The "role-hybrid" production: psychological expertise circulation between USA and Brazil (1945-1964)

• Grant number: 25/15221-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: January 01, 2026
• End date: June 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Marcia Cristina Consolim
• Grantee: Rafael do Nascimento de Andrade
• Supervisor: Gil Eyal
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Columbia University in the City of New York, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/13633-6 - ars psichologiae: disciplinary formation of Brazilian psychology (1945-1969), BP.MS

Abstract

This project analyzes the transnational circulation of psychological expertisebetween the USA and Brazil (1945-1964), investigating how intellectual and institutionalexchanges shaped the institutionalization of Brazilian scientific psychology. The centralhypothesis highlights that structural homologies between universities and the role of mediatorsallowed the hybridization of theoretical-practical models, influencing the professionalization ofpsychology in Brazil in specific political and social contexts. In the US, psychology consolidateditself as a science with figures such as William James, Watson, Skinner and Franz Boas,supported by institutions and foundations. After 1945, the Cold War expanded its role ingovernment projects (education, mental health, industry), linking it to public policies. In Brazil,psychology emerged late, linked to medicine and philosophy. USP (1934) and French missionsestablished academic bases, but the North American influence after 1945 accelerated itsdisciplinarization. Mediators like Klineberg and Keller adapted culturalist and behavioristmodels to local demands, strengthening departments and associations that positioned psychologyas a cross-cutting theme in social life. Objectives include analyzing Klineberg and Keller'strajectories, networks and knowledge circulation strategies; examining the integration of NorthAmerican models with European traditions and local needs; comparing institutionalizationprocesses in the two countries; and mapping the role of Brazilian psychologists in mediatingideas. Sources include archives, correspondence, publications and Brazilian institutional records.Methods involve network analysis, bibliometrics, lexicology and prosopography to reconstructintellectual practices and symbolic disputes. The research contributes to the sociology of scienceand studies on expertise, highlighting Brazilian psychology as a product of mediations betweenglobal and local, academia and politics, science and society