The origins of industrial psychology in Spain

Abstract

The interest Spanish psychologists had during the first third of the 20th century towards the social and economic reform matters, provided a strong irruption of Industrial Psychology in Spain. In the United States, a great part of the research carried out in this field was based on Scientific Management, an empirical, applied, and multidisciplinar field derived from F.W. Taylor's conceptions. The adoption of Taylorism and its evolution on the way to a psychosocial position, closer to the European research, shows very interesting consequences on the Spanish scientific literature, especially on that of the psychotechnicians. We study the spreading of these over several institutions and publications in order to reach a more detailed knowledge of its influence on the members of the Psychotechnics School of Madrid.