Jim Mclennan
Biographic Data
| ID | 3657430 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jim Mclennan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jim |
| FAMILY NAME | Mclennan |
| SIGNATURE | MCLENNAN J |
| AFFILIATIONS | La Trobe University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5846-1323 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 37 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 20 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1987 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The effect of scientific conspiracy theories on scepticism towards biotechnologies
Many conspiracy theories implicate scientists and science. We investigated the impact of exposure to scientific conspiracies about biotechnologies. Across three preregistered online studies ( N s = 1,000), participants who read information about conspiracies involving agribiotechnology companies or biobank scientists were more likely to endorse conspiracies. Other effects of exposure to conspiracy information were mixed. In Study 1, reading about…
Conceptualising and measuring householder bushfire (wildfire) risk perception
Australasian Public Awareness and Belief in Conspiracy Theories
Belief in conspiracies is not restricted to the fringe dwellers of society. International research suggests that such beliefs are quite common and that conspiracy theories may serve three basic psychological motives (i.e., epistemic, existential, and relational) for individuals. Yet, little is known about conspiracy theory awareness or belief in Australasia. We report the first large systematic investigation of system‐justifying motives using two…
Associations between conspiracism and the rejection of scientific innovations
Public opinion regarding scientific developments such as genetically modified food can be mixed. We suggest such science-based technological innovations are rejected by some because they are perceived to be advanced as part of a conspiracy. In nationally representative samples (Australia n = 1011; New Zealand n = 754), we report the associations between five conspiracism facets and anti-science attitudes. Results indicate broad public opposition …
Communities and responsibility
Shaping and Sharing Responsibility
Responding to increased frequency and severity of bushfires, Australian governments called for “shared responsibility” for bushfire preparation and mitigation. This requires engagement between all sectors of community—government agencies, businesses, not-for-profit, and residents. Fire management agencies remain concerned about whether all communities in fire-prone landscapes are equally equipped to participate in sharing responsibility. A relate…
What Applied Social Psychology Theories Might Contribute to Community Bushfire Safety Research After Victoria's “Black Saturday”
From 1900 to 2008, bushfires in Australia claimed 552 lives. Partly in response to disastrous fires in 1967 and 1983, a national community bushfire safety policy emerged, summarised as “prepare, stay and defend, or leave early.” On 7 February 2009, “Black Saturday,” Victoria experienced Australia's worst‐ever day of bushfires: 173 people died as a result and more than 2,000 homes were destroyed. Three investigations in the aftermath of the fires …
Families Of Rural Volunteer Firefighters
The protection of Australian rural communities from fire and other emergencies is provided mostly by volunteers. However, many fire agencies are facing concerns over falling volunteer numbers and are increasingly looking at factors potentially impacting on volunteering. Evidence suggests that family issues play a role in many volunteer resignations and could be contributing to declining volunteer numbers. Despite this, there is little research av…
A potential crisis in wildfire emergency response capability? Australia's volunteer firefighters
In most OECD countries, emergency response to accidents and natural disasters is very dependent on a trained workforce of emergency services volunteers: fire, rescue, medical, care and relief. With its large area, sparsely settled population, and frequent periods of low rainfall, Australia is particularly vulnerable to the threat posed by wildfires. There are an estimated 220,000 rural fire volunteers (in a population of 20 million) in eight stat…
Becoming a psychologist with a particular theoretical orientation to counselling practice
One hundred and three Melbourne psychologists were interviewed about factors associated with their choice O of a theoretical orientation to counselling practice. There were four theoretical orientations: cognitive-behavioural, psychodynamic, family-systemic, and experiential. Each of these was found to be associated with a different cluster of personal characteristics. University training in psychology appeared to be an important influence on cho…
Effects of Concurrent Verbalization on a Time-Critical, Dynamic Decision-Making Task
The authors investigated the effects of concurrent verbalization on students' performance on a time-critical, dynamic decision-making task. After training on Fire Chief (a computer microworld that simulates fighting a forest fire; M. M. Omodei & A. J. Wearing, 1993a), 60 research participants were allocated randomly to 1 of 3 experimental conditions: silence, associative verbalization, or procedural verbalization. Participants who verbalized the …
Theoretical orientations of Australian counselling psychologists
Suicidal and counter-suicidal thinking
A survey of 326 individuals found that 66% had considered suicide at some time in their lives, 9% had seriously contemplated suicide, and 7% had attempted suicide. One-third reported thinking about suicide during the previous 12 months, while 20% believed that suicide would solve some of their current problems. Two-thirds of those who had contemplated suicide during the previous 12 months had told no one about these thoughts. Individuals who repo…
A self-administered computer-based educational program about eating-disorder risk factors
Eating disorders among young women are a source of concern for health professionals. The present study trialled an experimental computer-administered educational program (DIET) dealing with dieting, weight, exercise, and appearance using a nonclinical sample of 25 young women volunteers. The aim was to investigate the effect of health-promoting information on knowledge and attitudes related to eating disorders. Treatment group subjects were compa…
Neuroticism and Negative Affect Measures as Predictors of Psychological Distress
In a year-long study, 106 students (78 women and 28 men, mean age 29 yr.) completed both a self-report Neuroticism and Extroversion inventory and a self-report positive and negative affect checklist at the beginning of an academic year. At the end of the academic year, prior to final examinations, they completed a self-rating scale for depression. The Neuroticism score was the only significant independent predictor of students' end-of-year levels…
Vulnerability to Psychologial Distress
In two studies, 97 and 176 individuals (47 men and 50 women, M age 34.2 yr.; and 88 men and 88 women, M age 34.8) known to have experienced a recent period of psychological distress were compared with otherwise similar individuals who reported no such experience on measures of neuroticism, extraversion, and positive and negative affect. In both studies the neuroticism measure was a significant independent discriminator between the groups while th…
Clients' perceptions of counsellors
In their review of counsellor rating scales, Ponterotto and Furlong (1985) warned of the problems posed by using instruments too closely tied to any one particular theory of the counselling process. The present study involved developing a brief counsellor rating scale, the Counsellor Perception Measure (CPM), based on Rosenberg's (1977) two-component general evaluative theory of person perception. The CPM comprises two subscales: Counsellor Accep…
Personality and Relationship Dispositions as Determinants of Subjective Well-Being
Costa and McCrae have proposed that neuroticism and interpersonal warmth are major determinants of subjective well-being (SWB) while gregariousness is not. To test this formulation, a range of standard SWB and self-report personality measures was administererd by means of a structured interview to 144 subjects. Multiple regression analysis showed general emotional vulnerability followed by interpersonal warmth to be highly predictive of SWB. Greg…
Psychological adjustment, close personal relationships and personality
The finding (Cramer, 1985) that psychological adjustment is positively related to facilitative relationship quality for females but not for males was not supported in a study of 61 couples. For males, both relationship quality and personality characteristics of neuroticism and extraversion were significantly related to psychological adjustment. However, for females, perceived relationship quality was not related to well‐being once the effects of …
Depression-Related Cognition
Communities and responsibility
Shaping and Sharing Responsibility
Responding to increased frequency and severity of bushfires, Australian governments called for “shared responsibility” for bushfire preparation and mitigation. This requires engagement between all sectors of community—government agencies, businesses, not-for-profit, and residents. Fire management agencies remain concerned about whether all communities in fire-prone landscapes are equally equipped to participate in sharing responsibility. A relate…
Australasian Public Awareness and Belief in Conspiracy Theories
Belief in conspiracies is not restricted to the fringe dwellers of society. International research suggests that such beliefs are quite common and that conspiracy theories may serve three basic psychological motives (i.e., epistemic, existential, and relational) for individuals. Yet, little is known about conspiracy theory awareness or belief in Australasia. We report the first large systematic investigation of system‐justifying motives using two…
What Applied Social Psychology Theories Might Contribute to Community Bushfire Safety Research After Victoria's “Black Saturday”
From 1900 to 2008, bushfires in Australia claimed 552 lives. Partly in response to disastrous fires in 1967 and 1983, a national community bushfire safety policy emerged, summarised as “prepare, stay and defend, or leave early.” On 7 February 2009, “Black Saturday,” Victoria experienced Australia's worst‐ever day of bushfires: 173 people died as a result and more than 2,000 homes were destroyed. Three investigations in the aftermath of the fires …
A potential crisis in wildfire emergency response capability? Australia's volunteer firefighters
In most OECD countries, emergency response to accidents and natural disasters is very dependent on a trained workforce of emergency services volunteers: fire, rescue, medical, care and relief. With its large area, sparsely settled population, and frequent periods of low rainfall, Australia is particularly vulnerable to the threat posed by wildfires. There are an estimated 220,000 rural fire volunteers (in a population of 20 million) in eight stat…
Effects of Concurrent Verbalization on a Time-Critical, Dynamic Decision-Making Task
The authors investigated the effects of concurrent verbalization on students' performance on a time-critical, dynamic decision-making task. After training on Fire Chief (a computer microworld that simulates fighting a forest fire; M. M. Omodei & A. J. Wearing, 1993a), 60 research participants were allocated randomly to 1 of 3 experimental conditions: silence, associative verbalization, or procedural verbalization. Participants who verbalized the …
Becoming a psychologist with a particular theoretical orientation to counselling practice
One hundred and three Melbourne psychologists were interviewed about factors associated with their choice O of a theoretical orientation to counselling practice. There were four theoretical orientations: cognitive-behavioural, psychodynamic, family-systemic, and experiential. Each of these was found to be associated with a different cluster of personal characteristics. University training in psychology appeared to be an important influence on cho…
Psychological adjustment, close personal relationships and personality
The finding (Cramer, 1985) that psychological adjustment is positively related to facilitative relationship quality for females but not for males was not supported in a study of 61 couples. For males, both relationship quality and personality characteristics of neuroticism and extraversion were significantly related to psychological adjustment. However, for females, perceived relationship quality was not related to well‐being once the effects of …
Clients' perceptions of counsellors
In their review of counsellor rating scales, Ponterotto and Furlong (1985) warned of the problems posed by using instruments too closely tied to any one particular theory of the counselling process. The present study involved developing a brief counsellor rating scale, the Counsellor Perception Measure (CPM), based on Rosenberg's (1977) two-component general evaluative theory of person perception. The CPM comprises two subscales: Counsellor Accep…
Depression-Related Cognition
Personality and Relationship Dispositions as Determinants of Subjective Well-Being
Costa and McCrae have proposed that neuroticism and interpersonal warmth are major determinants of subjective well-being (SWB) while gregariousness is not. To test this formulation, a range of standard SWB and self-report personality measures was administererd by means of a structured interview to 144 subjects. Multiple regression analysis showed general emotional vulnerability followed by interpersonal warmth to be highly predictive of SWB. Greg…
Psychological adjustment, close personal relationships and personality
The finding (Cramer, 1985) that psychological adjustment is positively related to facilitative relationship quality for females but not for males was not supported in a study of 61 couples. For males, both relationship quality and personality characteristics of neuroticism and extraversion were significantly related to psychological adjustment. However, for females, perceived relationship quality was not related to well‐being once the effects of …
Clients' perceptions of counsellors
In their review of counsellor rating scales, Ponterotto and Furlong (1985) warned of the problems posed by using instruments too closely tied to any one particular theory of the counselling process. The present study involved developing a brief counsellor rating scale, the Counsellor Perception Measure (CPM), based on Rosenberg's (1977) two-component general evaluative theory of person perception. The CPM comprises two subscales: Counsellor Accep…
Vulnerability to Psychologial Distress
In two studies, 97 and 176 individuals (47 men and 50 women, M age 34.2 yr.; and 88 men and 88 women, M age 34.8) known to have experienced a recent period of psychological distress were compared with otherwise similar individuals who reported no such experience on measures of neuroticism, extraversion, and positive and negative affect. In both studies the neuroticism measure was a significant independent discriminator between the groups while th…
Neuroticism and Negative Affect Measures as Predictors of Psychological Distress
In a year-long study, 106 students (78 women and 28 men, mean age 29 yr.) completed both a self-report Neuroticism and Extroversion inventory and a self-report positive and negative affect checklist at the beginning of an academic year. At the end of the academic year, prior to final examinations, they completed a self-rating scale for depression. The Neuroticism score was the only significant independent predictor of students' end-of-year levels…
Suicidal and counter-suicidal thinking
A survey of 326 individuals found that 66% had considered suicide at some time in their lives, 9% had seriously contemplated suicide, and 7% had attempted suicide. One-third reported thinking about suicide during the previous 12 months, while 20% believed that suicide would solve some of their current problems. Two-thirds of those who had contemplated suicide during the previous 12 months had told no one about these thoughts. Individuals who repo…
A self-administered computer-based educational program about eating-disorder risk factors
Eating disorders among young women are a source of concern for health professionals. The present study trialled an experimental computer-administered educational program (DIET) dealing with dieting, weight, exercise, and appearance using a nonclinical sample of 25 young women volunteers. The aim was to investigate the effect of health-promoting information on knowledge and attitudes related to eating disorders. Treatment group subjects were compa…
Theoretical orientations of Australian counselling psychologists
Effects of Concurrent Verbalization on a Time-Critical, Dynamic Decision-Making Task
The authors investigated the effects of concurrent verbalization on students' performance on a time-critical, dynamic decision-making task. After training on Fire Chief (a computer microworld that simulates fighting a forest fire; M. M. Omodei & A. J. Wearing, 1993a), 60 research participants were allocated randomly to 1 of 3 experimental conditions: silence, associative verbalization, or procedural verbalization. Participants who verbalized the …
Becoming a psychologist with a particular theoretical orientation to counselling practice
One hundred and three Melbourne psychologists were interviewed about factors associated with their choice O of a theoretical orientation to counselling practice. There were four theoretical orientations: cognitive-behavioural, psychodynamic, family-systemic, and experiential. Each of these was found to be associated with a different cluster of personal characteristics. University training in psychology appeared to be an important influence on cho…
A potential crisis in wildfire emergency response capability? Australia's volunteer firefighters
In most OECD countries, emergency response to accidents and natural disasters is very dependent on a trained workforce of emergency services volunteers: fire, rescue, medical, care and relief. With its large area, sparsely settled population, and frequent periods of low rainfall, Australia is particularly vulnerable to the threat posed by wildfires. There are an estimated 220,000 rural fire volunteers (in a population of 20 million) in eight stat…
Families Of Rural Volunteer Firefighters
The protection of Australian rural communities from fire and other emergencies is provided mostly by volunteers. However, many fire agencies are facing concerns over falling volunteer numbers and are increasingly looking at factors potentially impacting on volunteering. Evidence suggests that family issues play a role in many volunteer resignations and could be contributing to declining volunteer numbers. Despite this, there is little research av…
What Applied Social Psychology Theories Might Contribute to Community Bushfire Safety Research After Victoria's “Black Saturday”
From 1900 to 2008, bushfires in Australia claimed 552 lives. Partly in response to disastrous fires in 1967 and 1983, a national community bushfire safety policy emerged, summarised as “prepare, stay and defend, or leave early.” On 7 February 2009, “Black Saturday,” Victoria experienced Australia's worst‐ever day of bushfires: 173 people died as a result and more than 2,000 homes were destroyed. Three investigations in the aftermath of the fires …
Shaping and Sharing Responsibility
Responding to increased frequency and severity of bushfires, Australian governments called for “shared responsibility” for bushfire preparation and mitigation. This requires engagement between all sectors of community—government agencies, businesses, not-for-profit, and residents. Fire management agencies remain concerned about whether all communities in fire-prone landscapes are equally equipped to participate in sharing responsibility. A relate…
Communities and responsibility
Associations between conspiracism and the rejection of scientific innovations
Public opinion regarding scientific developments such as genetically modified food can be mixed. We suggest such science-based technological innovations are rejected by some because they are perceived to be advanced as part of a conspiracy. In nationally representative samples (Australia n = 1011; New Zealand n = 754), we report the associations between five conspiracism facets and anti-science attitudes. Results indicate broad public opposition …
Conceptualising and measuring householder bushfire (wildfire) risk perception
Australasian Public Awareness and Belief in Conspiracy Theories
Belief in conspiracies is not restricted to the fringe dwellers of society. International research suggests that such beliefs are quite common and that conspiracy theories may serve three basic psychological motives (i.e., epistemic, existential, and relational) for individuals. Yet, little is known about conspiracy theory awareness or belief in Australasia. We report the first large systematic investigation of system‐justifying motives using two…
The effect of scientific conspiracy theories on scepticism towards biotechnologies
Many conspiracy theories implicate scientists and science. We investigated the impact of exposure to scientific conspiracies about biotechnologies. Across three preregistered online studies ( N s = 1,000), participants who read information about conspiracies involving agribiotechnology companies or biobank scientists were more likely to endorse conspiracies. Other effects of exposure to conspiracy information were mixed. In Study 1, reading about…
Psychology (16 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Social Psychology (10 works) · Clinical Psychology (8 works) · Clinical Psychology (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Psychiatry (6 works) · Developmental psychology (5 works) · Disaster Management and Resilience (5 works)