John Alexander McGeoch (October 9, 1897 – March 3, 1942) was an American psychologist and educator. Considered a modern functionalist, his interests focused on human learning and memory. He was the chair of the department of psychology at the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...
from 1930 to 1935,
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...
from 1935 to 1939, and
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
from 1939 to 1942. He was also an editor for the ''Psychological Bulletin'' from 1931–1942.
Background
McGeoch was born on October 9, 1897, in
Argyle, New York
Argyle is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Washington County, New York, United States. It is part of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town population was 3,782 at the 2010 census. The town was named by its m ...
. He received his bachelor's degree from Westminster College in 1918, and a master's degree from Colorado College in 1919. Hi
McGeoch's master's thesis, titled "The Present Status of Psychology", is a review of the history of the field of psychology and how the role of psychology was viewed in the early 20th century. He then studied under
Harvey A. Carr at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. He studied a variety of topics while at the University of Chicago, including suggestibility and intelligence in delinquents, time perception, neuropsychological and vocational testing, and the reliability and validity of the
Pressey X-O test. McGeoch's doctoral dissertation was titled "A study in the psychology of testimony." Following the completion of his dissertation, McGeoch’s work primarily focused on
human learning and memory.
Harvey Carr
Harvey A. Carr (April 30, 1873 – June 21, 1954), a founding father of functionalist psychology, was renowned for a methodical and thorough approach to his science. His work was largely devoted to studies of animal cognition and perception. Carr ...
significantly influenced McGeoch’s work, and provided feedback on McGeoch's introductory textbook on human learning, ''The Psychology of Human Learning'', which was published after Carr’s death in 1943. McGeoch completed his PhD while he was a faculty member at the
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...
. He accepted a full Professor position two years later at the
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...
. In 1930, McGeoch moved to the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...
, where he became the chair of the department of psychology. He held this position for five years before moving to
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...
, where he was also chair of the department from 1935 to 1939 and was awarded an honorary degree in recognition of his accomplishments as a lecturer and administrator. In 1939, McGeoch moved to the
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
, where he also chaired the department. He died in
Iowa City
Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...
on March 3, 1942, from a
cerebral hemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
.
Psychological study
McGeoch was considered to be one of the "most productive and influential investigators of human learning and memory during the period between the two World Wars." He published approximately 60 articles on
human learning over the course of 20 years. His more notable contributions included standardization of the methods and operationalizations used in human memory research, the distinction between incidental and intentional learning, and the distinction between immediate and long-term memory, and his interpretation of forgetting.
Early work
McGeoch's publication titled "The Vertical Dimensions of Mind" emphasizes the importance of longitudinal data and operational definition. Prior to the publication of this article, most studies were cross-sectional in design. In this paper, McGeoch defends the importance of considering longitudinal data in research. He notes that learning is a pervasive construct which influences the understanding of all psychological phenomena. He is also one of the first researchers to describe different types of learning: incidental and intentional, and different types of memory: short- and long-term.
Later work
In his publication titled "Forgetting and the law of disuse," McGeoch criticizes Thorndike's theory of the Law of Disuse, which posits that information is forgotten over time if it is not activated. McGeoch argues that the passage of time has no bearing on forgetting; rather, forgetting can be better understood in terms of interference that takes place during the interval between initial learning and test. Following the introduction of the concept of
Retroactive inhibition, McGeoch developed the transfer theory of retroactive inhibition. This theory identifies two major contributors to forgetting: retroactive inhibition and change in context between learning and recall, and influenced how forgetting is understood today. More specifically, McGeoch's work set the stage for th
Two-factor Theory of Interference McGeoch also wrote an introductory textbook on human learning, which was published posthumously.
Summary
McGeoch is recognized as a pioneer in the field of human learning and memory. He changed the way researchers understand human forgetting by disproving
Thorndike's law of disuse, encouraging
Longitudinal study
A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over short or long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of obs ...
, and distinguishing
incidental learning
Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machines; there is also evidence for some kind of learn ...
from intentional learning. He also identified
retroactive inhibition as a mechanism for forgetting.
Notable publications:
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* McGeoch, J. A., & Irion, A. L. (1952). The psychology of human learning.
References
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*Kimble, G. A., & Schlesinger, K. (1985). Topics in the History of Psychology (Vol. 1). Psychology Press: New York, NY. https://books.google.com/books/about/Topics_in_the_history_of_psychology.html?id=ZTV9AAAAMAAJ
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*McGeoch, J.A. (1919) The present status of psychology. Ed. by J. V. Breitwieser. Thesis (M.A.)--Colorado college https://archive.org/details/presentstatusofp1943mcge
*Pratt, C. C. (1943). John A. McGeoch: 1897-1942. The American Journal of Psychology, 56(1). 134-136. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1417911?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
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*McGeoch, J. A., & Irion, A. L. (1952). The psychology of human learning. http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1952-05377-000
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGeoch, John
People from Argyle, New York
1897 births
1942 deaths
20th-century American psychologists
University of Chicago alumni
Washington University in St. Louis faculty
University of Arkansas faculty
University of Missouri faculty
Wesleyan University faculty
University of Iowa faculty