Mary Smith (psychologist), Date of Birth, Date of Death

    

Mary Smith (psychologist)

Australian psychologist

Date of Birth: 22-Nov-1909

Date of Death: 25-Nov-1989

Profession: psychologist

Nationality: Australia

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius


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About Mary Smith (psychologist)

  • Mary Smith (22 November 1909 – 25 November 1989) was an English-born Australian psychologist. She was probably born at Liverpool in England, the daughter of storeman David Smith and Wilhelmina Fletcher, née McLean.
  • The family moved to South Australia in 1911, settling in the suburbs of Birkenhead and Largs Bay North.
  • She was educated at state schools and graduated from Adelaide High School in 1927 before studying at the University of Adelaide (Bachelor of Arts, 1930; Master of Arts, 1932), becoming a schoolteacher.
  • As a teacher she became interested in "problem children", working as an honorary probation officer with the Children's Court.
  • In 1938 she was given a free passage to England to begin doctoral research in psychology at the Victoria University of Manchester on "the mental readjustment of the problem child".
  • World War II disrupted Smith's career and she returned to Adelaide in 1940.On her return Smith became assistant psychologist with the Department of Education, becoming departmental psychologist in 1942.
  • She resigned in 1944 after campaigning vigorously and controversially for better salaries for female teachers, and established a private practice, becoming well known for her column in the Sunday Mail (1944–1969).
  • She returned to the Victoria University of Manchester after winning the Catherine Helen Spence scholarship in 1945, studying "modern trends in child psychology and work with adolescents".
  • She was the first South Australian woman to stand for the Senate, as an ungrouped independent at the 1949 federal election, she was unsuccessful.Full-time child psychologist at the Adelaide Children's Hospital from 1953, Smith made progress with direct play therapy and was involved in the special education branch of the Department of Education.
  • Considered a pioneering South Australian psychologist, she took a mentalistic approach which became outdated as behaviouralism came into vogue.
  • She was also active in the community as president of the Young Women's Christian Association of Adelaide from 1950 to 1951.
  • She died at North Adelaide in 1989.

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