Distinguished Service to Behavior Analysis Awardee
2006: Dr. James A. Dinsmoor (awarded posthumously)
Jim Dinsmoor was at the core of behavior analysis from its very beginnings and remained so throughout his career. He participated in the very first “proto-ABA convention,” the Conference on the Experimental Analysis of Behavior at Indiana University nearly sixty years ago. As a graduate student under Keller and Schoenfeld at Columbia, he provided advice on research strategy to Murray Sidman. Moving to the Midwest, he took up the flag for behavior analysis in the Psychology Department at Indiana University while Kay, his wife, ran the back office for the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Over the years, Jim accomplished a remarkable series of incisive research projects focused upon key conceptual issues. The first of these was a struggle to untangle the complex contingencies of escape and avoidance conditioning, the interpretation of which is a matter of contention to this day. The most notable project, in Dr. Hineline’s view, served to unmask the cognitivist interpretation of conditioned reinforcement. He showed that a conception in terms of “information” was a misleading characterization of the processes involved. Concurrently, Jim was a political activist, supporting controversial causes through his reputation for personal integrity. And of course, Jim was prominent in the action first at Eastern Psychological Association, at Midwest Psychological Association, at Midwestern Association of Behavior Analysis, and at ABA; where he could be counted on for good humor as well as supportive and provocative wisdom.
Back to Distinguished Service to Behavior Analysis Award