Finding aid for the Fred Attneave papers

Biography of Fred Attneave

Fred Attneave was born on March 25, 1919 in Greenwood, Mississippi. He graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1942 with a double major in Psychology and English. Attneave was drafted into the army and served as an officer in the Army Signal Corps for three years in the Pacific theatre working on radio and teletype installations.

After the Army, Attneave entered graduate school at Stanford University and received his Ph.D. in psychology in 1949. He returned to Mississippi and spent two years teaching in the psychology department at the University of Mississippi. Attneave then moved to San Antonio to do full-time research in the Air Force Personnel Training and Research Center, an organization that gave him considerable freedom to develop his own ideas.

After one year (1956-1957) as a Fellow at the Center of Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and one year as a Visiting Associate Professor (1957-1958) at the University of California at Berkeley he came to the University of Oregon. At Oregon, he published a series of papers, chapters, and a book on the applications of information theory to Psychology that brought him an international reputation. He established Oregon as a center for perceptual research. Attneave retired from the psychology department in 1985.

Attneave died at his home on December 24th, 1991.

Scope and Content

The Fred Attneave papers consist largely of research notes for various studies conducted that focus mainly on visual perception. The studies begin with the work he did during the Air Force, through his professorial career at the University of Oregon. The subjects included in the research notes are largely comprised of memory, shape recognition, and shape similarities. The collection also contains written works both published and unpublished by Attneave.

Additionally, within the collection are the many professional psychological associations that Attneave was involved in and mainly include conference and symposium information for many psychology events. The focal point of these organizations is the Society of Experimental Psychologists. The collection also encompasses Attneave's personal and professional correspondence and technical reports from his colleagues on numerous psychological subject areas.

A Centrum Superiorum Studiorum in Scientiis Morum Humanorum award and Attneave's military jacket are located in the Oversized Materials section, container M1663.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Restrictions on Access

There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.

Centrum Superiorum Studiorum in Scientiis Morum Humanorum award and Attneave's military jacket are located in the oversized materials section, container M1663. Visual Perception Activity Board test materials are located in oversized materials section, M289.

Subject Headings

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Persons:

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Preferred Citation

Cite as: [identification of item], [folder number, box number], Archives of the History of American Psychology, The Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology - The University of Akron

Processing Information

The Fred Attneave papers were processed by Elizabeth Mazzola and Vince Vales in May 2007. Updated by Samantha Hurst, October 2021.

Detailed Description of The Collection