Resumo

ZANGARI, Wellington  e  MARALDI, Everton de Oliveira. Psychology of mediumship: from the intrapsychic to a psychosocial approach. Bol. - Acad. Paul. Psicol. [online]. 2009, vol.29, n.2, pp. 233-252. ISSN 1415-711X.

This article proposes to raise some of the main aspects that characterized the history of scientific researches on the phenomenon of mediumship, since its conceptions that tended, initially, to focus more on intrapsychic aspects of mediumistic experience to more recent conceptions that include seeking a psychosocial perspective. A brief overview of the pioneering studies on mediumship is presented, emphasizing the contribution of the researches done by members of the Society for Psychical Research between the XIX and XX centuries, and in which thir interest was mostly centered in verifying the hypothesis of survival than in elucidating the psychology involved in mediumistic phenomena, although many of their contributions were significant for an explanation of the psychodynamics and psychopathology of mediumship. The sociologists and anthropologists were the ones that, more recently began to devote their attention to mediumistic phenomena offering explanations in a more sensitive reading of cultural and psychosocial aspects of these experiences. The work initiated by these researchers triggered a significant change in the way of seeing the phenomenon of mediumship, priorly understood only in the level of psychopathological or intrapsychic theories, which tended to be reductionistic in front of the complexity of such experiences. The article also shows recent research contributions in Brazil, that from a psychosocial perspective intend to reach a more effective understanding of the gaps that still surround the area of psychological studies about mediumship.

Palavras-chave : Mediumship; Intrapsychic; Psychosocial; Scientific research of mediumship.

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