The popular science of phrenology is known for its preoccupation with geniuses and criminals, but this article shows that phrenologists also introduced ideas about the ‘average’ person. Popular phrenologists in the US and the UK examined the heads of their clients to give an indication of their character. Based on the publications of phrenologists and on a large collection of standardized charts with clients’ scores, this article analyses their definition of what they considered to be the ‘average’. It can be concluded that phrenologists were some of the first to teach individuals to see their identity in relation to an imagined statistical community.
...MoreArticle Peter Cryle; Elizabeth Stephens (2021) Normality: A Collection of Essays. History of the Human Sciences (pp. 3-8).
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History of the Human Sciences
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation
Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
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