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This study presents an approach to the origins of applied psychology, with consideration of the social and cultural context surrounding the development of science in Europe from the end of the 19th century. The second part provides quantitative information on the contents of applied psychology in its early history by looking at the evolution of participation, countries, authors, and subjects at the International Congresses of Applied Psychology from 1921 to 1958. This is done by applying bibliometric analysis objective methodology on the indexes and proceedings volumes.

In recent years, our knowledge about the historical developments of psychological ideas has increased substantially. This fact may partly be explained as an after-effect of the widespread Kuhnian model of science. The idea that scientists deal with phenomena by handling theoretical models of only temporally limited validity brought to the fore the salience of historical views of science as an indispensable means for an in-depth understanding of theories and practice in the scientific world.

In addition, many centennial celebrations have enabled us to recover the memory of our past. Although a lot of work may be seen as merely ceremonial, large pieces of the past have been focused on—and all of us are benefiting from such recoveries.

In studies of the past development of our science, theory and application were kept apart from one another as if they were two unrelated disciplines. In our view applied psychology has not been—or not always been—the mere application of previous theoretical knowledge to the realm of daily life. As Frisby put it in the closing lecture at the Rome congress in 1958,

“basic and applied research … may well go hand in hand, but they can quite easily be prosecuted separately....