Jack Michael (January 16, 1926 – November 12, 2020) was an American psychologist and professor at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

. He developed one of the first token economies, the concept of

motivating operation Motivating operation (MO) is a behavioristic concept introduced by Jack Michael in 1982. It is used to explain variations in the effects in the consequences of behavior. Most importantly, an MO affects how strongly the person is reinforced or pu ...

s (MOs), and is a pioneer of what is now referred to as

applied behavior analysis Applied behavior analysis (ABA), also called behavioral engineering, is a psychological intervention that applies empirical approaches based upon the principles of respondent and operant conditioning to change behavior of social significance.S ...

(ABA, also called behavioral engineering).

Early life

Michael, named John Lester Michael, was born on January 16, 1926, in Los Angeles, California. He had no siblings. His father Lester Lioniel was an automobile mechanic and his mother Willie did not work outside of the home. He lived in a lower-middle-class neighborhood near downtown L.A. from the time he was 5 years old until he was drafted into the army at 18. As a youth, he joined an inner city Hispanic gang but avoided fights, protected by members who needed his help with their own schoolwork. He developed an early love of reading, accompanying his mother to the library on Saturdays. He attended elementary school from 1931 to 1937, Junior High School from 1938 to 1940, and High School from 1941 to 1943. He was in the Boy Scouts for about 3 years, took drum lessons, and played in a youth orchestra/marching band.

Career

Michael entered UCLA as a chemistry major in Fall 1943, completed one semester, then was drafted into the army in June 1944 (in the middle of his second semester). Although he was a very good student in high school, he was an average student at UCLA, earning a C-average his first year. He was professor emeritus of psychology at

. He began teaching at WMU in 1967 and retired from the university in April 2003, teaching for a total of 36 years at WMU. He was married to Alyce Dickinson, former chairman of the I/O department at Western Michigan University.

Publications

Michael has published over 70 articles and 1 book, ''Concepts and Principles of Behavior Analysis''. As a professor at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

, he and his colleague Teodoro Ayllon conducted the well-known study ''The psychiatric nurse as a behavioral engineer'' (1959) in the ''

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

'' (JEAB) where a

token economy A token economy is a system of contingency management based on the systematic reinforcement of target behavior. The reinforcers are symbols or tokens that can be exchanged for other reinforcers. A token economy is based on the principles of op ...

was employed for hospitalized patients with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social w ...

and

intellectual disability Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation, Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signif ...

. This helped to set what was then known as

behavior modification Behavior modification is an early approach that used respondent and operant conditioning to change behavior. Based on methodological behaviorism, overt behavior was modified with consequences, including positive and negative reinforcement conti ...

in motion, and in turn, led to the establishment of the discipline of

when researchers at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

started the ''

Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis The ''Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis'' (JABA) is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal which publishes empirical research related to applied behavior analysis. It was established in 1968 and is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of t ...

'' (JABA) in 1968. Ayllon, T. & Michael, J. (1959). The psychiatric nurse as a behavioral engineer. ''Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. 2,''323–334

He was also the past editor of '' The Analysis of Verbal Behavior'' (TAVB), which publishes theoretical and experimental work related to extensions of Skinner's analysis of

Verbal Behavior ''Verbal Behavior'' is a 1957 book by psychologist B. F. Skinner, in which he describes what he calls verbal behavior, or what was traditionally called linguistics. Skinner's work describes the controlling elements of verbal behavior with termino ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michael, Jack American psychologists Behaviourist psychologists 2020 deaths 1926 births Western Michigan University faculty