The discontinuity in scientific psychology at the University of Rome, 1907–1947: From general psychology to psychotechnics.

Abstract

This article examines the areas of research conducted at the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology of the University of Rome from 1907 to 1947, directed first by Sante De Sanctis (1862-1935), and then, from 1931 on, by Mario Ponzo (1882-1960). The method used to distinguish the topics and areas of research that characterized the Roman School during this period is the textual analysis of the titles of the journal in which studies completed at the laboratory were published, namely, [Psychological Contributions of the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology]. This empirical analysis, which complements and supports the historiographical interpretation, demonstrates the disciplines that emerged under a system managed by the directors over 2 periods of time in the pursuit of scientific psychology in Rome and in Italy. This analysis highlights the process of adjustment from a traditional, general approach to a more theoretical-technical application. This article is a new contribution to the Italian debate on the periodization of the "crisis" in Italian psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record

The degree course in psychology in Rome in the history of Italian psychology.

“…It is believed that the Institute, together with the Chair, lost in 1938 the original name “Experimental,” to correspond to the needs of the educational system designed at that stage by the Minister of National Education of the fascist regime Giuseppe Bottai (1895–1959). He was at that time a promoter with the Carta della Scuola [Charter of the School], a national project on education, based on the psychotechnical selection of students, both in school and in the professional field, with which the Institute of Psychology directed by Mario Ponzo (1882–1960) dealt constantly (Morgese et al, 2016). 3 This gradual transformation toward an applicative approach was directed to conform to the totalitarian policies of the fascist regime that required the few remaining academic psychologists to take on a social commitment.…”

Rewriting Wundtian psychology: Luigi Credaro and the psychology in Rome.

“…It is clear that at the beginning of the 20th century there was a small group of scholars in Rome who shared a particular vision of psychology and human sciences as scientific disciplines both in terms of basic research and applications of psychology, especially in the field of pedagogy (Morgese et al, 2016). Indeed, Montessori stated this:[The Fifth International Congress of Psychology] voted that in relation to the pedagogical school recently established by decree by Minister Orlando, experimental psychology and pedagogical anthropology should be put in the forefront in accordance with today's fundamental principles of educational science and with the ideas expressed on various occasions by Minister Bianchi and set out in a recent vote of the Higher Council [of Education].…”

“…It is clear that at the beginning of the 20th century there was a small group of scholars in Rome who shared a particular vision of psychology and human sciences as scientific disciplines both in terms of basic research and applications of psychology, especially in the field of pedagogy (Morgese et al, 2016). Indeed, Montessori stated this:…”

“…Rather, a history of Italian psychology has been made focused on places other than Rome, which instead was chosen as the capital and was the object of a scientific as well as social renewal. The moving of the capital from Florence to Rome occurred in 1871 after the unification of Italy in 1861 (Morgese et al, 2016). On this occasion, a project for the restoration of the university of Rome was organized through the arrival of prestigious scientists from the most diverse Italian universities in order to give Rome a central role for the development of the entire nation; even the natural sciences were considered at the service of a process of renewal of the Italian institutions that followed the end of the temporal power of the Pope (Rogora, 2015).…”

‘Dementia praecocissima’: the Sante De Sanctis model of mental disorder in child psychiatry in the 20th century

“…In 1906 De Sanctis obtained the first Chair in Experimental Psychology in the University of Rome, where he created the Experimental Psychology Laboratory. The Laboratory's work was described in the 11 volumes of the journal Contributi del Laboratorio di Psicologia sperimentale from 1907 to 1955 (Morgese, Lombardo and Albani, 2016). De Sanctis had many interests, but he dedicated several years to child psychopathology, as his treatise Neuropsichiatria infantile (1925) attests.…”