Jack Michael is a researcher, professor and author in the field of the experimental analysis of behavior

Experimental analysis of behavior

The experimental analysis of behavior is the name given to the school of psychology founded by B.F. Skinner, and based on his philosophy of radical behaviorism. A central principle was the inductive, data-driven examination of functional relations, as opposed to the kinds of hypothetico-deductive...

 best known for his elucidations of the motivating operation(MO), comprising Establishing Operation

Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning is a form of psychological learning during which an individual modifies the occurrence and form of its own behavior due to the association of the behavior with a stimulus...

 (EO) and Abolishing Operations (AO).

Biographic Information

He was born on January 16, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. He has no siblings. His father was an automobile mechanic, His mother 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.

He attended elementary School from 1931-1937(walking distance from home), Junior High School from 1938-1940(short bike ride from home), and High School from 1941-1943. He was in the Boy Scouts for about 3 years, took drum lessons, and played in a youth orchestra/marching band.

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). He did not do very well at UCLA—although he was a very good student in high school, when he got to UCLA he was only average or less than average in terms of college skills. He made a C average his first semester and about the same during second semester.

Publications

He has published over 70 articles and 1 book, Concepts and Principles of Behavior Analysis. Probably his most influential publication was in 1959 which helped to set behavior modification

Behavior modification

Behavior modification is the use of empirically demonstrated behavior change techniques to increase or decrease the frequency of behaviors, such as altering an individual's behaviors and reactions to stimuli through positive and negative reinforcement of adaptive behavior and/or the reduction of...

 in motion. This, in turn, lead to the establishment of the discipline of applied behavior analysis

Applied Behavior Analysis

Applied behavior analysis is a science that involves using modern behavioral learning theory to modify behaviors. Behavior analysts reject the use of hypothetical constructs and focus on the observable relationship of behavior to the environment...

 and the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis(JABA).
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Jack Michael is 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.

Present day

He is currently an emeritus professor at Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University is a public university located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1903 by Dwight B. Waldo, and as of the Fall 2010 semester, its enrollment is 25,045....

. 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 is currently married to Dr. Alyce Dickinson, Chairman of the I/O department at Western Michigan University.