International Conference
on Work and Organizational Psychology

Welcome · In honor of the career of José Mª Peiró

Welcome to the “International Conference on Work and Organizational Psychology. In honor of the career of José Mª Peiró”. It is an event organized with great enthusiasm and the participation of professionals and researchers in Work and Organizational Psychology. The Congress also has the support of the Spanish Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Psicólogos de España

The congress has as its central motivation the tribute to our colleague and friend, José Mª Peiró Silla. It is important to understand the relevance of José María Peiró in the historical context in which he began his career. The dictatorship (1939-1975) signified a break in the development of psychology in Spain. With the subsequent beginning of democracy in Spain, the first University Centers of Psychology were launched and extended throughout the national territory. In this context, José Mª promoted Work and Organizational Psychology in this country, favoring its international character. To a large extent, he picked up the baton of earlier efforts. It is worth mentioning, in the first decades of the 20th century, the creation of the Instituto de Orientación Profesional in Barcelona and the Servicio de Orientación in Madrid. They carried out different types of activities, such as research on physiological and psychological aspects related to work, professional orientation and selection, staff training, or the study of working conditions. At that time, Spanish psychology was beginning to be recognized internationally. Madrid was chosen as the venue for the XI International Congress of Scientific Psychology, scheduled for 1936, which had to be canceled due to the start of the Civil War. Later, the dictatorship was a period of major obstacles, with some very timid advances compared to the effervescence of Psychology in Europe or the United States. In the past five decades, with the arrival and consolidation of democracy in Spain, José Mª contributed significantly to the emergence of Work and Organizational Psychology in this country. This area of psychology was consolidated within the university programs, developed as a professional activity of great vigor, and professionalized by creating the Division of Work, Organizational and Human Resources Psychology within the Spanish Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Psicólogos de España. José Mª also clearly contributed to its academic and professional development in Spain and its internationalization.