John Clemans Flanagan, (January 7, 1906 – April 15, 1996) was a noted

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 explanation, interpretatio ...

most known for developing the

critical incident technique The critical incident technique (or CIT) is a set of procedures used for collecting direct observations of human behavior that have critical significance and meet methodically defined criteria. These observations are then kept track of as incidents, ...

, which identifies and classifies behaviors associated with the success or failure of human activity. He was a pioneer of aviation psychology. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Flanagan was commissioned by the

U.S. Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

in 1941 to head an aviation psychology program that developed tests to help identify pilots suitable for combat missions. Flanagan was born in

Armour, South Dakota Armour is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 698 at the 2020 census. History Armour was founded in 1885. The city was named after Philip Danforth Armour, who was the founder of Arm ...

on January 7, 1906, and raised in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

. He died on April 15, 1996, at his home in

Menlo Park, California Menlo Park ( ) is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, California, Eas ...

. He graduated from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in 1929, and was the starting quarterback on the football team his senior year. He received his doctorate from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1934. In 1946, Flanagan founded the American Institutes for Research, a

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

behavioral and social research organization that applied the

to education and other fields. In 1960 Flanagan initiated

Project Talent Project Talent is a national longitudinal study that first surveyed over 440,000 American high school students in 1960. At the time, it was the largest and most comprehensive study of high school students ever conducted in the United States. Desi ...

, a massive survey of more than 400,000 high school students throughout the United States. To follow up on the needs revealed by Project Talent, Flanagan developed Project PLAN — Program for Learning in Accordance with Needs — an entire curriculum from grades one through twelve designed to meet the individual needs of all students. This was one of the earliest and most comprehensive individualized computer-assisted learning programs.''Program for Learning in Accordance with Needs''. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, February 1968. Among the honors Flanagan received were:

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

by the Army Air Corps; Raymond F. Longacre Award of the Aero-Medical Association, Edward Lee Thorndike Award of the APA Division of

Educational Psychology Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive psychology, cognitive and behavioral psychology, behavioral perspectives, allows researc ...

, 1976 Distinguished Professional Contribution Award of APA,

Phi Delta Kappa PDK International (also known as PDK or Phi Delta Kappa International) is an international professional organization for educators. It was founded on January 24, 1906, at Indiana University. The fraternity administers the collegiate honor society ...

Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education, Development and Research, ETS Award for Distinguished Service to Measurement; Professional Practice Award of APA’s Division of Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

References

External links

John C. Flanagan/Aviation Psychology - Giving Psychology Away

The American Institutes for Research History Timeline
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flanagan, John C. 20th-century American psychologists 1906 births 1996 deaths United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Recipients of the Legion of Merit People from Armour, South Dakota Scientists from Seattle University of Washington alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Legionnaires of the Legion of Merit

References

Further reading

External links