Eugene Galanter (1924-2016) was one of the modern founders of
cognitive psychology. He was an academic in the field of
experimental psychology and an author. Dr. Galanter was Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Quondam Director of the Psychophysics Laboratory at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. He was also the co-founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Scientific Officer of Children’s Progress, an award-winning New York City-based company that specializes in the use of computer technology in early education. The company's assessments and reports have been used in 40 states and 9 countries.
Biography
After serving in the
United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...
in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Galanter attended
Swarthmore College, receiving an Honors
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in 1950. He went on to graduate school in psychology at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
and after receiving his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in 1953, he was appointed Assistant Professor of
Mathematical Psychology
Mathematical psychology is an approach to psychological research that is based on mathematical modeling of perceptual, thought, cognitive and motor processes, and on the establishment of law-like rules that relate quantifiable stimulus characte ...
in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Psychology. Additionally, during several leaves in the 1950s, Galanter collaborated with
S. S. Stevens at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
's psychoacoustics laboratory, co-authoring several publications.
While a fellow at the
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is an interdisciplinary research lab at Stanford University that offers a residential postdoctoral fellowship program for scientists and scholars studying "the five core social and ...
of
Stanford University Galanter began a collaboration with
George A. Miller, and
Karl H. Pribram, that resulted in the book ''Plans and the Structure of Behavior'', a seminal work in the development of
cognitive psychology published in 1960.
[Boden, Margaret A. ''Mind as Machine: A History of Cognitive Science''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.](_blank)
/ref> By 1956, Galanter had started working towards a theoretical model that would integrate cognitive processes
Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...
into the behaviorist's stimulus-response framework. In ''Plans and the Structure of Behavior'', Miller, Galanter, and Pribram proposed that "some mediating organization of experience is necessary" between the stimulus and its behavioral response, i.e., that a cognitive feedback loop, which includes monitoring devices, must control the acquisition of the stimulus-response relationship. This feedback loop, the proposed fundamental unit of behavior, was referred to in ''Plans'' as the '' T.O.T.E.'', an abbreviation of its steps - test, operate, test, exit.
Following the publication of ''Plans and the Structure of Behavior'', Galanter, along with colleagues Robert Bush and Duncan Luce, worked to move the field of psychology closer to the other natural sciences
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
by advancing the position of mathematical psychology within the discipline as a whole. Their argument was that all psychological phenomena, if properly measured and reduced to quantifiable variables, would reveal law-like rules that govern human behavior and thought. Together, Galanter, Bush, and Luce edited the three volume ''Handbook of Mathematical Psychology'', which was published in 1963.
After leaving the University of Pennsylvania, Galanter held positions at the University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...
and Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
before becoming the Gelhorn Professor of Psychology at Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, where he was also Director of the Psychophysics Laboratory and, for a time, Chairman of the Department of Psychology. In addition to his work in psychophysics and mathematical psychology, Galanter continues to publish in various subfields of psychometrics
Psychometrics is a field of study within psychology concerned with the theory and technique of measurement. Psychometrics generally refers to specialized fields within psychology and education devoted to testing, measurement, assessment, and ...
including psychoeducational assessment and motivational measurement. Galanter has been honored by NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
, which awarded him its Distinguished Scientist Research Award.
After co-founding Children's Progress, Galanter went on to serve as Chief Scientific Officer. Galanter and his daughter Michelle Galanter co-invented and hold the United States patent for the Galanter Educational Evaluation Lattice, which is licensed exclusively to Children’s Progress and is the basis for the Children’s Progress Academic Assessment (CPAA). This dynamic assessment
Dynamic assessment is a kind of interactive assessment used in education and the helping professions. Dynamic assessment is a product of the research conducted by developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky. It identifies
* Constructs that a student ...
is based on a developmental model of learning and is grounded in the work of psychologist Lev Vygotsky
Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky (russian: Лев Семёнович Выго́тский, p=vɨˈɡotskʲɪj; be, Леў Сямёнавіч Выго́цкі, p=vɨˈɡotskʲɪj; – June 11, 1934) was a Soviet psychologist, known for his work on ps ...
. Unlike traditional assessments that determine whether a student’s answers are right or wrong, the CPAA adjusts to every response and provides hints and scaffolding
Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely use ...
whenever a student struggles with a concept. This technology then gives teachers better information about each student, and enables them to deliver targeted instruction, tailored to each student’s zone of proximal development
The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is a concept in educational psychology. It represents the distance between what a learner is capable of doing unsupported, and what they can only do supported. It is the range where they are capable only with ...
(ZPD).
As part of the NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) acquisition of Children's Progress in mid-2012,NWEA Acquisition of Children's Progress
/ref> Dr. Galanter worked with NWEA to further its mission : Helping all Kids Learn.
Books
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* — Volum
2
at archive.org
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
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* Galanter, Eugene (2004). Psych Tech Notes; Version 2.2 CD, Adams, Bannister, Cox: New York.
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References
External links
Northwest Evaluation's homepage
Children's Progress homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galanter, Eugene
2016 deaths
1924 births
20th-century American psychologists
Educational assessment and evaluation theorists
American cognitive psychologists
Swarthmore College alumni
University of Pennsylvania alumni
University of Pennsylvania faculty
University of Washington faculty
Harvard University faculty
Columbia University faculty
American military personnel of World War II