Between the second half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th,there were spread in some European nations, mainly in Germany, Austria and France, three psychological approaches that harboredthe pretense to promote some innovative perspectives on the study and treatment of an important range of behavioral and human personality problems: mesmerism, physiognomy and cranioscopy or phrenology. Its main historical representatives, Franz Anton Mesmer, Johann Caspar Lavater and Franz Joseph Gall, enjoyed popularity and success, but at the same time also evoked strong criticism and gave rise to many inflamed detractors. Some of these practices, such as phrenology, survived until well into the 20th century, only to then decline in its appeal and social influence. However, the evolution of each led to the development of new fields of research. In the first part of this article we explore two of these three movements, mesmerism and physiognomy, from a perspective based on history; analyzing their relevance as a background for the emergence of applied psychology at the end of the nineteenth century. The methodology is based on an exposition of the main relevant facts, using both primary and secondary sources for the proper contextualization of the ideas being discussed.
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