Abstract
This article explores the medical use of techniques for psychological evaluation in the dispensarios de lactantes (infant and toddler clinics) in Buenos Aires within the framework of historical studies of psychology in Argentina. It analyzes the institutional environment in order to shed light on the framework of discourses within which the interest in controlling psychological development may be situated. It studies the tests used, the characteristics of application and the most significant results. It explores the vicissitudes of the professional field, in the light of which psychology was useful for consolidating the legitimacy of medical knowledge. It points out a divergence between this medical use of psychology and the production and circulation of psychological knowledge in academic and educational environments.
pediatric medicine; psychology; developmental evaluation; Argentina