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.

中文翻译：

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物相学和普通人，1840–1940年

颅相学的流行科学因其对天才和犯罪分子的专注而闻名，但本文显示，颅相学家还介绍了有关“普通人”的观点。在美国和英国，流行的颅相学家检查了他们的顾客的头部，以表明他们的性格。基于颅相学家的出版物和大量带有客户评分的标准化图表，本文分析了他们对“平均”水平的定义。可以得出的结论是，颅相学家是最早教给个人关于想象中的统计界的人的身份的一些人。