THE BEGINNINGS OF BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS LABORATORIES IN BRAZIL: A Pedagogical View Se ´rgio Dias Cirino, Rodrigo Lopes Miranda, and Robson Nascimento da Cruz Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais We introduce the history of behavior analysis in Brazil at the beginning of the 1960s. The behavior analysis laboratory was selected as the focus of this investigation. The time frame of our historical account begins with the visit of Fred Keller to Brazil as a visiting professor at the Universidade de Sa ˜o Paulo. During this period, the first behavior analysis laboratory in Brazil was created, and the first Brazilians were trained in the behavior analysis perspective. We will talk about (a) the zeitgeist of Brazilian higher education, in general, and of psychology, in particular, at the beginning of the 1960s; (b) the background of Keller’s arrival in 1961; (c) the reception of the behavior analysis laboratory as a pedagogical tool; and (d) the first steps in the spread of behavior analysis throughout Brazil by means of the work of the didactic behavior analysis laboratory. Our account highlights certain aspects of the beginnings of behavior analysis as a field of scientific study in Brazil. Furthermore, we can observe the importance of the behavior analysis laboratory and its instruments in helping promote this field in Brazil. We especially note that the laboratory was a pedagogical tool in the Brazilian movement to improve Brazil’s research community. Keywords: history of psychology in Brazil, history of behavior analysis, behavior analysis laboratory One of the main objectives of the history of contemporary psychology is to understand how psychology became a legitimate form of knowl- edge in various countries. To accomplish this purpose, we need to take into account the con- ditions in which this knowledge was con- structed, given the peculiarities of each country. This pursuit involves analyzing the specific forms of reception in the places where this psychological knowledge circulated. Cimino (2006) observes that some of the differences encountered in the history of psychology in different countries spring from the various cul- tural, social, and institutional milieus in which psychology was produced. In Cimino’s (2006) words, “it is necessary to explore the cultural, scientific, social and institutional context of each country and analyze how, case by case, such an event matured” (p. 7) to become legit- imate psychological knowledge. In this article, we present an introduction to the history of behavior analysis in Brazil at the beginning of the 1960s. More specifically, we discuss the way the behavior analysis laboratory was developed in Brazil, where it was shaped as a pedagogical tool for teaching psychology. This form of appropriating the behavior analy- sis laboratory for pedagogical needs was influ- enced by the Brazilian social context. There- fore, its reception and its uses reflect the way behavior analysis circulated in Brazil and rein- force Cimino’s (2006) point about the impor- tance of noting differences across the countries where such developments took place. The first Brazilian laboratory of behavior analysis was established in 1961 at the Univer- sidade de Sa ˜o Paulo (USP) in a period of This article was published Online First December 12, 2011. Sergio Dias Cirino and Rodrigo Lopes Miranda, Fac- uldade de Educac ¸a ˜o, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil; Robson Nascimento da Cruz, Faculdade de Filosofia e Cie ˆncias Humanas, Uni- versidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Preparation of this article was supported by CAPES, FAPEMIG, and PRPQ of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. The authors are thankful to Brian Street, Camila Becattini de Caux, Carlos Eduardo Lopes, and Ju ´nia Sales Pereira for their suggestions and comments. Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- dressed to Sergio Dias Cirino, Faculdade de Educac ¸a ˜o, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; Av. Anto ˆ nio Carlos, 6627, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, MG, Brazil. E-mail: sergiocirino99@yahoo.com History of Psychology © 2011 American Psychological Association 2012, Vol. 15, No. 3, 263–272 1093-4510/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0026306 263