Who was Phineas Gage? What the textbooks get wrong about his famous brain injury

Today we're talking about Phineas Gage and his traumatic brain injury. The textbooks all say he had a major change in personality, but sometimes the truth is more complicated. We look at the real case, but also look at how other people with facial trauma cope with the change, and we talk about how real stories become myths, legends, and tall tales to help teach psychology.

Further Reading:

Harlow, J. M. (1860). Recovery from the passage of an iron bar through the head. History of Psychiatry, 4(14), 274-281. https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catal...

Griggs, R. A. (2015). Coverage of the Phineas Gage story in introductory psychology textbooks: was Gage no longer Gage?. Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 195-202. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628315587614

Macmillan, M., & Lena, M. L. (2010). Rehabilitating Phineas Gage. Neuropsychological rehabilitation, 20(5), 641-658. https://doi.org/10.1080/0960201100376...

Macmillan (2000) Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of Phineas Gage's Accident, Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 9:1, 90-93, https://doi.org/10.1076/0964-704X(200...

Wilgus, J., & Wilgus, B. (2009). Face to face with Phineas Gage. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 18(3), 340-345. https://doi.org/10.1080/0964704090301...

Bradbury, E. (2012). Meeting the psychological needs of patients with facial disfigurement. British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 50(3), 193-196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjoms.2010....

Kotowicz, Z. (2007). The strange case of Phineas Gage. History of the Human Sciences, 20(1), 115-131. https://doi.org/10.1177/0952695106075178