Arthur A. Lumsdaine

Arthur Allen Lumsdaine (1913–1989) was an American applied psychologist who researched the use of media and programmed learning. Art Lumsdaine served in the U.S. Army in World War II. He was recruited by Carl Hovland, who was then Chief Psychologist and Director of Experimental Studies for the Research Branch of the Information and Education Division of the U.S. War Department.[1] Lumsdaine later took a PhD in psychology at Stanford University (awarded 1949).[2]

Service in the Army showed him the crucial role played by training in any large army conscripted from the general population. Lumsdaine’s main work was on the effectiveness of media for training and education. He also worked on the experimental investigation of attitude change. He played a leading part in the post-World War II wave of experimental psychologists who worked on the principles of education and training.

Lumsdaine saw the potential of teaching machines and programmed instruction and helped their development. Art was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as of the American Psychological Association (APA). He served as a member of the APA's Board of Scientific Affairs (1967–1970), was President of the Division of Educational Psychology (1968–1969), and was an Associate Editor of Contemporary Psychology for eight years.[2]