Resumo

MELCHIORI, Lígia Ebner; ALVES, Zélia Maria Mendes Biasoli; SOUZA, Dayana Coelho  e  BUGLIANI, Maria Aparecida Priolli. Family and day care: beliefs about the temperament and performance of babies. Psic.: Teor. e Pesq. [online]. 2007, vol.23, n.3, pp. 245-252. ISSN 0102-3772.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-37722007000300002.

The following article intends to develop a critical reflection about the process of condemnation of animal magnetism. From a critical stand to the linear and progressive versions of the history of Psychology, in which magnetism is excluded or little explored, the article seeks to achieve two objectives. First, to question a few typical surmises of the dominant historical version, such as the idea that animal magnetism would not have resisted the requirements of scientific methodology. Second, to provide an alternative to comprehend the process based on the idea that the rejection of animal magnetism occurred in part, due to the opposition of existing epistemological principles between this and the modern project of science. The article concludes by pointing out the accidental character of the birth of the psychological field as from that condemnation, the adversity of reasons that it complies, and questions the notion of typical progress to the modern project of science that inspired the birth of Psychology.

Palavras-chave : beliefs; educators; mothers; child development; temperament.