Ross St. George

The influence of companion animals on owner perception: gender and species effects

ABSTRACTThere is some evidence that the presence of a companion animal influences perceptions of the psychological attributes of its owner. The present study investigated how these effects vary by pet species and owner gender. A sample of 542 students rated slides of a man or woman accompanied by a cat, a dog or alone using 36 adjectives. These adjectives were subsequently grouped into four clusters labelled ‘Nice’, ‘Nasty’, ‘Style’ and ‘Action’. Statistical analyses revealed that the female target person was rated as significantly nicer, more stylish and more active with the dog than with the cat. The male target person was rated as nicer, more stylish and more active with the cat than the dog. This pattern was contrary to that hypothesized, which was based on traditional gender and human-pet stereotypes. Discussion focuses on the changing nature of gender stereotypes and the resulting complexity of owner-pet perceptions.

Compatibility Stereotypes of People and Pets: A Photograph Matching Study

ABSTRACTCompatibility is an important aspect of the relationship between people and their pets as it is likely to influence both the quality and the longevity of the relationship. Perceived compatibility is also important since the stereotypical views we hold of particular person-pet combinations are likely to affect our pet selections. So far, little research has been carried out in this area. The present study investigated the existence and nature of pet-owner stereotypes with respect to male and female target persons in combination with cats and dogs. A sample of 102 students paired up photographs of ten people with photographs of ten pets and provided reasons for their pairings. Chi square analyses demonstrated significant pairing trends for nine of the ten target persons and thus evidence for pet-owner stereotypes. They also suggest that, as with human stereotypes, sex is a major component, specifically, males were associated with larger dogs and females with smaller dogs and cats. Qualitative analys...

Legacies of Empire for psychology in New Zealand

This paper explores the founding of psychology as a discipline in New Zealand, giving particular emphasis to its connections with psychology in the United Kingdom. Erik Ericksons psychosocial crises provide a convenient metaphor for stages in the development of psychology in New Zealand as it has vascillated between British and North American traditions and as the academic vision of the discipline has accommodated itself to the more recent professional and applied outlook.

Psychological Testing in Papua New Guinea: A Critical Appraisal of the Work of the Psychological Services Branch

(1980). Psychological testing in papua new guinea: A critical appraisal of the work of the psychological services branch. Australian Psychologist: Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 57-71.

Review of Aviation Psychology and Human Factors by Monica Martinussen and David R. Hunter. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press (2010), 240 pages, hardback

Reviewing this book presented a challenge. The introduction suggests that “the goal of the book is to make pilots aware of the benefits of psychology” and how this field of study can be drawn on to improve flight operations. Generally this means “add to safety” due to the high proportion of aviation accidents and incidents now attributed to some aspect of human performance given the structural soundness of most aircraft and the high reliability levels achieved with aircraft power plants and systems. For some topics this book does provide a very good contemporary summary of the “state of play” leavened by cautions about research techniques and the limits of inference from the central studies. However, when it is claimed on the back of the book that “It provides a complete overview of the role of psychology in the field of aviation,” it is overstating the case. The aviation flight instructor, the air operator training department, the air accident investigator, the budding aviator, or the general reader will not find that this book gives them a complete overview. The concern here is with the absence of any consideration of the fundamental interface of human physiology and human performance in flight and allied tasks. It was probably not the intention of the authors to cover this ground, which is often approached as an amalgam of aviation medicine, physiological psychology, and the behavioral consequences or limitations in the flight environment. However, it remains core material in the “complete overview” and is the foundation for topics developed in this text. For example many aspects of aircraft control and display design should be founded on anthropometric THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AVIATION PSYCHOLOGY, 20(4), 390–393 Copyright

The Assessment of Psychological Abilities and Psychologists’ Inabilities in the South Pacific

The focus of this paper is primarily upon psychological research on the general cognitive or intellectual abilities of some of the South Pacific peoples of Polynesia and Melanesia. It is based on English language source material and its frame of reference is towards areas of Anglo-European influence.*

A Safe Way to First Solo: A Flight Training Curriculum and Instructional Innovation.

Abstract A structured flight training syllabus to first solo, with accompanying student notes and instructional records was trialled in one aero club. Student progress was contrasted with flight training in two other clubs. Both quantitative and qualitative monitoring data were collected. This paper outlines the project, reports the data and general outcomes, and notes the difficulties encountered in implementing and monitoring this innovation in a loosely organised and changing context.

Schools in New Zealand Society: a Rejoinder To O'Rourke

constitute a substantive rebuttal. Neither does the suggestion that the reception to the book was the product of ’academics’ in their ’beleaguered’ ivory towers. This latter tactic of dismissive-labelling unfortunately has been elevated to an art form in the political arena in New Zealand so it is not surprising that the maneouvre has generalised. Furthermore, O’Rourke has incorrectly ascribed Braithwaite’s (1973) comments deploring publication of collected readings without a theoretical skeleton to give it form and function directly to me and stated that I deplored the publication of this particular book. This I did not do. I did however support Braithwaite’s general proposition for reasons set out in my review and now in this rejoinder. O’Rourke then tries his hand at depth psychology by penetrating the unconscious (mine this time-presuming of course I have one). It takes a considerable leap of imagination to construe my comments about ’poor pedagogics’ as meaning that ’frameworks of understanding of the relationships between schools and society’ cannot arise from students, lecturers or whoever reads this book. What I was saying was that in my view a framework or indeed a set of frameworks around which school-society relationships might be considered would have been valuable to a book of this nature and for its intended audience. No one said you had to agree with such frameworks or that you could not introduce others. In the absence of a stated rationale for the text we now find that there is a post-facto appeal to andragogical theory. Had this been the singularly new and revolutionary perspective upon which the text was founded as O’Rourke now claims, then I would have expected the preface and unit introductions to the 1973 and 1980 editions to have enthusiastically illustrated the application of andragogical theory and principles. But that’s not what we find and that was and is the substance of my concern. Kurt Lewin once said ’there is nothing so practical as a good theory’. To have made this book work in practice then one if not more good theories about schools and society, introduced by the editors in relation to the contributions, would have