The Behavior Analysis Laboratories at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Abstract

This paper aims to construct a historical narrative about the Behavior Analysis laboratories at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) in the 1970s. The Skinner box was the main object studied due to its centrality for those laboratories. The 1970s was chosen because it was when Behavior Analysis laboratories were installed at UFMG. Historiography was the method of study, specifically, the field History of Psychology. The sources for the research were written and oral documents. The main result shows that the Behavior Analysis didactic laboratory served as a centralizing agent in favor of a scientific psychology in the newly created UFMG Psychology course