Instituto de Ciencias del Hombre and Spanish psychology in the transition (1973-1984): an understudied relationship.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show the historical importance of the Instituto de Ciencias del Hombre for the development of psychology in Spain. The Instituto de Ciencias del Hombre was a private institution which gave support to Spanish psychology in a very crucial moment of its history. As identified in the analysis of primary sources, the Institute promoted the attractiveness of psychology in a growing number of potential customers. Indeed, while Spain was going through a political transition from dictatorship to democracy, and psychology was striving for its academic, scientific and professional consolidation, the Instituto de Ciencias del Hombre organized a number of activities which greatly contributed to stimulate an interest in psychological knowledge. The work of the Instituto, however, has gone inexplicably unnoticed by most of the historians devoting themselves to the institutional analysis of Spanish psychological history.