Jack Michael

Jack Michael (January 16, 1926 – November 12, 2020) was an American psychologist and professor at Western Michigan University. He developed one of the first token economies, the concept of motivating operations (MOs), and is a pioneer of what is now referred to as applied behavior analysis (ABA, also called behavioral engineering).

Early life Michael, named John Lester Michael, was born on January 16, 1926, in Los Angeles, California. He had no siblings. His father Lester Lioniel was an automobile mechanic and his mother Willie 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 to 1937, Junior High School from 1938 to 1940, and High School from 1941 to 1943. He was in the Boy Scouts for about 3 years, took drum lessons, and played in a youth orchestra/marching band.

He was 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.