Science and technology studies and the historiography of psychology: Towards a critical analysis

Abstract

This paper examines the relationships established between the fields of history of psychology, and science, technology and society studies (STS). We first present a brief historical overview to situate the present status of the field of psychology within the broad STS arena. We then describe the influence of STS studies in the field of history of psychology through a literature review that emphasizes Ibero-American productions in these areas. Our findings suggest that STS studies can contribute to the understanding the historical issues in psychology through seven areas of intersecting sociological and historical research, which involve the study of psychological objects, the history of psychological instrumentation, the historical analysis of psychology as a discipline and the study of psychology teaching and education, among others. The paper concludes that STS studies play an important role in advancing the production of historical knowledge, shedding light on the conceptual frameworks used in historical research, clarifying historical inquires, and assisting in the process to define psychological epistemic objects.