Abstract

Previous studies suggest that the origin of political psychology and political psychology in Chile would have been generated with the work Balmaceda y el Parlamentarismo en Chile, Un estudio de psicología política chilena, by the politician and historian Ricardo Salas Edwards, at the beginning of the 20th century, shifting back the historical line from clinical and social psychology as a consequence of the psychological disorders provoked by the military dictatorship in the mid-1970s. But in addition, through a content analysis, we argue that political psychology owes its origin to the psychohistorical character of this narrative. In this sense, this article analyzes the contributions of Salas Edwards to the emergence of Political Psychology from his understanding of the political events of 1891.