Haugeland was a research fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities and of the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences. He has also been a member of the Council for Philosophical Studies.
Haugeland first studied at Harvey Mudd College, where he obtained a degree in physics before studying for a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.
In Artificial Intelligence: The Very Idea, Haugeland coined the term GOFAI, which stands for Good Old Fashioned Artificial Intelligence, describing, loosely, the Artificial Intelligence research techniques of the 1970s and before and in the perceptions of mind.