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.
During the last decades of the XIXth century, there was an awakening of consciousness 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 scholarship 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 highlighted, as "Geneva School" was to influence deeply the further development of psychology in Spain.
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