| Notes |
- Herald-Times (Bloomington, IN)
September 27, 2005
James A. Dinsmoor, of Bloomington, died in Laconia, New Hampshire, on August 25, 2005, following a short illness. Born in Woburn, Massachusetts, on October 4, 1921, to Daniel S. and Jean (Masson) Dinsmoor, he graduated from Dartmouth College in 1943 and did graduate work in psychology at Columbia University, where he earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. He taught at Columbia from 1946 to 1951 and spent the rest of his career at Indiana University, where he was Professor of Psychology for 35 years. He retired in 1986. After his retirement he kept in touch with former classmates, students, and colleagues, and continued to publish regularly in psychology journals. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to his field, he was to have received the Distinguished Service Award in 2006 from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis.
Upon his retirement, he reminisced about the time he spent abroad at the age of nine, when his father's work took the family to Wales and Sunderland, England, for two years. He noted that the experience of a foreign culture made him less accepting of prevailing ideas and engendered a critical examination of their validity. He was shaken when a Bible class teacher suggested plausible naturalistic interpretations of various New Testament episodes.
In high school in Webster Groves, Missouri, he encountered the writings of Bertrand Russell, traveled in Mexico, and joined a discussion group that met in the St. Louis home of a Socialist Party activist, Doris Preisler, all of which had a profound influence on the course his life was to take. In 1938 he co-founded and edited a publication, The Question Mark, that dared to raise issues of politics and the administration of the high school. At Dartmouth, he joined the Socialist Party, worked on the student newspaper, won oratorical prizes, and organized opposition to America's entry into the war in Europe. For ten years he was on the national executive committee of the Young People's Socialist League, which he served as national secretary for a few months after graduation. He had chosen to major in political science because the department permitted independent study, but social psychologist Ross Stagner had influenced him to complete as well the requirements of a psychology major.
He began graduate study at Columbia with the intention of becoming a social psychologist, but his experience as a teaching assistant to Fred S. Keller, a friend of behaviorist B.F. Skinner, led him to change course toward the rigorous laboratory study of fundamental behavioral processes. He followed that course for the rest of his life. During his graduate studies he served for a while as American correspondent for a paper published by Britain's Independent Labour Party.
His political activism continued at Indiana University, where he organized opposition to the war in Vietnam, spoke at rallies and over the radio, chaired the first campus teach-in, and ran for Congress in 1966 on a peace platform. He was arrested at a demonstration where President Johnson was scheduled to speak at Monument Circle in Indianapolis; defended by Andrew Jacobs, he was acquitted of all charges. His political activism spurred the university community toward greater participation in local politics. During the last five years of his life, his rebellious nature was limited to sending irate letters to the editors of The Herald-Times and The New York Times.
Dinsmoor served on the council of the Midwestern Psychological Association for ten years, and also served the association as president and secretary-treasurer. His contributions to the American Psychological Association included ten years on the executive committee of Division 25, three years as the division's vice president, and six years on its council of representatives.
He served the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior for two years as president and chairman of its board, and as a member of the board of directors for twelve years.
He is survived by his wife, Kay (Sawyer) Dinsmoor, of Bloomington; two sons, Daniel S. Dinsmoor and his wife, Jeanne, of Arlington, Virginia; Robert S. Dinsmoor, of South Hamilton, Massachusetts; a daughter, Mara J. Dinsmoor, of Evanston, Illinois; four grandchildren, Ari, Gabriel, Joseph, and Lily Dinsmoor, all of Arlington, Virginia; and several nephews, nieces, and cousins.
He advised his twin grandsons on the occasion of their Bar Mitzvahs: Dare to be different; dare to consider the other person's point of view; dare to face the facts; dare to reach your own conclusions; dare to say what you think - on the streets or in the press. These are admonitions he both preached and practiced.
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1921 - 2005 (83 years)
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