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88/1964

THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

Annual Report 1963 .

1 . Staff of Department of Psychology 1963.

C.A. Gibb ~': P. Pentony

G. N. Seagrim J . R. Trotter Margaret R. Middleton J.S . Western W.H . Gladstones M.L . Cook Susan Somerville Linda L. Viney E. ~1ary Andreu Ann L.B . Davies Phyllis Mayson

Professor Associate Professor Associate Professor Senior Lecturer Senior Lecturer Lecturer Lecturer Senior Demonstrator Demonntrator Tutor Research Assistant Administrative Assistant Secretary

* Associate Professor Pentony is also Student Counselor for the University .

One new appointn.ent has been made for 1964 .

G.M. Sinclair Senior Tutor .

During Professor Pentony's absence on study leave in 1964 the university and the department \lill have the services of Mr . F . N. Naylor, Student Counselor of the University of New South Wales, whom that University has very generously agreed to second for the year in order to assint us through a transition period.

2. Teaching Progrannne and Curriculum

While the formal curriculum w.:ts again unchnnged in 1963 teaching in some .:treas gained considerable strength from the work of Dr. Trotter nnd Dr . Gladstones ench of whom brought to his courses his own pnrticular strengths and cmphnscs . During 1963 staff members have devoted a regulnr weekly meeting to discussion nnd reformulntion of the entire psychology curriculum nnd it is proposed to submit n revised curriculum to the Faculties of Science nnd Arts for approval during 1964 nnd implementation in 1965 .

All pnss and honours courses in Psychology I, II and III in both Arts nnd Science were taught in 1963, nnd one student pursued the honours Arts course in Psychology IV .

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3. Enrolments .::md Exnrnination Results

Course Students Sat I Defer- Pass Honours Enroled Exam j red HD. Term I Ex.:im

i\rts Sc. i\rts Sc. Total i\rts Sc.

Psychology I G9 27 76 23 99 56 17 5

Psychology II 30 28 29 21

Psychology III 15 3 13 3 1 6 9 3

Psychology IV 1

H • .I\. Qualifying l+ 2 2

M.i\. Theses 2 worl: continuing

11. Sc. 1 work continuing

Ph.D. 3 work continuing

arrived 13.12,63,

4. Accommodation and Equipment

While accommodntion in the Physics Building hns continued to be very satisfactory, 1963 has seen nn expansion in the department which has placed a premium on spnce and even with ndditional spnce now made availnble on the second floor, the dep.:irtment will have bnrely ndequate accorrunodntion in 1964 .:ind will be in real difficulty in 1965.

The depnrtment is now able to meet basic dem.:!nds for teaching and research equipr:i.ent with the one serious shortcoming in the area of experimental uork tlith animals. The eventual erection of the Zoology animal house, which includes some provision for Psychology, will remedy this.

5, Research nnd Writing

Professor Gibb, after his return from overseas, has continued to participate in n limited way in the study of executive bchnviour in collaboration with the stnff of Educational Testing Service, Princeton. He has also published (uith others) an E.T.S. Research Bulletin (RB-63-14) entitled 11Game Interactions with "Hur:i.nns" and "lfachines 11

and their Relations to Tactical Ilehavior and Success 11, He has also

contracted to prepnre the 11 Leadership11 entry for the new International Encyclopcdin of the Social Sciences, and to revise his chapter on Leadership for n new edition of the Hnndbook of Socinl Psychology and work to this end hns been going forwnrd. During the yenr he hns nlso been n contributor to the Sixth Mental Mensurements Yearbook.

Associate Professor Pentony continued his research on personality changes in psychothernpy. In Hay of 1963 he was co-director of a ther.:ipy ser:i.innr at the University of Neu Englnnd nnd these sessions, the transcription of which is nou being prepared, will provide con­siderable data for this work. During 1964 Professor Pentony will engage in resenrch at the Tavistock Institute of llurnnn Relntions in London.

D. Cr.

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Associate I'rofessor Sengrim has continued his researches into the phenomenon of latency in induced aniseikonin . The main emphasis has been to devise methods of measurement and to make a survey of this phenomenon in various groups of subjects. This hns been largely successful and interest is now concentrating on age and inter-ocular differences. A preliminary survey of age differences has just been completed at the Canberra Gramr.lar School where space and facilities were kindly provided by the Headmaster. A Seminar on I'erception was conducted throughout the yenr and two specialist week-end conferences on Perception were held in Canberra during the year with sntisfactory inter-state attend.'.lnce. Papers have been reacl at various functions including one to the Canberr.'.l Branch of the Royal Society and one to the UNESCO Symposium on the Teaching of Art. A description of tech­niques and an account of experiments conducted on aniseikonic latency has been written and circulated privately in Australia, the U.K. and the U.S.A. The translation of Les Mechanismes Perceptifs by Piaget continues and the bulk of this work has now been completed in pre­liminary form.

Dr. Trotter has constructed apparatus for the automation of psychological experiments, which has seen much use in the teaching programme this year, and forms the nucleus of the equipment needed for the proposed animal laboratory. Colleagues in other universities have shown great interest in this apparatus, which is new to Australia, and an instruction manual is being prepared for circulation and even­tual publication. Work is in progress on a calibrated musical instrument for research on tone deafness, and an account of techniques for this research has been \1ritten. He has read papers at the British Psycho­logical Society's conference and at the Canberra Meeting on Perception.

Dr. Middleton has conducted a study of the distribution of errors in performances of pre-school children on the Columbin 11ental Maturity Scale. This supplements an investigation carried out in 1962 into the usefulness of this test for Australian children. The research has been financed by the S.S.R.C. Analysis of data is almost complete.

Dr. Western has continued his research into professional sociali­zation. Two pilot investigations concerned with the way in which professional attitudes arc acquired have been carriecl out this year in preparation for n comparative study of students in different pro­fessional fields at several Australian universities beginning next year. Some preliminary findings and a general discussion of the notion of professional socialization appear in his article in the current issue of the Australinn Journal of Social Issues. This research also served as a basis for papers he delivered at the annual conferences of the Australian Branch of the British Psychological Society and the Australian Association of Social Workers and at the nnnual general meeting of the Canberra Sociological Society. Dr. Western is also collaborating with Dr. Colin Hughes, of the Institute's Department of Political Science, in a study entitled "Television in Politics" - an investigation of the role of television in the last election.

Dr. Glndstones has read papers at a meeting of the Experimental i'sychology Society in London and at the third Canberra Meeting on Perception. He is also preparing for publication the results of experimental work on object and viewing conditions affecting the phenomenon of shape constancy. Dr. Glndstones has begun discussion with a research group in the Department of Supply uith the object of starting a programme of research in human skills and engineering psychology that '1ill be broadly coordinated with kinds of research being carried on by that group.

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1~. Cook hos continued his work on subjective probability. Empirical investit;ations of the transitivity of likelihood judgements, the relationship between likelihood judgnents .:ind choices between bets and a variety of aspects of people's ability to estimate relative frequencies of past and future events have been carried out or arc in progress. This \1ork \li 11 be s ubni t ted for an M.Sc. during the cooing year.

Hiss Somerville enrolled as a staff cnncli<late for the Degree of Doctor of ~hilosophy in April 1963 and hos since been cng.:iged in prc­lir.i.ino.ry investigations an<l reading for o. thesis on the growth of thought and intelligence in children in the age range 9-14 years. It is hoped to perform sone preliminary experiments using E.R. John's l)robleCT-Solving and Information appnratus early in the New Year.

Miss Viney has enrolled as a staff candidate for the degree of M.A. (Hons.) and has successfully submitted for one examination as a part of this work. She has also been exploring in some depth the notion of "self-concept" in Psychology and has conducted some preliminnry experinental work nt the Canberra Church of England Grarmnar School.

In .:lddition to the post graduate work of the junior staff r.i.embers ncntionccl above two Ph .D. scholars have been working in the department during the year. Hiss Gillam has pursued the third year of her General Motors Holden Scholarship with continued rese.:irch into the role of stereoscopic vision in the perception of slant. Miss Gillam expects to submit for the ?h .D. in March 196L~ and examiners have been appointed. Mrs. de Lemos entered the departnent at the end of 1962 as .:in A.N.U. scholar and has embarked upon a study of the logical thinking of the Australian aborigine. While her work this year has been principally in the literature Mrs. de Lemos has nade one exploratory trip to the Northern Territory and has made arrangements for her field work next year.

Mr. ?hillips a ~h .D. scholar from Manchester has arrived in the departraent this nonth and a Connnonwealth Post-graduate scholarship has just been offered to Mr. Clarke of Newcastle.

During the: yenr Hiss Wendy Thorn was mmrded the degree of Han ter of Arts with second class honours in Psychology for a thesis entitled "A Study of the i'erconality Correlates of Placebo Reactors."

7. ?articipotion in Activities of Professional Organizations or Groups

Hcmbers of the stuff have continued nctive participation in the nffairs of the British ?sychological Society. Professor Seagrim has been secretary of the local group while Professor Gibb has continued ns a member of the Qunlifications ond Publications Committees of the Australian Branch ond hns resumed the duties of consulting editor and book review e<litor of the 1\ustralian Journal of i'sychology . Professor Gibb has also continued as the Society's representative on the Australinn Social Sciences Advisory Committee for UNESCO. He has again been mode chai1T.1on of this collffilittee and as such is a member of the Australian National Advisory Committee for UNESCO. Professor Gibb has continued nlso ns a member of the Social Science Research Council of Australia in which he is a me~ber of the Research Grants Committee and of the Committee established to launch a major research project designed to study rclntiona between aboriginees and white citizens in Australia's developing areas.

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Again <lurin3 1963 this department was twice host to psychologists \Iith interests in the field of perception for week-end discussions. These meetings were very successful in achieving a high level of discussion and, of course, they serve the very uorthwhile purpose of presenting the department and its uork to psychologists working in other Australian centres.

As secretary of the organizing committee of Section J for the forthcoming C.:mbcrr::i meeting of A. N.Z.1\ .A.S. Dr. Trotter has J·.cen very busy intlec<l.

Cor:nnunity Activities

The department has again taken responsibility for the provision of psychology lectures to nurses in training at the Canberra Cor:nnunity Hospital. This year this work has been managed by Miss Lin<la Viney. Associate Professor Pentony continued to take nn interest in and to assist marriage guidance organizations in Canberra. He has also again been a member of the Child Welfare Advisory Council of the A .C. T. On his resignotion to proceed on s tucly leave Dr. lfargaret Hi<ldleton has been appointed to this Council. Members of the department have continue<l too to be interested in the Handicapped Children's Associ ­ation of the A .C. T. and in Koomari school to \1hich our students hove been taken for field studies of handicapped children.

Visitors to the Department

During the year the department has been fortunate to have n number of very interesting and stimulating talks from and discussions with such people as Dr. Z. Dienes of the University of Adelaide, Dr. Rnjalakshmi of the University of Baroda, India, and Dr. E. Hunt of the University of Sydney.

Sunnary

1963 has been in all respects a normal year. Teaching and research activities in the departr.ient have been fully maintained. A r.ioderate expansion in student numbers, in staff and in facilities has been achieved . A nanageablc steady demand for honours and for post­graduate uork in psychology has nm1 been established and is expected to continue. A stage has now been reached when in 1964 all nvnilable spnce will be fully employed and some difficulties may be anticipated for 1965 an<l later years until the Botany Building may be occupied . The department cor.tinues to be handicapped by absence of an animal resenrch laboratory, but this need will be met when the 1:oology animal house is completed.

C cc il f, • Gibb ~rofessor of ~sychology