Psychology Day in Spain, February 24, 2009

Psychology Day in Spain commemorates the patron saint of psychology at the university level.

Psychology Day

Today, being the Day of Psychology in Spain, we commemorate the person who is considered the patron saint of psychology at the Spanish university level: Juan Huarte de San Juan (1529 - 1588). This physician and philosopher of Navarrese origin published during the last days of February of 1575 his work Examen de Ingenios para las Cienciasa book in which he delved into individual differences and human temperaments, linking biology and behavior. In turn, Huarte de San Juan proposed a different training for each person according to his or her physical and mental capacities.

Although the book was censored by the Inquisition for offering a description of the human essence different from the line of Catholic officialism, it was printed several times and sold clandestinely, becoming very popular thanks to its versions translated into several languages. The merit of this sagacious philosopher was to know how to take up again the line of study linking mind and brain, initiated by Alcmeon of Crotona hundreds of years ago, and to study in what way the body and the psyche could influence each other (and all this, having all the power of the Inquisition against him). Although psychology as a discipline that uses the scientific method was consolidated many years later, he is also valued for his role as a pioneer. Juan Huarte de San Juan was responsible for putting the first grains of sand for psychology to formalize its research criteria.

Because of the impact that his body of theory had on the conception of the human being and his behavior, he is considered a precursor of differential psychology and professional guidance. Likewise, this somewhat unknown figure in Spanish history is considered the patron saint of psychology in Spain since 1983. patron saint of psychology in Spain since 1983.The day of his commemoration corresponds to the dates on which the Examen de los Ingenios began to be printed. Today, many universities offer lectures, conferences, cycles and, in short, program different pedagogical activities from the usual ones. There is also the option of taking the day as a holiday, something that many psychology students will surely appreciate.

Happy Psychology Day!