PEAR, Tom Hatherley
Type
Person
22nd March 1886 to 19th May 1972
Related Items
Occupation
Biographical Text
Pear was a psychologist who lectured for many years at the University of Manchester and the University of Durham.
Pear was born in Walpole, Norfolk on 22 March 1886. He was educated at Wisbech Grammar School and King’s College London, and then studied psychology at the University of Würzburg in Germany. He was a conscientious objector during the First World War, and worked at Maghull Military Hospital treating shell-shock victims. This experience led to his first book, Shell-Shock and Its Lessons, published in 1915. He had by this point begun lecturing at the University of Manchester, becoming the first full-time lecturer in psychology at a British university.
Pear continued at Manchester after the war and was appointed professor of psychology. In 1936 he moved to the University of Durham, where he stayed until he retired in 1951. He was then appointed professor emeritus at Manchester. He was also a long-time member of the British Psychological Society, serving as its president in 1942, and he was president of the psychology section of the British Association. Pear died in Manchester on 14 May 1972.
Pear was a prolific writer on a wide variety of topics connected with psychology, from speaking and memory to religion and social relations. His writings do not evince any particular interest in industrial psychology, but judging from his Rowntree lectures he was clearly well versed in the subject. In his 1924 lecture on motion study, Pear shows himself to be conversant with the work of Frederick Winslow Taylor and Frank Gilbreth. He is quite critical of the ‘one best way’ approach to management, considering it to be ‘scientifically unjustifiable’.
Rigid rules for each motion of every man — one of the items in Taylor's creed — may exist in man-made codes; they correspond to no known physiological laws. The two greatest violinists in the world would have individual ways of bowing their strings. These ways will present resemblances, but they have not yet been tabulated. Even if they were one could not make up the individual excellence of the performances merely from the common factors. Only in the very simplest tasks of industry are we likely to find uniformity in performance, and this fact would usually lead the engineer to suspect that tasks so simple might be done by a machine.
Pear argues for the importance of individual creative thinking, intuition and skill, and says that harnessing these is more important than finding the one best way.
Major works
(with G.E. Smith) Shell-Shock and Its Lessons, 1915.
The Nature of Skill, 1928.
The Art of Study, 1930.
The Voice as an Expression of Personality, 1931.
The Psychology of Effective Speaking, 1933.
The Psychology of Conversation, 1939.
Psychological Factors of Peace and War, 1950.
Pear was born in Walpole, Norfolk on 22 March 1886. He was educated at Wisbech Grammar School and King’s College London, and then studied psychology at the University of Würzburg in Germany. He was a conscientious objector during the First World War, and worked at Maghull Military Hospital treating shell-shock victims. This experience led to his first book, Shell-Shock and Its Lessons, published in 1915. He had by this point begun lecturing at the University of Manchester, becoming the first full-time lecturer in psychology at a British university.
Pear continued at Manchester after the war and was appointed professor of psychology. In 1936 he moved to the University of Durham, where he stayed until he retired in 1951. He was then appointed professor emeritus at Manchester. He was also a long-time member of the British Psychological Society, serving as its president in 1942, and he was president of the psychology section of the British Association. Pear died in Manchester on 14 May 1972.
Pear was a prolific writer on a wide variety of topics connected with psychology, from speaking and memory to religion and social relations. His writings do not evince any particular interest in industrial psychology, but judging from his Rowntree lectures he was clearly well versed in the subject. In his 1924 lecture on motion study, Pear shows himself to be conversant with the work of Frederick Winslow Taylor and Frank Gilbreth. He is quite critical of the ‘one best way’ approach to management, considering it to be ‘scientifically unjustifiable’.
Rigid rules for each motion of every man — one of the items in Taylor's creed — may exist in man-made codes; they correspond to no known physiological laws. The two greatest violinists in the world would have individual ways of bowing their strings. These ways will present resemblances, but they have not yet been tabulated. Even if they were one could not make up the individual excellence of the performances merely from the common factors. Only in the very simplest tasks of industry are we likely to find uniformity in performance, and this fact would usually lead the engineer to suspect that tasks so simple might be done by a machine.
Pear argues for the importance of individual creative thinking, intuition and skill, and says that harnessing these is more important than finding the one best way.
Major works
(with G.E. Smith) Shell-Shock and Its Lessons, 1915.
The Nature of Skill, 1928.
The Art of Study, 1930.
The Voice as an Expression of Personality, 1931.
The Psychology of Effective Speaking, 1933.
The Psychology of Conversation, 1939.
Psychological Factors of Peace and War, 1950.
Bibliography
Who Was Who.
Original Source
Lectures:
‘The elimination of wasteful effort in industry’, 1920, Blackpool
‘Human impulses and ideals in industry’, 1920, Blackpool
‘Need movement study dehumanise industry?’, April 1924, Balliol College
‘The elimination of wasteful effort in industry’, 1920, Blackpool
‘Human impulses and ideals in industry’, 1920, Blackpool
‘Need movement study dehumanise industry?’, April 1924, Balliol College
Citation
“PEAR, Tom Hatherley,” The Rowntree Business Lectures and the Interwar British Management Movement, accessed April 26, 2024, https://rowntree.exeter.ac.uk/items/show/192.