Frank A. Beach

Frank Ambrose Beach, Jr. was born in Emporia, Kansas, the first of three children to Frank Ambrose Beach and Bertha Robinson Beach. Although he respected his father, a distinguished Professor of Music at Kansas State Teachers College (now Emporia State University), Frank Beach Jr. often rebelled against him. who had perhaps the strongest influence on Beach's professional life. Financial difficulties forced Beach to leave Chicago, and took a high school teaching position in Yates Center, Kansas, where he married his first wife. The union was short-lived. Beach returned to the University of Chicago in 1935, and completed, under the supervision of Harvey Carr, a PhD thesis on the role the neocortex on innate maternal behavior in rats. Although Beach completed his dissertation in 1936, he did not receive the degree until 1940 due to his inability to pass the foreign language portion of the degree requirements. During this period, Beach married his second wife, Anna Beth Odenweller, with whom he had two children, Frank and Susan. In 1936, Beach accepted a one-year position at Karl Lashley's Cambridge laboratory, where he continued his studies of animal sexual behavior. ==Professional career==

In 1937, Beach was employed by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. In 1950, he accepted a position as a Sterling Professor of Psychology. A sabbatical at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford began in 1957–58. In 1958, Beach accepted a position as Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. The research program on dogs that was initiated at Yale was expanded at Berkeley. Beach helped found the Field Station for Behavioral Research near the Berkeley campus. Beach was known for being an excellent mentor to graduate students while at Berkeley. Beach became professor emeritus in 1978, but still remained active in his work. Beach was awarded the APA award for Distinguished Teaching in Biopsychology in 1986. Beach, along with anthropologist Clellan S. Ford, co-authored the book Patterns of Sexual Behavior (1951), considered a "classic" of its field. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1953 and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1961. He also authored an edited version, Human Sexuality in Four Perspectives, in 1977. Beach's second wife, Anna, died in 1971, and he thereafter married Noel Gaustad. In the days prior to his death, Beach continued his work from a hospital bed, reading scientific literature and giving advice about a paper on reproductive behavior to be presented at an Omaha conference on June 12, 1988. He died on June 15, 1988. Beach's work in comparative psychology was expansive and influential. Beach studied behavior in rats, dogs, cats, quail, pigeons, dolphins, and hamsters. Beach was particularly interested in the role of endocrinology in behavior. He studied the effects of endocrines on behaviors through methods such as castration, isolation, brain legions, and hormone manipulation. Other behaviors that Beach was interested in include instinct behavior, maternal behavior, and menstruation. ==Legacy==

Beach is remembered as a serious scholar and researcher, who believed that "increasing knowledge, in and of itself, is a justifiable way to spend your life." The Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology has awarded the Frank A. Beach Young Investigator Award in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology annually since 1990. ==Recognition==

• Chairman of the Department of Animal Behavior at the American Museum of Natural History, 1942 • Elected President of the American Psychological Association Division of Experimental Psychology, 1949 • Sterling Professor of Psychology at Yale University, 1950 • President of the Eastern Psychological Association, 1951 • William James Lecturer in Psychology at Harvard University, 1952 • Chair of the National Research Council Committee for the Study of Problems of Sex, 1957 • American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions, 1958 • President of the Western Psychological Association, 1968 • President of the International Academy of Sex Research, 1977 • Co-founded the journal Hormones and Behavior, 1979 • American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Teaching in Biopsychology, 1986 ==Patterns of Sexual Behavior==

Whereas for much of history, well into the 20th century, homosexuality had been considered a mental disorder, Beach conceptualized homosexuality as a natural human phenomenon. In Patterns of Sexual Behavior, Beach and his co-author, Clellan S. Ford, outlined their study of sexual practices—including dating rituals, frequency of intercourse, and types of foreplay—across 76 distinct cultures, in 49 of which they reported finding acceptance of homosexual behavior. Since publication, Patterns of Sexual Behavior has been cited by numerous scholars advocating against classifying homosexuality as mental disorder: 95 times in the first decade alone and an additional 226 times in the subsequent decade. In 1973, homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). ==Major publications==

1937 - The Neural Basis of Innate Behavior, The Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology, 53:1 (Dissertation) 1948 - Hormones and Behavior: A Survey of Interrelationship between Endocrine Secretions and Patterns of Overt Response, Oxford: England (First Book) 1950 - The Snark was a Boojum, American Psychologist, 5:4 1952 - Patterns of Sexual Behavior, Oxford: England 1954 - Effects of Early Experience Upon the Behavior of Animals, Psychological Bulletin, 51:3 1955 - The De-scent of Instinct, Psychological Review, 62:6 1969 - Locks and Beagles, American Psychologist, 24:11 1971 - Hormonal Factors in the Ramstergig and Related Species, The Biopsychology of Development 1976 - Sexual Attractivity, Proceptivity, and Receptivity in Female Mammals, Hormones and Behavior, 7:1 1977 - Human Sexuality in Four Perspectives, Johns Hopkins University Press ==References==