What's the difference between discredit and phrenology?

Discredit


Definition:

  • (n.) The act of discrediting or disbelieving, or the state of being discredited or disbelieved; as, later accounts have brought the story into discredit.
  • (n.) Hence, some degree of dishonor or disesteem; ill repute; reproach; -- applied to persons or things.
  • (v. t.) To refuse credence to; not to accept as true; to disbelieve; as, the report is discredited.
  • (v. t.) To deprive of credibility; to destroy confidence or trust in; to cause disbelief in the accuracy or authority of.
  • (v. t.) To deprive of credit or good repute; to bring reproach upon; to make less reputable; to disgrace.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) A bit like the old Lib Dems, perhaps: and indeed the Greens owe a big chunk of their surge to the exodus of voters from Clegg’s discredited rump.
  • (2) No doubt New Labour ministers would regard such moves as protectionism, locked as they are in a discredited free-market mindset.
  • (3) He used the pre-recorded speech to deny accusations of embezzlement, saying: "They aim to tarnish my reputation and discredit my integrity, my stance, my political and military history during which I worked hard for Egypt and its people in peace and war."
  • (4) Moreover, genetics textbooks consistently employ confused or misleading definitions of the concept of heritability that, together with the reporting of discredited data, perpetuate a fundamentally inaccurate understanding of the genetics of intelligence.
  • (5) It said Clinton's "cheap shots" had a hidden agenda to discredit China's engagement with Africa and "drive a wedge between China and Africa for the US selfish gain."
  • (6) And while neoliberalism had been discredited, western governments used the crisis to try to entrench it.
  • (7) Double-label immunoelectron microscopy was used to demonstrate directly the co-existence of ICL and SGAT within individual microbodies, thereby discrediting the two-population hypothesis.
  • (8) Rubio was asked during the debate how he would handle the nation’s finances if he couldn’t handle his own, to which the senator similarly defended himself against what he said were “discredited” attacks.
  • (9) However, many fear that candidates are focusing on fraud in an unscrupulous attempt to set the ground for complaints if they lose, and risk discouraging voters and discrediting the entire election process along the way.
  • (10) Preventive intestinal intubation for ileus prophylaxis in cases of diffuse peritonitis and extended adhesion ileus had often been discredited for the technically demanding and thus time-consuming technique involved.
  • (11) Although it is still early days, some have suggested that, if successful, the model could act as an alternative to prosecutions by the International Criminal Court, which has become discredited in the eyes of many Africans.
  • (12) In a statement to the Guardian this week, Exxon spokesman Richard Keil reiterated: “ExxonMobil does not fund climate denial.” Alec, an ultra-conservative lobby group, has hosted seminars promoting the long-discredited idea that rising carbon dioxide emissions are the “elixir of life”, and was behind legislation banning state planners in North Carolina from considering future sea-level rise.
  • (13) Half a dozen times now they have produced elaborate redesigns of the old, discredited Press Complaints Commission , each subtly different but none delivering the simple, effective, independent redress that Leveson said was necessary.
  • (14) Caro Gonzales, a 26-year-old member of the Chemehuevi tribe and an anti-police violence activist in Washington state, said the language from law enforcement officials resembled that used to discredit unarmed black men killed by police.
  • (15) He deflected the question as an example of an attack which he said was “ discredited ”.
  • (16) Though the evidence that austerity is not working continues to mount, Germany and the other hawks have doubled down on it, betting Europe’s future on a long-discredited theory.
  • (17) Every effort was made to discredit those who rejected the case for invasion and occupation – and would before long be comprehensively vindicated.
  • (18) The future It is therefore surprising that this now discredited notion has been resurrected in the current debate over who can use which public restrooms.
  • (19) It also offers advice on how to talk to your employer, as it’s common for abusers to bombard a target’s workplace with false accusations, hoax phone calls and other tactics designed to discredit them.
  • (20) Surgeons working with laser beam may discredit the method by putting the indication not rigorusly enough.

Phrenology


Definition:

  • (n.) The science of the special functions of the several parts of the brain, or of the supposed connection between the various faculties of the mind and particular organs in the brain.
  • (n.) In popular usage, the physiological hypothesis of Gall, that the mental faculties, and traits of character, are shown on the surface of the head or skull; craniology.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The paper describes the design and use of a machine, the "Psychograph," which automatically measured the size and shape of the skull and provided evaluations of mental traits according to phrenological principles.
  • (2) Phrenology, best described as a pseudo or even voodoo science "of the mind", had created its own prolific market for the body parts – especially heads – of Australian and other indigenous people since the late 18th century.
  • (3) It is held that this circularity of definition reflects the fundamental unity of conscious experience and, as a consequence, that the search for the biological substrate underlying individual functions too readily degenerates into a morphological and biochemical phrenology.
  • (4) Professor of engineering and psychology in the US, William Uttal, calls these trends in neuroscience "neo-phrenology".
  • (5) Long after phrenology was widely discredited, Aboriginal skulls were still sought and displayed with the same benign sentiment that one might attach to animal remains.
  • (6) Practices based on such concepts are now considered by most to be a manifestation of quackery, though phrenology is still believed in by some.
  • (7) Phrenology is based on the assumption that various modalities of behavior are localized to specific morphologic areas of the brain.
  • (8) Some of the anthropologists, attracted to phrenology, asked for skulls, while others wanted skin with elaborate tribal markings.