Gary Cziko is an American researcher, and author^[1] in the field of educational psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign who has worked on the philosophical model known as perceptual control theory (PCT) – a model whose original developer, William T. Powers, was his mentor.^[2] He has written two introductory books on the subject, and in 1995 he introduced the concept of "universal selectionism" into the PCT model.^[3]

Cziko received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Queens College, City University of New York, a Master of Arts degree in psychology from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1975, and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from McGill University in 1978.^[1] He was a post-doctoral research fellow for the Quebec Ministry of Education at the University of Montreal during 1978–79.^[1] Since 1979, Cziko has been on the faculty of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He became an associate professor in 1986 and a full professor in 1998.

In 1989, Cziko published one of his first academic papers relating to PCT:

• Cziko, Gary (1989). "Unpredictability and Indeterminism in Human Behavior: Arguments and Implications for Educational Research" (PDF). Educational Researcher. 18 (3): 17–25. doi:10.3102/0013189X018003017. S2CID 17154755. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 24, 2013.

He has also authored two introductions to PCT, both published by MIT Press:

• Cziko, Gary (1995). Without Miracles: Universal Selection Theory and the Second Darwinian Revolution. MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-03232-5. LCCN 95000943.^[4][5][6][7]
• Cziko, Gary (2000). The Things We Do : Using The Lessons of Bernard and Darwin to Understand The What, How, and Why of Our Behavior. MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-03277-5. LCCN 99051843.^{[2][8][9][10]}

In 2008, Cziko was a Fulbright Scholar in Chile.^[11]