Last
modified: 16th November 2007
SYNOPSIS
OF MY RESEARCH
(In this synopsis, including pages linked to from this page, source
titles
are identified by journal name
and volume number only. Full details regarding their location can
be found in my List of Publications. A few of
them are available directly from this site via links or via a dedicated
page accessible from my Home Page ).
Two approaches
can
be identified in mainstream psychology:- the "nomothetic" and the
"idiographic". My own research began with a view to
discovering lawlike generalities
about people (the “nomothetic” approach); but I
found it impossible to ignore such differences as those of age
and sex and how they affect the generalities. In psychology
these are often called
“subject variables” - age
is a quantity
that can vary and sex varies in a different way in that there
are
two categories. These "demographic" subject variables are just a
beginning. So I have also been interested in
describing groups and - the limiting case of funnelling down the
focus - individuals (the “idiographic” approach). The part of my
nomothetic work of widest interest to the public has
concerned
mere
exposure. I have also summarised my work on aspects of
idiographic psychology.
The division of my work that
has had the
most impact on the world of learning, however, has concerned
laterality. My
preoccupations in this field divide into five:-
theory
monaural
laterality
handedness cognitive modelling
relation
of telephoning to right speech advantage in dichotic listening.
.