A Brief History of the Behavioral Analysis of Culture in Brazil

In this article, a history of behavior-analytic studies on culture in Brazil is presented, beginning with the pioneering work of Fred S. Keller and following its development through different phases, starting with PhD dissertations supervised by Carolina Bori in the 1970s at the University of São Paulo, and later continuing with the work by João Cláudio Todorov at the Universidade de Brasília and by Maria Amalia Andery at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo in the 1990s. We describe how meetings— from Think Tank 1 (2003) in São Paulo to Think Tank 6 (2019) in Brasília and other symposia (at national events) —were important in bringing together national and international investigators, who contributed to the development of the area called behavioral analysis of culture (BAC) in Brazil. We also highlight how the institutionalization of BAC in Brazil occurred through the establishment of lines of research in graduate programs, and how the graduate students of these programs accepted positions at other universities, spreading BAC throughout the country and helping to increase interest in the subject. In addition, we describe other relevant facts such as special issues of scientific journals and books published in Portuguese. Finally, we point out some current directions and future perspectives such as the development of courses verified by the Association for Behavior Analysis International for the certification of behavior analysts interested in culturo-behavior science.