NORMOTYPE. - An individual whose characteristics, both in constitution and in temperament and disposition, display values equal to the statistical “norm.”
According to N. Pende, the normotype must embody such normative perfection not only in bodily habitus, but also from the dynamic-humoral, intellectual, and moral standpoints; under these conditions, he admits it only as a theoretical type, denying its practical realization. Quetelet and Viola, on the other hand, uphold its existence in the proportion of 1.3%, basing themselves, however, solely on the morphological aspect (constitution).
More particularly, Viola distinguishes two varieties of normotype: the upper paracentral type (with body mass above the statistical norm), and the lower paracentral type (with body mass below the norm); in both, however, the equilibrium of the relations proper to normotypy, especially that between trunk and limbs, would be preserved. Viola’s upper paracentral normotype would correspond to the athletic type of the German constitutionalists and to De Giovanni’s second morphological combination.