'Am I really a Psychologist?'. "Making sense of a super-human social role

This Introduction sets the stage for seeing the issue of professional education of psychologists in the larger social context. Creating psychologists is an example of social construction of roles of “the other”—somebody else but oneself, who is needed for the self. The social role is co-created by social institutions (as these set up the roles and economic conditions for any profession), that create the role of psychologists as a profession—and by laypersons who begin to believe that their particular problems need help from professional psychologists). Analyses of histories and contemporary frames for educating psychologists (in Italy, USA, Norway, and Austria) represent the translation of societies’ expectations for the professional role. This Special Issue combines such analyses with investigations of development of psychologists’ role during their course of studies and their functioning within the role as therapists.