K. D. White

Agenesis of the corpus callosum: Report of two pre-school children and review of the literature

The results of neuropsychological examinations of two patients with agenesis of the corpus callosum showed low intelligence‐test performance, impared visuo‐motor co‐ordination and impaired bimanual co‐ordination. The most striking deficits were observed in Case A, particularly in her inability to identify objects verbally when placed in the non‐dominant hand, and in her ability to complete a task with the non‐dominant hand without vision, when she was unable to complete the same task with vision. This patient is unusual insofar as she manifests deficits noted in acallosal patients, as well as some noted in split‐brain patients but not previously ascribed to acallosal patients.

The Structure of Paranormal Beliefs Among Australian Psychology Students

A 46-item paranormal belief questionnaire was given to 836 Australian psychology students. Paranormal items, derived from the popular media, were rated on a 5-point strength of evidence scale. Responses to the questionnaire were correlated and subjected to a principle axis factor analysis, followed by orthogonal and oblique rotation. A seven-factor Obliquely rotated solution, accounting for 38.49% of the variance, was chosen as most interpretable. The seven factor were identified as popular science, obscure unbelief, traditional religion, alternative treatments, paratherapies, functional psi, and structural psi. Results thus provide support for the multidimensional structure of paranormal beliefs.

Strength of the nervous system as a function of personality type and level of arousal

The threshold of transmarginal inhibition (TTI), indexed by the duration of the visual after-image under massed trial conditions, was examined under three treatment conditions—caffeine, placebo and Sodium Amytal—with a sample of 16 Ss, selected on the basis of extraversion (E) and neuroticism (N) scores on Eysenck and Eysencks (1964) Personality Inventory (EPI). N was found to be positively related to growth of transmarginal inhibition.

The australian journal of psychology: The first 30 years

Material appearing in the Australian Journal of Psychology was examined for the period 1949 to 1978. Over the three decades changes were identified in the structural characteristics of the articles, their source and patterns of authorship, methods used, groups studied, and content areas investigated. A number of trends emerged. There was an increase in the number of contributors from universities, especially from within Australia. Males continue to be the dominant author group notwithstanding the substantial increase in female participation. Laboratory studies with undergraduates as Ss predominate, and while there have been changes in the content areas studied (e.g., articles examining social and developmental psychology have increased), the journals focus is clearly more on fundamental than applied research.

Australian norms and factorial confirmation of reid and ware's multidimensional internal-external scale

Australian norms are presented for a Canadian multidimensional version of Rotters (1966) internal-external locus of control scale. Responses of 534 students from Tasmania and Queensland were factor analysed to reveal the same three dimensions as found in North-American samples. The results explained a greater percentage of variance than Australian studies which used the original instrument. It was suggested that the Canadian measure is superior to Rotters scale and that its utilization in the Australian context is justified. Comparisons between Australian and Canadian findings revealed several features of interest as did within sample comparisons. However, speculations concerning cross-cultural and intrasocietal differences were considered premature in the absence of experimental confirmation and replication with contemporaneous North American norms.

Psychics and ESP—stereotypes not techniques answer the question: A reply to Thalbourne

Abstract Thalbournes (1990) latest criticism of our population stereotype study (Grimmer & White, 1986) identifies yet again four deficiencies in our technique and yet again observes that we have failed to master appropriate experimental techniques. We respond to the issues he raised.