Psychology In Brazil

This book presents an overview of the work of the most important Psychology researchers in Brazil, contributing to the internationalization of the discipline and fostering cross-cultural approaches in the field. Over the last two decades, Psychology research has experienced an enormous growth in Brazil, which has placed the country among the ten nations with the highest scientific output in the area. A big part of this output, however, remains inaccessible to the majority of the international community because it’s mainly published in Portuguese. This book intends to overcome this barrier, presenting a highly relevant sample of the best Psychology research produced in Brazil to those who are unable to read in Portuguese. In each chapter, a top Brazilian researcher is invited to present a summary of his/her main contributions to the field. The result is a rich overview of the main areas in which Brazilian psychologists have concentrated their work over the last decades, such as Developmental Psychology, Community Psychology, Educational and School Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Health Psychology, History of Psychology and Social Psychology. By putting together such a wide array of topics, Psychology in Brazil – Scientists Making a Difference offers a rich overview of the research in the country to psychologists, educators and social scientists in general interested in cross-cultural approaches within the Behavioral Sciences.

This book introduces the most significant studies and practices developed by scholars and researchers in school psychology in Brazil. The chapters discuss a critical, historical and cultural perspective of how psychology as a science and psychologists as professionals are able to contribute with schooling and education. Its goal is to provide an overview about the main discussions of school psychology in Brazil for an international audience, without losing the necessary depth to present delicate and important topics. Models of psychology based on natural sciences and traditional practices are criticised for concealing a wide array of causes for school failure, related to poverty, educational culture, class oppression and low budget for public education. Marxist perspectives, Foucaultian analysis and psychoanalysis help to provide psychologists with theoretical bases for practices of school psychology in different contexts. Experiences of criticism of public policies, as well as an understanding of the psychologist as part of social movements and policy making are briefly addressed. These features become "Psychology, Society and Education: Critical Perspectives in Brazil, a unique publication in its gender. From the point of view of teaching and researching in the fields of psychology, education and social sciences, this volume stands out by presenting theoretical and methodological contributions to qualitative approaches. This book will also be useful to international scholars and researchers interested in expanding knowledge of Brazilian society through education.

This book unites studies of Brazilian researchers who are focused on education and psychology. The main objective is to construct a new psychological ideology that is capable of criticizing and confronting the current capitalist society. The chapters are organized into two major sections: (1) The theoretical and methodological path towards a more critical Psychology, and (2) the social implications of the investigation into psychology and education. Section One is composed of six chapters that propose the following themes: criticism of possible contributions to Marxism leading to revolutionary education; discussion and analysis of public politics effects on Brazilian education, and its limits in the capitalist society; the basic conditions for development of a critical psychology that is effectively radical; the limits and possibilities for a critical Educational Psychology in Brazil; the historical critical pedagogy and the emancipatory education; and finally, the systematization of activity category in Alexis Leontiev's work. Section Two is composed of seven chapters that present the results of many group research studies and study groups conducted at upper level institutions. It seeks to add related works on historical cultural psychology's contribution to a child's education up until under graduate and graduate studies. It contains four studies focused on critical education of young children which use children's literature and various art forms.

This book unites studies of Brazilian researchers who are focused on education and psychology. The main objective is to construct a new psychological ideology that is capable of criticizing and confronting the current capitalist society. The chapters are organized into two major sections: (1) The theoretical and methodological path towards a more critical Psychology, and (2) the social implications of the investigation into psychology and education. Section One is composed of six chapters that propose the following themes: criticism of possible contributions to Marxism leading to revolutionary education; discussion and analysis of public politics effects on Brazilian education, and its limits in the capitalist society; the basic conditions for development of a critical psychology that is effectively radical; the limits and possibilities for a critical Educational Psychology in Brazil; the historical critical pedagogy and the emancipatory education; and finally, the systematization of activity category in Alexis Leontiev's work. Section Two is composed of seven chapters that present the results of many group research studies and study groups conducted at upper level institutions. It seeks to add related works on historical cultural psychology's contribution to a child's education up until under graduate and graduate studies. It contains four studies focused on critical education of young children which use children's literature and various art forms.

This book examines the complexities of the colonization of the territory that is now Brazil and its shaping of psychological knowledge and practice. It reveals the rich network of cultural practices that were formed through the appropriation of elements of Jesuit Catholicism and the blending with elements of the cultures of native, African and Lusitanian populations present in the territory, and how psychological concepts and practices emerged and circulated between the sixteenth and the late eighteenth centuries, long before the establishment of psychology as a modern science. The volume summarizes the research program developed by the author over 38 years of academic activity through which she contributed to expand the field of historical studies in psychology by investigating how psychological concepts and practices were produced in cultural and historical contexts different from the European and North American societies where scientific psychology developed in the 19th and 20th centuries. Psychological Knowledge and Practices in Brazilian Colonial Culture will be of interest not only to historians of psychology, but also to professional psychologists working with culturally diverse populations who seek to understand how psychological concepts and phenomena are shaped by culture. By doing so, the book intends to contribute to the development of a psychology better prepared to deal with cultural diversity in an increasingly multicultural world. “Massimi’s book will now form an important foundation of English-language scholarship about the psychological and cultural impact of colonization on subjugated peoples. She has, of course, made many such contributions in Portuguese. It is to be hoped that much of her work will be translated into English so that more scholars may benefit from the richness of her insights.” – Excerpt from the Foreword by Dr. Wade E. Pickren.

This book presents the results of researches conducted with children and youth at risk for over 20 years in Brazil. It addresses a series of topics related to children and youth living in poverty or in situations of social vulnerability, such as family, sexual and dating violence; adolescent mothers and mothers who put their children for adoption; children and youth living in foster and institutional care; and adolescents involved in drug trafficking or incarcerated in juvenile detention centers. Building upon the Bioecological Theory of Human Development, this volume emphasizes the innovative knowledge about psychosocial development of vulnerable children and youth produced in Brazil and aims to present theoretical and methodological approaches developed especially for the countries of the Global South, in an attempt to overcome the scientific divide between the North and South. Northern research agenda defines as global the theories, methodologies, and application of knowledge on social policies and interventions. However, the contexts, histories, and cultural processes are essential for producing and applying research knowledge according to specific regional characteristics, organizations, and conditions. Human development is related to contextual features and cannot be directly imported from one place to another. Departing from these original theoretical and methodological approaches, the book also presents the results of evidence-based interventions, showing its effectiveness in specific contexts. All of this makes Vulnerable Children and Youth in Brazil – Innovative Approaches from the Psychology of Social Development a valuable tool for psychologists, educators, social scientists and public health professionals studying or working with children and youth at risk in different parts of the world, contributing to the understanding of human development in cultural context.

These lectures, delivered in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro during 1973 and 1974, reveal Bion in his most vital and challenging mode both in respect of the material he presents, and in his responses to the questions from his audience.

Subjectivity and Critical Mental Health: Lessons from Brazil presents and discusses subjectivity as a key concept to challenge the individualized and reified perspective that psychology and mental health studies have traditionally sustained. Situated against the maintenance of hierarchical, unilateral and objectifying relations within mental health, this book is a timely and necessary critical intervention. Drawing on González Rey’s cultural-historical theory of subjectivity, the author constructs points of convergence with critical social psychology, as well as with some critiques from traditional psychiatry based on antipsychiatry. Using empirical findings from original research undertaken in Brazilian community mental health services, a complex articulation between mental health, education and subjective development is proposed by emphasizing a unified research/professional practice, based on an ethics of the subject. Ending by examining possible alternatives for critical mental health that engage with culture and society, the book sets the stage for further re-thinking of research and practice within the critical mental health field. Accessibly written, the interdisciplinary nature of the text should also make this book fascinating reading for students and academics interested in critical psychology, post-colonial studies, mental health and education alike.