Teaching Behavior Analysis in Brazil: An examination of syllabus in undergraduate courses

The aim of this research was to examine the teaching of Behavior Analysis (BA) in undergraduate Psychology courses in Brazil. For this purpose, syllabus of course units related to BA, provided by federal universities with Psychology courses or higher education institutions that had postgraduate programs in the area, were examined. 82 course units related to BA were identified in the 52 undergraduate courses examined (average of 1.6). The results indicated that the average class hours of the BA course units (116h) represents a small portion (2.9%) of the minimum class hours of the undergraduate courses in Psychology (4,000h). Regarding the syllabus description items, an emphasis on basic concepts and the experimental method was identified. In relation to learning objectives, a high frequency of "false learning objectives" was identified. These results reaffirm long-standing concerns about the limited access to BA in undergraduate Psychology courses.