hooton had popular accounts of literary works such as “Crime and the Man” and “Young Man, You are Normal” regarding that provided vital insights into understanding behavior. Since Hooton was an accomplished cartoonist during high school as well as college, he returned to this skill in his academic career. He used cartoons to liven some of his popular works, as seen in “Subverse” comprising of a hilarious drawing constituting a Harvard meeting (Hefner & Stephen, 2012).

Hooton did not limit his knowledge to only a few specialists but sought to reach out to a greater audience and the public at large. He majorly believed that various problem that is ailing the world was not social in nature, but were fundamentally biological. Therefore, to address various challenges affecting a human being it was important for the society to gain biological education and directing biological actions. Hooton stated that the greatest obstacle to man’s proper therapeutics was man’s indifference towards himself in regard to a biological entity. The only redemption that man has is to undertake a militant program concerned with biological education as well as undertaking direct biological actions (Byrne, Edmondson & Varley, 2015).

Hooton's investigative literary work grasped a wide assortment of points. He provided information on human evolution, creating among different thoughts and ideas of asymmetry in the morphological development of man. He had initially proposed to represent the errors in a now undermined fossil, the Piltdown skull. Consequently, the asymmetry principle is critical in its usefulness to evolution. Rather than the broadly held conviction of that time that all sections of the body had evolved pari passu, Hooton expected a developmental procedure equipped for affecting so as to deliver evident disharmonies on a particular section more than another. Consequently, inferred the versatile procedure is specific as opposed to essentially broad and aggregate. He frequently contributed to talks concerning the evolution of human dentition, a subject on which he likewise lectured at the Harvard Dental School (Byrne, Edmondson & Varley, 2015).

Hooton strongly felt that various trends in modern society had detrimental effects on the welfare of the future. In most instances, he boldly spoke out his mind; at times, the remedies that he suggested were highly unpopular. Hooton stipulated that human decay is unavoidable in a society that refuses to take caution. Hooton was a great public speaker where he was in great demand where he received numerous invitations to make speeches in numerous organizations, societies, as well as Harvard Club. However, he greatly disliked trips that required him to make various travel plans from his home. Although Hooton enjoyed people’s company, he was not actively involved in people’s activities where he reluctantly a leadership position bestowed on him as a member of professional societies where he had a membership (Byrne, Edmondson & Varley, 2015).

Hooton and his Students

Earnest Albert Hooton was a major resource for Ph.D. recipients, for approximately thirty decades in the Physical Anthropology in the United States and the world. He was an inspirational teacher and had a charming personality, with a great wealth of research materials available to his students to undertake critical research. Hooton was excellent at teaching physical anthropology himself until the course demanded additional courses. By continuing research programs, staff expeditions as well as commercial and military projects, he had the ability to avail work-related training as well as financial support during a time when fellowships were scarce and uncommon.

Although, Hooton was a shy man in public he had a cordial relationship with students where he ensured each felt that they were the most favored individual. Unlike other professors that required students to undertake thesis topics according to their interests, Hooton encouraged graduate students to undertake a wider search regarding investigative problems that provided counsel regarding data acquisition as well as thesis writing. His teaching approach allowed the students to have diverse interests where some concentrated on primate comparisons, others in prehistoric and protohistoric skeletal remains, demography, population biology, secular changes in America and immigrant population, as well as histology and genetics (Roberts, 2012).

Hooton ensured that his graduate students had a great acquaintance with the academic world, as he organized numerous conferences as well as regular teas where the students could interact with a large number of visitors. Most of Hooton’s students at the doctoral level entered the field of physical anthropology greatly changing the composition of the American Association of Physical Anthropologist (AAPA) that had previously been dominated by clinicians and anatomists. As years progressed, more and more of Hooton’s students entered the field of physical anthropology consequently becoming a domineering force in the AAPA (Hefner & Stephen, 2012).

Hooton’s Impact on Anthropology

Hooton’s impact on anthropology is far much greater than his formal classroom teaching, as he wants active in undertaking research throughout the length of his career, in addition to having a speculative mind that expressed itself gracefully and with immense skill. He took his research seriously, carefully undertaking surveys and meticulously detailing various outcomes of the investigations. In administering his lectures, Hooton did not give his students lengthy information but allowed his students to be curious to enable them to undertake investigations that would be crucial to solving various problems (Armelagos, 2011).

Hooton has greatly developed physical anthropology from his humble beginnings as a full-time teacher to writing a wide array of literary works. He also inspired and mentored gifted students that carry on the various undertakings that he had originally started resulting in the growth of physical anthropology. Among another anthropologist, Hooton is the one best known to the public since he had a media presence that allowed him to address the society on some issues from various topics. Hooton’s popularity among readers, especially from the public was due to his famous articles, books, as well as speeches. For instance, the initial book that he wrote “Up from the Ape” was to be an exposition concerning physical anthropology, since he was teaching at the time. He ensured that the book was free from traditional conventions such as specialized jargon and tabular analyzes, thus making it easy and enjoyable to read. The books that followed the first allowed Hooton to write about anthropology to a larger audience, without compromising the quality of the content (Armelagos, 2011).

Due to Hooton’s unique position that he held in the field of Anthropology, it is difficult the make evaluations about his peers. Hooton’s honors include membership at the National Academy of Sciences. He also received the Viking Fund Medal in Anthropology as the second recipient, and Lawrence College bestowed on him an honorary degree. Hooton was the founding member of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists where he served as its president for two years. He was also an associate editor of the anthropology journal American Journals of Physical Anthropology for fourteen years. As seen in his official records including his papers, books, articles, achievements as well a productive career, Hooton was a great man in anthropology (Armelagos, 2011).

Hooton Last Years

Hooton last research works were about natural outgrowth concerning the investigation of the bodybuilding as well as a crime since he had turned to the application of a more extensive application of similar theoretical principles. By utilizing the somatotype principle, Hooton explored the relationship between various temperament and body size using a sample of Harvard students who underwent a careful selection. He likewise took after the same procedures in examining huge amounts of data he obtained from military sources. However, much of this work was not published (Byrne, Edmondson & Varley, 2015).

Hooton retired from Harvard after reaching the retirement age of 65 years. Six years later he was invited by Harvard University where he happily resumed teaching. He mainly taught introductory classes that had greatly declined in enrollment. It was during a lecture that Hooton died unexpectedly due to a vascular accident. He died in the United States on 3rd May 1954 at the age of 66. Before his demise, Hooton expressed that he had a deep desire to undertake a trip to England to meet up with his long-time friend and mentor Sir Arthur Keith. At the time of his death, Hooton left behind his wife and three children as well as two grandchildren. Though he had already accepted the University of Wisconsin-Madison award for a doctor of letters degree, he received the award posthumously in spring 1954 (Gale, 2008).

Conclusion

Earnest Hooton was recognized for his welcoming and responsive to people’s needs and comic character through cartoon work. His contributions to anthropology and criminology have influenced scholars and professionals to date. Hooton made a crucial headway regarding human evolution, racial differentiation, and population classification. He promoted physical anthropology as well as human engineering and influenced various improvements concerning workspace, clothing sizing as well as seating and airframe designs. He also developed an important model for undertaking mass surveys, allowing for data analysis by employing punched cards as well as the card sorting equipment found in his statistical laboratory. Hooton sought to reach out to a greater audience and the public at large. Therefore, Hooton’s literary works that had catchy titles consequently attracted a large number of appreciative audiences. Also, the friendly expository writing style allowed students to have a pleasant time reading despite the technicality of the material. Hooton’s survey’s provided quality insights regarding criminal, civilian and military undertakings. He also had a remarkable impact in the world of anthropology that was far much greater than his formal classroom teaching, as he would actively undertake research throughout the length of his career. As a person, he was able to have a unique impact on his students, colleagues, the nations and the entire world as a whole.