Orientations of research in psychology: San Luis, Argentina, 1958-1982

Abstract

Since the creation of the first psychology careers in Argentina, in the mid-1950s, psychology has been conceived there as "science" and "profession." The historiographic literature has emphasized the review of the professionalization process of Argentine psychology, and to a lesser extent it has been devoted to its examination as a science. The present work describes the scientific production registered in the psychology career of San Luis, a city located in the center of the Argentine Republic, in the period between 1958 and 1982, within the framework of the creation of this career in Argentine national universities. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies were combined in the analysis of documentary sources and testimonies of key informants, with which databases were built. University policies were put in the foreground, which, combined with prominent personalities, favored the development of research in psychology in the registered direction. Scientific production was classified by thematic area and theoretical line, which allowed visualizing the gestation and evolution of a community of psychologists that was differentiating into two groups: the psychoanalyst and the behavioral one. The scientific production of the second group was the majority, which was in contrast to the mainstream in the other Argentine universities: psychoanalysis.