Roland Clark Davis

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 30, 1902,"Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FXHJ-3BT : 10 March 2018), Robert Clark Davis, 30 Dec 1902, Cambridge, Massachusetts; citing reference ID #p345 ln1376, Massachusetts Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 2,057,388. Roland Clark Davis was the eldest child of William Chalmers Davis and Effie Estelle Clark.{{cite journal|last1=Ancestry.com|title= 1920 Federal Census [database on-line]| journal= Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images Reproduced by FamilySearch.}} Davis earned his A.B. in English from Harvard in 1924 and his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1930.{{cite book|last= Thompson|first= D.E.|date= 1981|title=Indiana authors and their books 1967-1980|location= Crawfordsville, IN |publisher= Wabash College}} Upon leaving Columbia, Davis briefly worked as a research associate for the University of Virginia. Davis married Francis Oliver Meacham on September 12, 1927, in Petersburg, Virginia.{{cite journal|last1=Ancestry.com|title= Virginia, Select Marriages, 1785-1940 [database on-line]| journal= Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.}} They had two children, Susan Oliver and Christopher Meacham. In 1931, Davis was hired as an Acting Associate Professor at Indiana University where he established his psychophysiology laboratory in Science Hall. Davis died on February 23, 1961, at the age of 58 in Yellow Springs, Ohio.{{cite journal|last1=Ancestry.com and Ohio Department of Health|title= Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1932, 1938-2007 [database on-line]| journal= Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.}} He was returning home from a meeting at the Fels Research Institute when he suffered a heart attack.

At Columbia, Davis was mentored by Robert Sessions Woodworth and Albert Poffenberger. In his 1930 dissertation, “Factors Affecting the Galvanic Reflex,” Davis reviewed hundreds of published articles on the galvanic skin response (GSR), producing an extensive and systematic review of GSR.{{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|title= Factors affecting the galvanic reflex| journal= Archives of Psychology |date=1930| pages=5–64}}

Davis was the first to use a vacuum tube as a way to control the electrical current during measurement of the GSR.{{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|title= A vacuum tube for stabilizing the current during measurements of the galvanic reflex.| journal= American Journal of Psychology |date=1929|volume=41|issue=3| pages=474–475|doi=10.2307/1414689|jstor=1414689}} Davis also developed a device that provided an uninterrupted measurement of arterial blood pressure that would not interfere with the subject’s true blood pressure,{{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|title= Continuous recording of arterial pressure: An analysis of the problem| journal= Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology |date=1957|volume=50|issue=5| pages=524–529|doi=10.1037/h0044381|pmid=13481196}} and he is credited with introducing the cathode-ray oscilloscope technique for measuring muscle action potentials. In collaboration with Douglas Ellson, Irving Saltzman, and Cletus Burke, Davis also developed a lie-detection device.{{cite journal|last1=McRobbie|first1= M.A. |title= Incubating excellence at Indiana University. | journal= Speech Presented at Indiana University Innovation Center Dedication in University Gym |date=2009}}

Using gastric balloons and a landmine detector to track the progress of steel balls through the gastrointestinal tracts of volunteers, Davis produced evidence that stomach contractions were largely absent when the stomach was empty, a finding that directly refuted the popular hypothesis of the time that hunger produced the most intense stomach contractions. Davis also used the electrogastrogram (EGG) to study the effects of particular drugs on gastric activity.

Davis also challenged the theory of homeostasis,{{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|title= The domain of homeostasis| journal= Psychological Review|date=1958|volume=65|issue=1| pages=8–13 |doi=10.1037/h0045358 |pmid=13505977}} arguing that the relevant terms needed to be more precisely defined and that responses could be adaptive even if they were not homeostatic:“Homeostasis can be maintained for one variable only at the expense of heterostasis in at least one other”.

Davis was recognized as a leader in the Department of Psychology, and he was one of the few members of the senior faculty to remain in his position through World War II. Davis was also one of the founding members of the Society for Psychophysiological Research. At Indiana University, Davis directed the master's and doctoral theses of 29 graduate students, including Oran Wendle Eagleson.

A Vacuum Tube for Stabilizing the Current During Measurements of the Galvanic Reflex (1929)

Factors Affecting the Galvanic Reflex (1930)

Electrical Skin Resistance Before, During, and After a Period of Noise Stimulation (1932) {{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|title= Electrical skin resistance before, during, and after a period of noise stimulation.| journal= Journal of Experimental Psychology|date=1932|volume=15| pages=108–117|doi=10.1037/h0072828}}

Modification of the Galvanic Reflex by Daily Repetition of a Stimulus (1934) {{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|title= Modification of the galvanic reflex by daily repetition of a stimulus | journal= Journal of Experimental Psychology |date=1934|volume=17|issue=4| pages=504–535|doi=10.1037/h0074305}}

Apparatus for Recording Autonomic States and Changes (1954) {{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|last2=Siddons|first2=G.F. | last3=Stout|first3=G. |title= Apparatus for recording autonomic states and changes| journal= American Journal of Psychology|date=1954|volume=67|issue=2| pages=343–352|doi=10.2307/1418639|jstor=1418639|pmid=13158653}}

Response Patterns (1957) {{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|title= Response patterns| journal= Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences |date=1957| pages=731–739 | volume=19 |doi=10.1111/j.2164-0947.1957.tb00564.x }}

An Exploration of Somatic Response Patterns: Stimulus and Sex Differences (1957)

The Pattern of Somatic Response During a Repetitive Motor Task and its Modification by Visual Stimuli (1957) {{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|last2=Lundervold|first2=A.| last3= Miller|first3=J.D.|title= The pattern of somatic response during a repetitive motor task and its modification by visual stimuli| journal= Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology|date=1957|volume=50|issue=1| pages=53–60|doi=10.1037/h0045021|pmid=13406139}}

The Domain of Homeostasis (1958)

A Cathode-Ray Oscilloscope Apparatus for the Psychological Laboratory (1931) {{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|title= A cathode-ray oscilloscope apparatus for the psychological laboratory| journal= Journal of General Psychology|date=1931| pages=107–115|doi=10.1080/00221309.1931.9918382}}

Properties of Electrodes Used in Recording Action Potentials from the Intact Organism (1936) {{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|title= Properties of electrodes used in recording action potentials from the intact organism| journal= American Journal of Psychology|date=1936| pages=693–695}}

Methods of Measuring Muscle Tension (1942) {{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|title= Methods of measuring muscle tension | journal= Psychological Bulletin|date=1942|volume=39|issue=6| pages=329–346 |doi=10.1037/h0056298 }}

An Integrator and Accessory Apparatus for Recording Action Potentials (1948) {{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|title= An integrator and accessory apparatus for recording action potentials| journal= American Journal of Psychology |date=1948|volume=61|issue=1| pages=100–104|doi=10.2307/1417298|jstor=1417298|pmid=18908896}}

Adaptation of the Muscular Tension Response to Gunfire (1949) {{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|last2=Van Liere|first2= D.W.|title= Adaptation of the muscular tension response to gunfire| journal= Journal of Experimental Psychology|date=1949|volume=39|issue=1| pages=114–117|doi=10.1037/h0061223|pmid=18111565}}

Autonomic and Muscular Response and Their Relationship to Simple Stimuli (1955) {{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|last2=Buchwald|first2= A.M.|last3=Frankmann|first3= R.W.|title= Autonomic and muscular responses, and their relation to simple stimuli| journal= Psychological Monographs: General and Applied|date=1955|volume=69|issue=20| pages=1–71|doi=10.1037/h0093734}}

American Psychology 1800-1885 (1936) {{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|title= American Psychology 1800–1885 |journal= Psychological Review |date=1936|volume=43|issue=6| pages=471–493 |doi=10.1037/h0056118 }}

Physiological Psychology: A View of Fifty Years (1958) {{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=R.C.|title= Physiological psychology: A view of fifty years. | journal= In G. H. Seward & J. P. Seward (Eds.),Current Psychological Issues: Essaysin Honor of Robert S. Woodworth |date=1958| pages=249–277}}

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Category:20th-century American psychologists

Category:1902 births

Category:1961 deaths

Category:Columbia University alumni

Category:Indiana University Bloomington faculty

Category:Harvard College alumni