Roland Clark Davis (December 20, 1902– February 23, 1961) was an American

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

recognized for his innovation in instrumentation and measurement of electrophysiological phenomena. Davis contributed to the measurement of electrodermal activity, gastric reflexes, and muscle action potentials. Davis published over 70 articles on psychophysiology and related topics across a 30-year career and mentored many graduate students at

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and, with ...

from 1931 through 1961.

Personal history

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 30, 1902,"Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FXHJ-3BT : 10 March 2018), Robert Clark Davis, 30 Dec 1902, Cambridge, Massachusetts; citing reference ID #p345 ln1376, Massachusetts Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 2,057,388. Roland Clark Davis was the eldest child of William Chalmers Davis and Effie Estelle Clark. Davis earned his A.B. in English from

Harvard 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 higher le ...

in 1924 and his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1930. Upon leaving Columbia, Davis briefly worked as a research associate for the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. Davis married Francis Oliver Meacham on September 12, 1927, in Petersburg, Virginia. They had two children, Susan Oliver and Christopher Meacham. In 1931, Davis was hired as an Acting Associate Professor at Indiana University where he established his psychophysiology laboratory in Science Hall. Davis died on February 23, 1961, at the age of 58 in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He was returning home from a meeting at the Fels Research Institute when he suffered a heart attack.

Professional contributions

At Columbia, Davis was mentored by

Robert Sessions Woodworth Robert Sessions Woodworth (October 17, 1869 – July 4, 1962) was an American academic psychologist and the creator of the personality test which bears his name. A graduate of Harvard and Columbia, he studied under William James along with othe ...

and Albert Poffenberger. In his 1930 dissertation, “Factors Affecting the Galvanic Reflex,” Davis reviewed hundreds of published articles on the galvanic skin response (GSR), producing an extensive and systematic review of GSR. Davis was the first to use a vacuum tube as a way to control the electrical current during measurement of the GSR. Davis also developed a device that provided an uninterrupted measurement of arterial blood pressure that would not interfere with the subject’s true blood pressure, and he is credited with introducing the

cathode-ray oscilloscope An oscilloscope (informally a scope) is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying electrical voltages as a two-dimensional plot of one or more signals as a function of time. The main purposes are to display repetiti ...

technique for measuring muscle action potentials. In collaboration with Douglas Ellson, Irving Saltzman, and Cletus Burke, Davis also developed a lie-detection device. Using gastric balloons and a landmine detector to track the progress of steel balls through the gastrointestinal tracts of volunteers, Davis produced evidence that stomach contractions were largely absent when the stomach was empty, a finding that directly refuted the popular hypothesis of the time that hunger produced the most intense stomach contractions. Davis also used the electrogastrogram (EGG) to study the effects of particular drugs on gastric activity. Davis also challenged the theory of

homeostasis In biology, homeostasis (British English, British also homoeostasis) Help:IPA/English, (/hɒmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsɪs/) is the state of steady internal, physics, physical, and chemistry, chemical conditions maintained by organism, living systems. Thi ...

, arguing that the relevant terms needed to be more precisely defined and that responses could be adaptive even if they were not homeostatic:“Homeostasis can be maintained for one variable only at the expense of heterostasis in at least one other”.

Teaching and Leadership

Davis was recognized as a leader in the Department of Psychology, and he was one of the few members of the senior faculty to remain in his position through World War II. Davis was also one of the founding members of the

Society for Psychophysiological Research The Society for Psychophysiological Research is an international scientific organization with over 800 members worldwide. The society is composed of scientists whose research is focused on the study of the interrelationships between the physiologic ...

. At Indiana University, Davis directed the master's and doctoral theses of 29 graduate students, including

Oran Wendle Eagleson Oran Wendle Eagleson (1910–1997) was the Callaway Professor of Psychology at Spelman College, Atlanta. He was the eighth black person in the United States to receive a doctorate in psychology. Early life and education Oran Wendle Eagleson was ...

Notable publications

Electrodermal Activity

A Vacuum Tube for Stabilizing the Current During Measurements of the Galvanic Reflex (1929)
Factors Affecting the Galvanic Reflex (1930)
Electrical Skin Resistance Before, During, and After a Period of Noise Stimulation (1932)
Modification of the Galvanic Reflex by Daily Repetition of a Stimulus (1934)

Homeostasis and Response Patterning

Apparatus for Recording Autonomic States and Changes (1954)
Response Patterns (1957)
An Exploration of Somatic Response Patterns: Stimulus and Sex Differences (1957) The Pattern of Somatic Response During a Repetitive Motor Task and its Modification by Visual Stimuli (1957)
The Domain of Homeostasis (1958)

Action Potentials

A Cathode-Ray Oscilloscope Apparatus for the Psychological Laboratory (1931)
Properties of Electrodes Used in Recording Action Potentials from the Intact Organism (1936)
Methods of Measuring Muscle Tension (1942)
An Integrator and Accessory Apparatus for Recording Action Potentials (1948)
Adaptation of the Muscular Tension Response to Gunfire (1949)
Autonomic and Muscular Response and Their Relationship to Simple Stimuli (1955)

History of Psychology

American Psychology 1800-1885 (1936)
Physiological Psychology: A View of Fifty Years (1958)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Roland 20th-century American psychologists 1902 births 1961 deaths Columbia University alumni Indiana University Bloomington faculty Harvard College alumni