Psychoanalyzing intelligence: Béla Székely’s Los Tests
Metadatos
Mostrar el registro completo del ítemAutor
Molinari, VictoriaEditorial
Universidad de Granada
Materia
Intelligence History of Psychology Psychoanalysis Argentina
Fecha
2020-12-31Referencia bibliográfica
Molinari, V. «Psychoanalyzing Intelligence». Dynamis: Acta Hispanica Ad Medicinae Scientiarumque Historiam Illustrandam, Vol. 40, Núm. 2, octubre de 2021, p. 375-98 [http://dx.doi.org/10.30827/dynamis.v40i2.17971]
Patrocinador
Project, UNLP S050, «Psychology and social order: theoretical and political controversies in psychological interventions in Argentina (1900- 1990)»; Project Centers and peripheries: circulation, reception and the transformation of psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis knowledge (1900-1990); UBACyT 20020170100602BA; Postdoctoral scholarship from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)Resumen
This paper aims to analyze the definition of intelligence that appeared in the
book Los Tests (1946) written by BélaSzékely, a Hungarian psychologist who emigrated to
Argentina in 1938. Although Székely’s work was mainly related to psychoanalysis and child
psychology, the publication of this compilation of psychometric tests became one of his most
influential works, in which he based his observations on the ideas of Wilhelm Stern, Sigmund
Freud, and Alfred Adler. The methodology used in this article is based on a qualitative and
interpretative analysis of bibliographical sources from the perspectives of the critical history
of psychology and intellectual history in Argentina in the 1930s and 1940s. In using this
approach, I analyze what other specialists thought of intelligence, in contrast to the ideas
presented by Székely. The article approaches the issue first by briefly presenting the author
in question, and his position within Hungarian and Argentinian intellectual groups. Then, it
studies general understandings of ‘intelligence’ and ‘intellectual level’ in Argentina around the
time that Székely’s book made its first appearance and, finally, it examines to what extent his
viewpoint was different. The articulation between epistemological and historical discussions
allows us to reflect not only on the transformations present in scientific constructs such as
intelligence but also on the implications they had within the scientific community and on a
wider social and political level. If intelligence was considered to be a neutral concept, then
a mere compilation of tests would be enough for its dissemination. Székely’s book made an
impact because it contributed to the availability of testing technology, the popularization of
said technology, and the intelligence concept.