The Junta para Ampliación de Estudios and the development of Spanish Psychology

Abstract

During the last decades of the XIXth. century, there was an awakening of consciousnesss for the need of a Spanish cultural renovation, of which one of the aims was to create and develop a Spanish science, resembling the scientific models already established in more advanced countries. There was a desire of europeanization. Since it was a global social objective, it was necessary to start from the educator’s training. In this climate the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas, appeared. The role that the Junta played in Spanish research and in the innovation in the Psychopedagogical field through the first third of the XXth. century was extremely important. The Junta’s policy of scholarships was one of its most substantial achievements, for it made possible that the country reached in a few decades (1907-1936) the European scientific and psychological level. The relations among Spanish teachers and the Institute J.J. Rousseau is to be highlighted, as «Geneva School» was to influence deeply the further development of psychology in Spain.