Qualifications
- Ph.D (Psychology), University of Sydney. Awarded 1998. Tasman Lovell Medal
- Bachelor of Arts, Hons. I (Psychology), University of Sydney.
Research Interests
- Philosophical Psychology
Teaching
- History & Philosophy of Psychology
- Psychodynamic Theories of Personality
- Conceptual Issues in Psychometrics
Consulting Editor
Journal of Theoretical & Philosophical Psychology.
Under Review
Hibberd, F. J. Situational realism, critical realism, and the charge of positivism. History of the Human Sciences.
Publications
Hibberd, F. J. (in press). Sham reasoning, Humpty Dumpty and the burden of proof. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 29(2). Invited commentary.
Hibberd, F. J. (2009). Anderson's development of (situational) realism and its bearing on Psychology today. History of the Human Sciences, 22(4), 63-92.
Hibberd, F. J. (2007). The philosophical underpinnings of psychology - critical or situational realism. In M. Moussa & G. Brown (Eds.), Engaging Realism: Proceedings of the International Association for Critical Realism (pp. 1-8). Universities of Wollongong & Sydney. ISBN 1-74108-130-1.
Hibberd, F. J. (2006). Review: The Essential Vygotsky. R. W. Rieber and D. K. Robinson (Eds.). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2004. Journal for the History of the Behavioural Sciences, XLII(2), 178-179.
Hibberd, F. J. (2005). Unfolding Social Constructionism. New York: Springer.
This book examines social constructionism as a metatheory of psychology. It does not consider constructionist accounts of psycho-social phenomena, but it does assess certain assumptions which are said to underpin those accounts, assumptions which are primarily semantic and epistemological. The first part of the book explains why the charges of relativism and self-refutation leveled at social constructionism miss their target, and it considers a constructionist attempt to defend the metatheory by appropriating the concept of performative utterances. The second part of the book challenges the generally accepted view that social constructionism is antithetical to positivist philosophy of science. This is done via an examination of the doctrine of conventionalism, constitutive relations, dualism, Wittgenstein's meaning-as-use thesis, verificationism, operationism, linguistic phenomenalism, and Kant's limitations of human knowledge. It is shown that, in certain respects, these topics unite social constructionism with its bête noire logical positivism, and that psychology's repeated endorsement of these ideas hinders the development of a rigorous psycho-social science. The book ends with a brief, speculative section in which it is suggested that the skepticism and internalism of social constructionist metatheory is an unconscious strategy of survival against failure.
Hibberd, F. J. (2004). Conventionalism and constitutive relations. Heraclitus, 117, 1-5.
Hibberd, F. J. (2003). Anderson's relevance to current issues in philosophical psychology. Heraclitus, 106, 4-6.
Turtle, A. M. & Hibberd, F. J. (2002). History & Philosophy of Psychology at the University of Sydney. European Society for the History of the Human Sciences Newsletter, vol. 20, no.2.
Hibberd, F. J. (2002). Reply to Gergen. Theory & Psychology, 12(5), 685-694.
Hibberd, F.J. (2001). Gergen's social constructionism, logical positivism, and the continuity of error. Part I: Conventionalism. Theory & Psychology, 11(3), 297-321.
Hibberd, F. J. (2001). Gergen's social constructionism, logical positivism, and the continuity of error. Part II: Meaning as use. Theory & Psychology, 11(3), 323-346.
Hibberd, F. J. (2001). Relativism versus realism - all but a specious dichotomy. History of the Human Sciences, 14, 102-107.
Hibberd, F. J. (2001). Logical positivism and Gergen's social constructionism: No radical disjunction in 20th century psychological metatheory. In J. Morss, N. Stephenson & H. van Rappard (Eds.). Theoretical Problems of Psychology, (pp. 171-180). Kluwer: Dordrecht.
Hibberd, F. J. (1995). Can a psychological statement be neither true nor false? In I. Lubek, R. van Hezewijk, G. Pheterson & C. Tolman (Eds.), Trends and Issues in Theoretical Psychology, (pp. 367-372). New York: Springer
Hibberd, F. J. (1991). Freud's revolution or conceptual evolution? A reply to McClean. Australian Journal of Psychotherapy, 10(1), 81-85.