| Level | Item |
| Ref No | AUD/002/OHP 39 |
| Title | Warr, Peter - Recording |
| Site | Interviewee's office at the Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield |
| Date | 16 September 2008 |
| Extent | 1-CDR |
| Description | CDR and MP3 sound recording of an interview with Professor Peter Warr, HonFBPsS, CPsychol, Sheffield University for the British Psychological Society's Oral History project.
The interview was conducted by Julie Perks in 2008.
The following summary is by way of introduction to the full recording held at the British Psychological Society's History of Psychology Centre, London.
Note: Peter Warr has donated two of his books 'Work,Well-Being and Effectiveness and 'Psychology in Sheffield' to accompany the recording.
Performers:
Peter Warr (PW)
Julie Perks (JP)
Topics covered:
Running order:
JP asks PW what made him think of taking up psychology
PW talks of his time at Cambridge University (Trinity Hall) to study French and German, how he changed to psychology, taking 2 years of moral sciences (philosophy), his lecturers at Cambridge including Braithwaite, Ewing and his early school interest in psychology.
PW continues to talk of his course at Cambridge including his fellow students, small groups, ethics and philosophy course and the various models he used later in psychology.
JP asks PW if any psychology lecturers at Cambridge had any influence on him
PW talks of Richard Gregory, the Psychological Society at Cambridge, Donald Broadbent, Oliver Zangwill and the APU.
JP asks PW to speak of his time at Dunlop (one year) after graduating from Cambridge.
PW talks of his external examiner Harry Kay, information theory, experimental psychology and how he was offered a job at Sheffield, his work at Dunlop including time and motion studies, his move to Sutton Coldfield, leaving Dunlop to take the job offered at Sheffield and the impact of his family and personal background on his working life.
PW talks of his time at Sheffiield University, Peter McKellar, the Sheffield Psychology Department, Harry Kay, F.C.Bartlett, Broadbent, his work at Sheffield, his 1971 book psychology at Work, expanding Occupational psychology, and his paper Towards a More Human Psychology published in the Bulletin of the British Psychological Society in 1973.
PW talks of his PhD supervisor Harry Kay, his PhD thesis and his external examiners Alan Watson and Alan Welford.
PW talks of F.C.Bartlett's presentations, the influence of Donald Broadbent's MRC APU Unit, his BMA presentation, PW's time on psychology Sub-Committee (Aviation Medicine), FPLC Research committee, Broadbent's impact on him and Broadbent's work at the MRC.
PW speaks of Harry Kay (Sheffield), the psychology Department at Sheffield, Kay leaving for Exeter (as Vice-Chancellor) and Kay's time at Exeter.
JP asks PW what was the working environment like at Sheffield in the 1960s and 1970s.
PW talks of the atmosphere at Sheffield, Kevin Connolly, his students at Sheffield, staff meetings at Sheffield in the evenings and how his book 'Psychology in Sheffield' describes in detail his time at Sheffield.
PW talks of his interest in social issues, his social psychologist post at Sheffield before moving on to his links with the BPS, BPS journals, the NIIP Occupational Psychology journal and its takeover by the BPS.
PW continues to speak of BPS conferences including the Sheffield group at BPS annual conferences, delivering conference papers and Peter McKellar and John Davies.
JP asks PW to speak of any books or literature which have influenced him
PW names Kornhauser's 'Mental Health of the Industrial Worker' (1965)
In response to JP's question concerning PW's personality which may have predisposed him to work in the fields in which he has worked PW talks of his academic leaning, how he looked at personality in his early years, conceptual structures, his interest in people at work, intellectual curiosity (practical) and how his gender and ethnicity helped him to deal with organisations in the 1960s.
PW talks of what is good about being a psychologist before speaking about the growth of psychology over the years.
PW gives his predictions for the future of psychology, his future career in psychology, retirement, producing something of wider interest, his interest in happiness and his recent book on happiness.
JP asks PW what does he think is his major contribution to psychology
PW speaks of how he kept applied psychology going for a number of years, providing careers for people, how he carried ideas across a number of fields, his articles and his academic impact on his students.
PW talks of Donald Broadbent and Broadbent's focus on the practical and the value of British Empiricism, his categorical model against a theoretical model and various issues within psychology.
JP asks PW if there are any ethical issues within psychology which may concern him
PW talks of organisational research issues and management reports before moving on to speak of the increasing production of academic journals and papers.
JP asks PW if there is anything else you would like to talk about for the historical record
PW talks of his links with the ENOP (European Network of Occupational Psychologists) during the 1970s, Sylvia Shimmin, the development of work psychology professors, (HQ in Paris), meetings in Paris, how ENOP became EWOP, and Charles De Wolff.
JP asks PW to tell us more about the Social and Applied Psychology Unit which he ran and developed for 28 years
PW speaks of the origins of the Applied Occupational Psychology Unit, the Unit's industrial research, MRC's involvement with Occupational Psychology, Harry Kay, MRC research funding, MRC directors, his role as Assistant Director of new MRC unit, his proposal for and Occupational Psychology Unit, how he became Director of the Unit, MR reports, funding issues, the growth of the Unit, his colleagues at the Unit, the development of work related clinical psychology, the closure of the Unit and the development of the Institute of Work Psychology Unit at Sheffield.
PW speaks of the pressure of report writing and its impact on academic research.
The interview ends.
c 79 minutes.
Ends.
Total Running Time: c 79 mins
Summary by Mike Maskill, BPS Archivist. |
| RunTime | On one CDR disk, running time c 79 minutes |
| Format | Digital Disk |
| Notes | The History of Psychology Centre is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all our users. Be aware that our catalogue contains historic terminology relating to mental health which could be considered offensive. The terminology exists within the original record and has been retained to inform users on viewpoints at the time. It in no way reflects the attitudes of the cataloguers or the British Psychological Society. |
| Peter Warr has donated two of his books 'Work,Well-Being & Effectiveness and 'Psychology in Sheffield' to accompany the recording. |
| Language | English |
| Related Material | PHO/001/01/553 Photograph of Peter Warr
TAJ/01/07/05/46 Correspondence with Henri Tajfel
AUD/001/07 Recording of Peter McKellar
MCKELLAR/001/001 Academic Diary of Peter McKellar 1955-1959 |
| RelatedRecord | PHO/001/01/553 |
| TAJ/01/07/05/46 |
| AUD/001/07 |
| MCKELLAR/001/001 |
| AccessConditions | Authorised Users. View by Appointment |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| Location | 13: BPS History of Psychology Centre, London |
| Term | Health Psychology |
| Occupational psychology |
| AdminHistory | Date of Birth: 18/06/1937
Place of Birth: Birkenhead, UK
University and Professional Training:
University of Cambridge, Part 1, Moral Sciences Tripos, Part 2 Natural Sciences 1957-1960
Birmingham College of Advanced Technology, Certificate in Industrial Administration 1961
University of Cambridge, MA 1963
Sheffield University, PhD
Awards:
ICI Prize for studies of industrial administration, 1961
Spearman Medal of the British Psychological Society for distinguished research, 1969
President's Award of the British Psychological Society for outstanding contributions to psychological knowledge, 1982
Honorary Fellowship of the British Psychological Society for major contributions to the development of psychology, 1997
BPS Chartered Psychologist (nd)
Professional career:
Work study engineer and industrial psychologist, Dunlop Rubber Company Birmingham. 1960-1961
Independent Research Worker/ Assistant Lecturer/Lecturer, Dept.of Psychology, University of Sheffield, 1961-1968
Assistant Director/Deputy Director of the MRC Social and Applied Psychology Unit, Dept. of Psychology, University of Sheffield, 1968-1973
Director of the MRC/ESRC Social and Applied Psychology Unit, Dept.of Psychology, University of Sheffield, 1973-1996
Professor, Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield, 1996-2002
Emeritus Professor, Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield, 2002-
Honorary positions:
Honorary Lecturer, University of Sheffield 1968-1978
Professor Associate, University of Sheffield, 1978-1997
Member of the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, 1990-1997
Visiting positions:
Visiting Assistant Professor and Fulbright Scholar at Princeton University and University of Colorado, 1966-1967
Visiting Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 1976
Visiting Professor (part-time) at the University of Surrey, 1979-1982
Visiting Haydn Williams Fellow at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, 1989
Visitng Research Fellow at the University of California at Berkeley, 1989
Involvement with BPS and/or other societies and organisations:
Honorary Fellow of the British Psychological Society, 1997
Fellow of the International Association of Applied Psychology (nd)
Member of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (nd)
Member of the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology (nd)
Foreign Affiliate of the American Psychological Association (nd) |
| Copyright | Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation. Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of the History of Psychology Centre and Archives and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material |
| Rules | Description compiled in line with the following: ISAD (G) General International Standard Archival Description MAD3 Third Edition 2000 |
| ArchNote | Compiled by Mike Maskill BPS Archivist for the History of Psychology Centre. |