School education has established itself as an important gateway to scientific psychology in Brazil. Marked by the intention to attribute scientific character to the teaching-learning process, the intelligence tests occupied a central place in this process. Our objective was to analyze the process of reception/circulation of intelligence tests in Brazil, based on the experience of the School of Improvement of Teachers of Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais. In this way, we analyze the changes/adaptations undergone by the foreign tests when they were started being used in Minas Gerais schools, taking as reference two tests: the Dearborn Test and the Test of Vocabulary and Intelligence of Dr. Simon. Produced, respectively, in the United States and France, they were adapted to the local needs of the instruments. We sought to show how the local political-social context influenced the changes in format and modes of application of the tests. We could conclude that it was not a process of mere translation and adaptation to the children of the city and the state. It was possible to demonstrate that the work of appropriation of the two tests influenced the elaboration of new instruments that met the local needs.
Keywords:
intelligence tests, history of psychology, educational psychology, schooling
Rota Júnior, C., Dias Cirino, S., & Gutierrez, L. (2018). Reception/Circulation of Intelligence Tests in Brazil: A Historical Briefing (1920-1930). Revista De Psicología, 27(1), pp. 1–15. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-0581.2018.50748
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