The origins of scientific psychology in Spain: the process of institutionalization

The development of psychological science in Spain, as in other countries, was closely associated with the creation of institutions that sheltered and promoted its activities. Contrary to the case of German psychology, however, whose origins have been usefully epitomized by the foundation of Wundt's laboratory in Leipzig, no single institutional event can similarly be properly said to mark the beginning of Spanish scientific psychology. The institutionalization of modern psychology in Spain was instead a long, eventful process, often hindered by political uneasiness, difficult social conditions, and ideological confrontation. In this paper, the institutionalizing process of Spanish scientific psychology will be dealt with, from the beginning of the Restoration period in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, to the early decades of the twentieth century. Three crucial stages will be distinguished. Firstly, the reception of psychological ideas through "protopsychological"--or, at least, not specifically psychological--institutions. Secondly, the attempt at institutionalizing psychological training at the university through the creation of a Chair of Experimental Psychology at the University of Madrid in 1900. Thirdly, the expansion of psychology as an applied science through numerous institutions specifically devised to deal with practical problems of a basically educational and industrial nature. The Civil War prevented the final consolidation of this process, which only years later, in the second half of the twentieth century, could be reinitiated and completed.