Scott, John Paul, 1909-2000

John Paul Scott was born in Kansas City, Montana on December 17, 1909. Scott was an eminent comparative psychologist who studied the development of social behavior of animals to help solve human social problems, particularly aggression. As an undergraduate he studied zoology at the University of Wyoming under his father, John W. Scott, and later as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University under E. B. Ford. He completed his Ph.D. in genetics at the University of Chicago under the guidance of Sewall Wright, a prominent figure in the development of genetic theory of evolution. Upon graduating, Scott moved to Wabash College where he was the chair of the department of Zoology from 1935 to 1945; it was here where he did his first research on aggression and sociobiology. In 1945, Scott went to the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, where he was chair of the division of behavior studies and continued to carry out a productive research program on animal behavior and its applications to human problems. He continued this work at Bowling Green State University where he founded the Center for the Study of Social Behavior and became a Regents Professor of Psychology. Throughout his career he published numerous articles and books on animal behavior, particularly dogs, and its application to understanding human problems such as aggression. His major contributions include Animal Behavior (1958, 2nd edition 1975), Aggression (1958, 2nd Edition 1975) and Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog, (l965). In addition to his prolific writing, Scott was also involved in various professional organizations. He served as president of the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology, Behavior Genetics Association, and the International Society for Research and Aggression, respectively. Scott also helped to found the Animal Behavior Society and the International Society for Research on Aggression. He was a fellow of the AAAS, ABS, APA, and received the Behavior Genetic Society's Dobzhansky Award for Eminent Research. John Paul Scott died on March 26, 2000.

From the guide to the John Paul Scott papers, 1920-2000, (Center for the History of Psychology)