Alexander James Wearing passed away on June 18, 2018 (born 20.3.1940) – I am so sad about his death! The only solace is that his wife Rosemary and his kids could help him in his last hours to find his final peace.
I would like to share my memories of him with you. I first got in contact with Alex’ writings as a young doctoral student in the 1980ies. When I first read the paper on „Complexity and decision making“, written by Andrew Mackinnon and Alex Wearing and published in 1980 in the journal „Behavioral science“ (see here), I was impressed by the real-world orientation of their ideas. Sitting most of my day in the lab of the Psychology Department at Bonn University, I was thinking about the differences between basic and applied research.
When I got the chance to edit a book on „Complex problem solving: The European perspective“ (1995 published by Lawrence Erlbaum, together with my co-editor Peter Frensch; see here), it was clear to me that we had to include Alex as a contributor. Fortunately, Alex agreed to write a chapter together with Dietrich Dörner (from Bamberg, Germany) who was at that time a guest of Melbourne University.
They wrote in their conclusion: „Too long psychology tried to escape the challenge to explain normal behavior in normal behavioral settings by decomposing its topics into laboratory settings, the results of which could not be generalized for everyday life.“ (Dörner & Wearing, 1995, p. 96, see here). I think this sentence would still make him smile…
In 2006, I had the chance to stay as a visiting professor for one term at the Psychology Department of Melbourne University, thanks to an invitation of Alex. I had a wonderful time during my stay, together with Alex and his wife Rosemary, but also with their friends Mary Omodei (29.12.1947-2.8.2021) and Jim McLennon (both from La Trobe University). I got introduced to their research about bush firefighters and the complex decisions they had to make, which were life-saving in most cases, but could also result in fatalities due to decision-making errors. Alex was interested in these applied issues and made me familiar with his thinking.
Alex had been several times visiting my wife and me in Heidelberg. He once in a year bought a ticket „around the world“ and visited friends in the US, in Switzerland, and in Germany. We had a wonderful and inspiring time in discussing both research and more general academic issues. I remember them very vividly! I will miss Alex, and I very much treasure my memories of the good times we had together and especially of him as the exceptional gentle, humorous person he was. I am very lucky to have known him.
References
Dörner, D., & Wearing, A. J. (1995). Complex problem solving: Toward a (computersimulated) theory. In P. A. Frensch & J. Funke (eds.), Complex problem solving: The European perspective (p. 65–99). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781315806723
Mackinnon, A. J., & Wearing, A. J. (1980). Complexity and decision making. Behavioral Science, 25, 285–296. https://www.proquest.com/docview/1301278580?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true&imgSeq=1
Omodei, M. M., & Wearing, A. J. (1995). The Fire Chief microworld generating program: An illustration of computer-simulated microworlds as an experimental paradigm for studying complex decision-making behavior. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 27(3), 303–316. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03200423
more about Alex‘ activities at Melbourne University:
Buchanan, R. D. (2016). A seventieth anniversary history: Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, the University of Melbourne 1946 to 2016. Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences. https://psychologicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/2153440/Final_Digital_Version_Web_Quality.pdf
PS: Two quotes from the (open access) Sternberg and Funke book The psychology of human thought: „This book is dedicated to Dietrich Dörner (Bamberg, Germany) and the late Alexander J. Wearing (Melbourne, Australia), two research pioneers of human thought in complex and dynamic situations.“ and from the Preface of this book, on p. 1: „… a course on “Thinking” (or any of its related course names) is one of the most exciting in psychology. Such a course, taught at the undergraduate level by the late Professor Alexander Wearing, was part of what motivated RJS to enter the field of complex cognition.“
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