Psychohistory: From Historiography to History Education

The purpose of this study is to examine the historical development of psychohistory in the historical process and the field of historiography and also practices in history education and teaching. The psychological interpretation of history dates back to historical studies resembling the biography of the early ages. The psychological interpretation of history after the XVIII. Century was based on concepts such as national character, national spirit. The use of Freud's psychoanalytic theory at the beginning of the XX. Century to understand the people who were living in the past was the basis of psychoanalytic psychohistory studies. The most used product of the approach was psychobiography. Psychobiography was used to describe political history through the work of Lewis Namier (1888-1960) collective biography. Psychohistory studies have been criticized for reasons such as determinism, the anachronism. Psychohistory was perceived as a different interpretation of the theory of great men. The applications of psychohistory to history education abroad focused on the Hitler case in the center of psychohistory studies in the USA. However, few psychohistory studies in Turkey with different approaches than solid Freudian Western examples have made an effort to understand Turkish history. The few psychohistory studies in Turkey await the discovery of history educators in the understanding of the development of the Turkish art, in establishing the link between past and present.