Mònica Balltondre

Metapsychics in Spain acknowledging or questioning the marvellous

The present article deals with a kind of parapsychology called metapsychics (metapsíquica) as conceived and practised in Spain between 1923 and 1925. First we focus on the reception of a treatise by Richet that evoked both support (Ferrán) and criticism (Mira). Then we examine some experiments on clairvoyance performed at the Marquis of Santa Cara’s home, dealing chiefly with the rise and fall of a case of prodigious vision. The analysis gives special attention to the question of how metapsychics was understood and to which discussions it gave rise. The authors argue that the project of metapsychics must be understood within a frame of two tendencies, namely, the increasing popularization and the demarcation of science that were under way in modern society.

En el umbral de lo desconocido: Un caso de visión extraordinaria en la España de Primo de Rivera

En este articulo analizamos las reacciones suscitadas entre cientificos e intelectuales sobre un caso sensacional: la supuesta vision a traves de materiales opacos por parte del hijo del marques de Santa Cara, que atrajo la atencion de la sociedad espanola alrededor de 1924. Algunos conocidos cientificos e intelectuales como Cabrera, Torres Quevedo, Gimeno y Valle-Inclan, certificaron la autenticidad del fenomeno. El trabajo trata de comprender los motivos de este hecho, recogiendo las teorias que se barajaban en la epoca en torno a nuevos tipos de rayos y desconocidas capacidades psiquicas. En el contexto de la Espana dominada por el Regimen primoriverista, dos ingenieros avanzaban explicaciones metapsiquicas de signo patriotico, mientras que el marques uso su posicion social para avalar el caso y promocionar su labor cientifica en el terreno de la metapsiquica. Sin embargo, el prodigioso aristocrata y sus promotores vivieron un serio reves a partir del encuentro con el famoso ilusionista Houdini y la critica del psiquiatra Rodriguez Lafora quien interpreto la hazana como producto de la sugestion.

AIMS OF TEACHERS' PSYCHOMETRY: INTELLIGENCE TESTING IN BARCELONA (1920)

After World War I, members of the teaching profession in Spain were interested in appropriating psychological measurement and bringing it within the expertise of their occupational field, with the intention of upgrading their profession. As professionals devoted to the child, educators attempted to explore the infantile psyche using intelligence tests, with the intention of making scientific contributions to the field of psychology. In the present article we take as a key event one particular application enacted by a Catalan teacher, and insert that case study into the complex local scientific and educational context. It was a context in which the professional interests of teachers competed with those of school physicians, psychologists, and pedologists, at a time when important changes in pedagogical methods and school systems were under way. In the hand of teachers, intelligence testing was mainly seen as a malleable method on which to base daily educational practice on a more individualized and scientific basis. The historical analysis of the case turned out to be instrumental in the identification of common features and particularities attributable to specific local needs. In a society where public schooling competed with private schools, the results of mental testing were used to demonstrate publicly the excellent intellectual level of children attending a public graded primary school in Barcelona. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Archive for the history of psychology in Spain: The Archivo Histórico, Bibliográfico y Documental de Psicología of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

In this article, we describe the content, sources, and history of the Archivo Histórico de la Facultad de Psicología (the Historical Archive for the History of Psychology) at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, Spain). This archive is the result of the task carried out by some professors of the Faculty of Psychology at UAM for the preservation and increase of sources for a history of psychology in Spain. Collections from the 19th to the 20th century were recovered because of the UAM effort and some other contributions. Most of the sources for a history of psychology in the Spanish context were unknown and nearly lost before Faculty of Psychologys task. Among other projects, UAM archive is acquiring classical texts of psychology by buying facsimiles from different publishing houses and, what is more relevant, they guarantee access to the sources for research purposes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

La oración como técnica de subjetivación en la espiritualidad cristiana del siglo XVI

Resumen La investigación de este trabajo analiza el papel que la práctica de la oración supuso en la regulación del individuo a mediados del siglo XVI, dentro del contexto espiritual español. Parece que su uso—como parte de un trabajo personal para vivir acorde con la fe y doctrina cristianas—se extendió en el siglo XVI, a juzgar por el auge en la demanda de los libros espirituales que la contenían como ejercicio y de la proliferación de libros pensados propiamente para la oración. Una oración que entendemos como técnica individual de comunicación con Dios para fines de formación personales. Vamos a estudiarla considerándola una práctica cristiana que medió percepciones que uno/a tenía de sí mismo/a y codificó modos de ser, postulando, así, su contribución en la construcción de una determinada subjetividad espiritual.