Frank A. Beach: biography of this American psychologist

If we talk about behavioral endocrinology, many of us may not know exactly what it is. Well, it is the scientific branch in charge of studying what effect the neuroendocrine system has on behavior.

One of the most prominent figures in this scientific branch was the American ethologist Frank A. Beach (1911-1988), who was in charge of developing much of his fundamental research, through works such as “Patterns of sexual behavior” (1951) ”, one of his most recognized.

In this article we will see a Biography of Frank A. beach and we will review his most important contributions in this field of knowledge.

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Frank A. Beach: who was it?

Frank Ambrose Beach (1911-1988) was an American-born ethologist and psychobiologist, who was born on April 13, 1911 in Emporia. (Kansas, United States) and that he died on June 15, 1988, at the age of 77.

Because of his publications on the subject, he is considered by many to be the founder of behavioral endocrinology, a branch of endocrinology in charge of studying the neuroendocrine system, as well as its effects on behavior.

For its part, etiology is a branch of knowledge that stems from two sciences, biology and experimental psychology, and that he is in charge of studying the behavior of animals, either in a situation of freedom, in their natural environment or in artificial laboratory conditions.

relevant data

To Frank A. Beach is especially remembered for his contributions to the field of not only etiology but also psychobiology. In fact, he was one of the leading figures of his generation in this second field of learning.

Frank focused on studying the sexual behavior of animals, but also other types of instinctive behavior (maternal and paternal behavior or mating behavior, for example). That is why Frank is considered one of the founders of behavioral endocrinology, along with William C. Young.

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Origin and academic trajectory

Frank A. Beah was the first of three children. His parents were Frank Ambrose Beach and Bertha Robinson Beach. He began studying psychology at Emporia. One of the figures who influenced him was James B. stroud. He graduated in 1932 and was awarded a fellowship to do research in clinical psychology. Then he did his thesis on color vision in rats.

After the investigation of him is finished, he earned another scholarship, this time to the University of Chicago, where he began working with psychologist Harvey Carr.. Frank A. Beach worked with very relevant figures, of which we will highlight the behavioral psychologist Karl Lashley.

Later, Frank moved again, due to financial problems; this time he went to Kansas, specifically to the city of Yates Center, where he would work as a high school teacher. It was in Kansas that he met his wife, although they did not last long.

Passion for research

Years later, in 1935, Frank A. Beach returned to the University of Chicago and finished his doctoral thesis; his theme was The role of the neocortex in the innate maternal behavior of rats.

In these years he married Anna Beth Odenweller, his second wife. With her he started a family, and had two children: Susan and Frank. Unfortunately, Anna died in 1971, and Frank remarried, this time to Noel Gaustad.

In 1936, Frank started working (for a year) in the Cambridge laboratory of Karl Lashley, the behavioral psychologist with whom he had already met. There he conducted research on sexual behavior in animals.

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Career path

Especially interested in animals, later Frank A. Beach left the more academic sphere (temporarily) and started working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York (USA), where he spent a total of ten years.

Frank is especially remembered for his contributions to a very specific field of knowledge: endocrinology and animal neurology. Specifically, he made numerous contributions in relation to the influence of the neural and endocrine system on the behavior of animals.

After his stay at the New York Museum ended, Frank began working at Yale University, thus returning to the academic world. He stayed there for ten more years, studying, among other topics, the reproductive behavior of dogs.

Between the 1950s and 1960s, he was working as a psychology professor at various universities; that yes, without stopping to investigate. In 1978, Frank A. Beach became a professor emeritus, and in 1986 he was awarded the APA Award for Distinguished Teaching in Biopsychology.

Outstanding works

One of the most outstanding and well-known works of Frank A. Beach, besides being a classic in his field, is Patterns of sexual behavior (1951), which he developed together with the anthropologist Clellan S. Ford. Another of his notable works is Human sexuality in four perspectives (1977).

Beyond his two main works, we also find important publications and books by the author. Some of them are:

• The Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology (1937)
• Hormones and Behavior: A Survey of the Interrelationship Between Endocrine Secretions and Overt Response Patterns (1948)
• The Snark was a Boojum, American psychologist (1950)
• Effects of Early Experience on Animal Behavior, Psychological Bulletin (1954)
• The Essence of Instinct, A Psychological Review (1955)
• Locks and Beagles, American psychologist (1969)

death and legacy

The great contribution made by Frank A. Beach to the field of psychobiology, and also to that of behavioral neuroendocrinology. Frank he spent his entire life researching, teaching and learning.

We see it through a phrase of his, which says: "Increasing knowledge, in itself, is a justifiable way of spending life."

Thus, he focused his life on studying behavior; in fact, another of his famous phrases talks about it: "Man's biggest problem today is not to understand and exploit his physical environment, but to understand and govern his own behavior."

To Frank A. Beach death "caught" him working and active, how could it be otherwise, and that is that his last days in a hospital bed were spent reading scientific literature. Finally, he died on June 15, 1988, at the age of 77.

Bibliographic references:

• Bilbo, S.D. (2013). Frank A. Beach award: programming of neuroendocrine function by early-life experience: a critical role for the immune system. Hormones and Behavior, 63(5): 684-691.
• Dewsberry, Donald A. (2000) "Frank A. Beach, Master Teacher," Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology, 4: 269-281.
• donald a. Dewberry (1998). Frank Ambrose Beach, 1911-1988: a biographical memoir.
• M Soto-Gamboa, F Bozinovic - Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology (F Bozinovic, ed.). (2003). Endocrinology and behavioral ecology: proximal mechanisms that explain behavioral patterns.