Ogden R. Lindsley (August 11, 1922, in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

– October 10, 2004) was an American psychologist. He is best known for developing precision teaching (including the Standard Celeration Chart). In 1948, he obtained an A.B. in

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

and two years later in 1950 a Sc.M. in

Experimental Psychology Experimental psychology is the work done by those who apply Experiment, experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ Research participant, human participants and Animal testing, anim ...

. At

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 ...

he studied Psychology under B. F. Skinner, earning his Ph.D. in 1957. In 1953, Lindsley started the Behavior Research Laboratory at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

(Massachusetts Mental Health Center). There he analyzed the behavior of persons with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

. This was the first human operant laboratory. He invented the term "

behavior therapy Behaviour therapy or behavioural psychotherapy is a broad term referring to clinical psychotherapy that uses techniques derived from behaviourism and/or cognitive psychology. It looks at specific, learned behaviours and how the environment, or oth ...

". During the time O. R. Lindsley was Director of the Behavior Research Laboratory (from 1956 to 1961), Lindsley was a

Research Associate Research associates are researchers (scholars and professionals) that usually have an advanced degree beyond a Bachelor's degree such as a master's degree or a PhD. In some universities/research institutes, such as Harvard/Harvard Medical Scho ...

in Psychiatry at

. From 1961 to 1965, he was an Associate in Psychology. In 1962, Lindsley was awarded the Hofheimer Research Prize by the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 39,200 members who are in ...

. In 1965, Lindsley gave up the laboratory and moved into

special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

teacher training at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

. From 1965 to 1971, he was Director of Educational Research in the Medical Center and a Research Associate in the Bureau of Child Research. In 1971 he was appointed a professor in education at the

until he retired in 1990. He was an active emeritus professor until his death. Ogden Lindsley died of bile duct cancer on October 10, 2004, aged 82, at the Kansas University Medical Center with his wife, Nancy, at his side.

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindsley, Ogden R 1922 births 2004 deaths Deaths from cancer in Kansas People from Providence, Rhode Island Brown University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni 20th-century American psychologists University of Kansas faculty Psychology educators