Mariano Yela Granizo: Biography Of This Spanish Psychologist And Philosopher
Mariano Yela is considered one of the most representative figures of the panorama of psychology in Spain during the 20th century for being one of its promoters in this country, not to mention the extensive professional career he developed.
Since he was a child, this prolific psychologist has always stood out for his academic results, which allowed him to obtain a scholarship to train at various prestigious universities and institutions. He is widely recognized as one of the ‘institutionalizing fathers’ of experimental psychology in Spain.
Yela has been one of the precursor psychologists in Spain of scientific psychology; to the detriment of a more philosophical psychology that previously predominated.
Working hard, tenaciously, rigorously and living optimistically were the values that the actions of the psychologist and professor Yela transmitted to his students and contemporary professional colleagues. Here we will review his life history through a biography of Mariano Yela in summary format.
Mariano Yela Granizo was born on March 2, 1921 in a neighborhood of Madrid, into a humble and hard-working family whose trade was metallurgical crafts.
When Yela is 13 years old, the moment occurs when she has her first contact with psychology due to some tests that all the students at school took in order to find children with high intellectual abilities. This aroused a lot of interest in him, to the point of reading a book by Terman related to this topic.
In the year 1941, After having gone through some extremely difficult years during the Spanish Civil War, he finished his high school studies with outstanding grades which led him to win the extraordinary prize of his promotion from the San Isidro Institute.
After graduating in Philosophy and Letters: USA and Europe
[1945istheyearinwhichMarianoYelafinisheshisBachelorofPhilosophyandLettersonceagainobtainingtheextraordinaryprizeofthepromotionThisallows you to be awarded a scholarship to continue your academic training in the United States There he trained under the tutelage of Thomas V. Moore and then Thurstone. Furthermore, his years there allowed him to soak up the most avant-garde psychometrics from Cronbach, Cattell, Gulliksen and many more.
After returning to Europe, he continued his training in other countries such as England and Scotland, where he worked with Burt and Thomson, experimental psychologists and, later, works in the Perception Psychology Laboratory obtaining an international award for his research.
His return to Spain and consolidation of his career as a researcher
Yela returns to Spain with the aim of rebuilding psychology in this country, together with José Germain, Jose Luis Pinillos and Miguel Siguán , the other three great psychologists who, together with Mariano Yela, form the cast of “fathers of modern psychology” in Spain. These psychologists and researchers had the complicated mission of incorporating scientific psychology into the university. Which would mean the beginning of a new profession
During her years of research and training in foreign countries, Yela learns to develop an innovative style of working in psychology, characterized by rigor. This rigor consisted of properly and accurately investigate specific scientific hypotheses related to various constructs of psychology , specifying their verbal formulations as much as possible. It is not surprising that in 1952 he won another extraordinary prize for his doctoral thesis based on the Factorial Theory of Intelligence.
He worked as an adjunct professor of cosmology and psychology at the Complutense University of Madrid between 1953 and 1957, and later obtained the Chair of General Psychology in ’57.
Regarding his private life, Mariano Yela was married and had 5 children; of which two followed in his father’s footsteps by studying a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and subsequently developed their professional careers as psychologists and researchers.
His most notable works
Mariano Yela’s most notable contributions to psychology, among many others, were introducing in his country the foundations and techniques of factor analysis, his widely known notes on psychometrics and statistics, and the creation and adaptation to Spanish of approximately 200 tests and its Theory of Intelligence
He wrote fourteen books on psychology, highlighting some such as “Studies on intelligence and language”, “Psychology of Aptitudes”, “Tests, education and freedom”, “The Technique of Factor Analysis” and “Introduction to the Theory of Tests” He also collaborated on forty other books and also published around two hundred and fifty works in both national and international magazines.
His extensive professional career has left a mark on multiple areas of psychology, in addition to various epistemological reflections on methodological and conceptual problems of scientific psychology His great philosophical, scientific and literary background moved him to investigate the most notorious problems of psychology and philosophy.
His vision regarding psychology was always reasoned and not at all dichotomized or scholastic. He always tried to treat his studies with rigor, appearing impartial with respect to the different currents of psychology and philosophy, demonstrating this in his approach to the popular dichotomies of thought and the study of human beings (e.g., personalism-situationism, body -mind, cognitivism-behaviorism, genetics-environment, realism-constructivism, basic-applied research, etc.).
He rigorously extracted what was relevant from each position and tried to integrate them into a common framework, based on experimental psychology.
His career as an academic
A fundamental principle in his values as a researcher, transmitted to his students for generations, consisted of starting from a theoretical base that carefully studies the different psychological phenomena and, as a result, employing a rigorous methodology that strengthens as much as possible. positive verification of their complicity. His vision of studying the human being in all possible ways greatly promoted the development of applied psychology in Spain
Testimonials from some of his students say that his style of explaining theoretical lessons during his classes was unique and unmatched. He expressed himself in a hoarse tone, with slow gestures and, anecdotally, it was said that he was able to take off his vest without first taking off his jacket while giving his master class.
Achievements and contributions to the world of research
The work carried out by Yela throughout his life was extensive and of great depth, whether professionally as a psychologist, academically as a professor or institutionally as a precursor to the promotion of science in Spain and, therefore, in their universities.
Some tasks can be highlighted such as precursor of the many organizations and institutions related to psychology in Spain
In the field of work and organizational psychology, he was organizer of psychology departments in many companies and in various administrations Furthermore, in 1955 he was one of the promoters of the creation of the Society of Studies and Advice; today known as Technical Specialist Associates (TEA). Between the 50s and 70s he carried out numerous tasks in the area of human resources (HR), such as orientation, selection tests and personnel training, among others.
In the area of educational psychology and school guidance he also carried out some work and also published articles related to this field.
With respect to clinical psychology, although it had a shorter career, it is recognized as one of the precursors in Europe of Carl Rogers’ psychotherapy
