Proposals and reflections from psychology for the study of history

Abstract

Contemporary historiography asks for the inclusion of new approaches in the study of the past and also alerts about the necessity of taking in consideration other social sciences contributions. The present essay is a summary of the most relevant contributions of the psychology to the study of the history, and exposes some thoughts about new areas of mutual co-operation between psychologists and historians. The pioneer relevance of psychoanalysis and psychology of personality to the emergence of psycohistory and psychobiography is analyzed, as well as the heuristic value of the social and organizational psychology research about leadership for the study of historical prominent figures. Besides, some theories in the field of what is denominated as personality-at-distance methodology are presented as important contributions from the political psychology and psycholinguistics. The emergence of some new areas in the study of the past like history of mentalities, oral history, history of day-to-day life and history of the private life can be additional opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration due to their proximity to issues close to the psychological object of study and research.