D on H ake Behavior Analyst: A Memorial

Abstract

When Don Hake's obituary appeared in our local newspaper, it was reproduced as I had written it except for the deletion of a single sentence: "He was regarded with affection by hiis colleagues for his wisdom, leadership, and dedication to psychology." The editor's decision to delete it was unfortunate, for many of the professional contributions described in the article were inseparable from these characteristics of Don. His accomplishments in behavior analysis over the last twenty years are well known to most readers of JEAB. A smaller, but still sizable, number of JEAB's readers knew Don well enough to validate the description in the deleted sentence. For those who did not know Don well, and for his friends, some elaboration of this description seems appropriate. Don was wise. His scholarship is apparent in his research and professional service. However , his wisdom was manifest to those of us whom he counseled: about psychology, about careers, about difficult decisions, about families . .. about life. His was the wisdom of one with whom we could identify. As he often put it, he had stumbled but he had survived. Don did more than survive. He thrived and he gave freely of his time and energy to help others thrive as well. We are all wiser, and better, for having shared his counsel. Don was a leader. He devoted considerable time to reflecting and evaluating where things should go and he had the skills to make them happen. Ideas, events, and the implications of various actions were all given the careful analysis of a good scientist. His fine sense of the continuity of psychology-basic research and applications, nonsocial and social behavior, action and evaluation, the importance of the history of psychology in considering its future, and behavior analysis and the broader issues in psychology-gave credence to his leadership. Nowhere was Don's sense of continuity better exemplified than in the manner in which he translated the lessons of his life's work into his interactions with others. His behavior epitomized the cooperation, sharing, and trust to which he devoted so much energy and enthusiasm in the laboratory. He used the principles of behavior analysis skillfully and sensitively to resolve problems and move himself and others toward productive ends. From his collection of old volumes important in the history of psychology to his formidable knowledge of the discipline, Don's dedication to psychology was obvious. Even though Don was deeply concerned about how his work was viewed by his colleagues, this dedication often led him to take intellectual risks and explore unfamiliar areas with uncertain outcomes. One such area was animal social behavior. At the time he died, he was just beginning to see his work in this area, according to another of his favorite expressions, "come to fruition." The following article describes one of his first experiments in this new area. Among his uncompleted projects were articles and chapters on trust, the relation between general activity and operant behavior, laboratory analogues of human behavior, a framework for animal social behavior, a science of history, numerous experiments on social behavior of animals, and an edited book on future directions in the experimental analysis of behavior. Always the teacher and the student , almost all of Don's published works, and all of these projects, included at least one co-author. Several of Don's colleagues in the psychology department at West Virginia University gave brief eulogies at his funeral. These vi-gnettes were diverse and personal: the "Don Hake style," the support Don gave to a col-league's son while they were competing in a road race and the broader significance of that gesture, his strong ties to his family and his reliance on them for advice and support, his many qualities worthy of imitation by us and our children, his contributions to the sense of community in our department and in the profession. Affection and high regard were the unifying themes. Don would have been pleased by these themes, but even more so by the fact that he once more brought people together to discuss things of importance. In a sadly shortened career he accomplished a great deal, both in terms of "the data" and his effect on other psychologists. We are fortunate that Don Hake was our colleague. 5