The Decade 1989–1998 in Spanish Psychology: An Analysis of Research in Social Psychology

Abstract

lo this papar, an overview of Ihe evolution and currení situation of professional psychology in Spain is offered. From a historical viewpoint, since (he seventies, the profession of psychologist jo Spain has advanced significantly jo both quality ané quantity. There are many different masoos for this development, although jo Ihis papa, we highlight two: the introduction of the Psychology Degree and Ihe developnient of a professional identity doc lo dic influenee of an organization such as Ihe "Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos" [COP-Official College of Psychologists, also denonúnated 'me Spanish Psychological Assocíationj. Our descripdon of te currení situarion is based on the analysis of Ihe results of 6765 surveys out of the approximately 28,000 that were sení to mnembers of te professional College. lo general, diese resulís revea! a pmfession prcdominantly practiced by young women (mean ¿¡ge 36 years), working preferably lo the clinical area, whose Iheoretical orientation is mainly behavioral, located for the most part in urban areas, and chietly working in private practice. The majo currení professional psychology fielós jo our country will be analyzed in detail, according to the following entena: rype of center where the professional works, intervention arcas, and írainiog required fon professjonal practice. Sorne final netlections about (he defense of ocr professioo are comrnented upan, proposing training and acereditation strategies as the besí way lo face iocreasing problems about the entry of unqualified people joto Ihe profession. En este frabajo se pretende dar una vístón de la evolicón y la situación actual de la Psicok~gia profesional española. Desde un punto de vista histórico, la profesión de psicólogo en España ha tenido un importante desarrollo cualitativo y cuantitativo desde los años 70. Las bases sobre las que se ha apoyado dicho desarrollo son múltiples y de diverso carácter, aunque en este trabajo se resaltan dos: la implantación del título de Licenciado en Psicología y el desarrollo de una identidad profesional a través de la influencia que ejerce una organización como el Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos (COP). La descripción de la situación actual se lleva a cabo mediante el análisis de los resultados de los 6.765 colegiados que respondieron a la encuesta que el COP envió a la totalidad sus tasi 28.000 miembros. Dichos resultados, con carácter general, dibujan una profesión de composición mayoritariamente femenina, aún joven (36 años de media) con una dedicación preferente al campo clínico, de orientación teórica predominantemente conductual, localizada fundamentalmente en áreas urbanas y con un ejercicio mayoritariamente privado. Posteriormente, y de forma pormenorizada, se analizan las principales especialidades profesionales de la Psicología que se ejercen actualmente en nuestro país, atendiendo a los siguientes criterios: tipo de centro en el que se ejerce, ámbitos de intervención y formación necesaria para el ejercicio profesional. Por último, se apuntan algunas reflexiones finales sobre la...

The Mapping of Spanish Social Psychology through its Conferences: A Bibliometric Perspective

“…The thematic areas in which the papers are grouped may be reflective of research interests favored by investigators but without forgetting the indirect influence of institutional policies and funding. In this sense, and in agreement with what Blanco and de la Corte (2001) have shown, it is clear that the applied social psychology thematic area predominates over the basic thematic area. However, the diversity of thematic areas in relationship to institutional affiliation, an exception made on areas such as work and organizational psychology, poses some important questions about the social conditions the affect the development of thematic areas.…”

“…The growth in the number of specialized publications and of international meetings centered on qualitative research is evidence of the situation. This activity may be evidence of a network in movement based on the relationships established between researchers, orientations and schools, advancing a possible account of what Blanco and de la Corte (2001) describe with respect to the predominance of Anglo-Saxon models in psychosocial research.…”

“…The Mapping of Spanish Social Psychology through its Conferences: A Bibliometric Perspective Amalio Blanco and Luis de la Corte (2001) published an article in this same journal detailing the theoretical and research production of Spanish Social Psychology for the decade from 1989 to 1998, based on information gathered from databases such as MEDLINE, PsycLIT, ERIC and PSICODOC98 as well as on papers presented at five Spanish social psychology conferences. The authors point out that the fundamental areas of investigation were: a) work and organizational psychology; b) social psychology of health; c) social service and community psychology; d) environmental psychology; e) legal and political psychology; f) psychosocial theory and meta-theory; g) social psychology of language; h) emotion research; and i) the area of group processes and social identity.…”

Small Group Research in Europe

“…This came along with the official recognition of social psychology as a field of knowledge and the creation of multiple faculties of psychology after the reform made by the Board of Universities, through which social psychology departments and areas were established, together with the corresponding funding of human resources and materials for the research and teaching of the subject (Blanco, 2000;Torregrosa, 1991). Although the real advance was produced toward the middle of the 1980s, one could say that study of group behavior and group processes has been a stable research trend in Spanish social psychology since the 1970s (Blanco & De la Corte, 2001). In general terms, small group research in Spain has been linked closely to social psychology, reflecting and assimilating contemporary international developments, especially during the last 15 years (Ayestarán, 1993a(Ayestarán, , 1998aGil y Alcover, 2000;González, 1993González, , 1998Huici, 1996).…”