Affective influences social thinking and behaviour: A social neuroscience approach. Affective states have a major influence on how people think and behave in everyday life. However, the psychological and neural mechanisms producing these effects remain incompletely understood. This project will investigate how external situations and internal cognitive and neurological mechanisms interact to facilitate or inhibit affective influences on judgments and behaviour. The project will also develop and ....Affective influences social thinking and behaviour: A social neuroscience approach. Affective states have a major influence on how people think and behave in everyday life. However, the psychological and neural mechanisms producing these effects remain incompletely understood. This project will investigate how external situations and internal cognitive and neurological mechanisms interact to facilitate or inhibit affective influences on judgments and behaviour. The project will also develop and test an innovative information processing theory of affective influences, and develop new empirical methods for measuring the cognitive and behavioural consequences of affect. Studies will also investigate the influence of affect on clinical, organisational, educational and health outcomes, and on various real-life behaviours.
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Feeling, thinking and doing: Affective influences on social cognition and behaviour. Affect has a major influence on how people think and behave in social situations, yet the psychological mechanisms responsible for these effects remain incompletely understood. The proposed experiments will investigate the circumstances that facilitate or inhibit affect infusion into social thinking, judgments and behaviours and explore the real-life consequences of these effects. A comprehensive theoretical mod ....Feeling, thinking and doing: Affective influences on social cognition and behaviour. Affect has a major influence on how people think and behave in social situations, yet the psychological mechanisms responsible for these effects remain incompletely understood. The proposed experiments will investigate the circumstances that facilitate or inhibit affect infusion into social thinking, judgments and behaviours and explore the real-life consequences of these effects. A comprehensive theoretical model, the recently revised Affect Infusion Model will be tested as an integrative explanation for affect infusion phenomena.Read moreRead less
A mental model of remaining lifetime: motivating late-career adjustment and productivity. Motivating late-career workers to maintain employability and peak performance while simultaneously planning their transition to retirement has growing significance in the face of global workforce aging. This longitudinal research seeks to explain late-career motivation using an innovative theoretical framework that captures individuals’ future selves and their subjective life expectancy within a personal me ....A mental model of remaining lifetime: motivating late-career adjustment and productivity. Motivating late-career workers to maintain employability and peak performance while simultaneously planning their transition to retirement has growing significance in the face of global workforce aging. This longitudinal research seeks to explain late-career motivation using an innovative theoretical framework that captures individuals’ future selves and their subjective life expectancy within a personal mental model of remaining lifetime. The projects main focus is on Australia’s burgeoning cohort of older workers, but the framework is also assessed for its generalisability to couples’ decision-making and to the unique late-career context of elite athletes. Outcomes will promote adjustment during the late-career and retirement transition periods. Read moreRead less
How pain shapes our social world. Pain is an important source of human experience. Traditionally it has been defined by its social and psychological costs and treated as a problem that needs to be ‘fixed’. This project represents the first systematic study of the ways in which pain may motivate social and behavioural responses that serve to enhance affiliation, communication, solidarity, and group formation. In this way, pain may serve to connect people with their social worlds - it may act as s ....How pain shapes our social world. Pain is an important source of human experience. Traditionally it has been defined by its social and psychological costs and treated as a problem that needs to be ‘fixed’. This project represents the first systematic study of the ways in which pain may motivate social and behavioural responses that serve to enhance affiliation, communication, solidarity, and group formation. In this way, pain may serve to connect people with their social worlds - it may act as social glue - bringing people together and strengthening social connection. The findings will help to to provide a broader perspective on physical pain and will lead to insights that are important when treating pain.Read moreRead less
Information seeking, cognition, and individual differences. The public now has access to vast amounts of scientific knowledge and information on the internet and in other new media. Paradoxically, this increasing availability of knowledge has been accompanied by the increasing traction of pseudoscientific misinformation. This project explores the reasons underlying those trends and seeks solutions.
The social and cognitive functions of affect. Dealing with affective problems represents a major challenge in clinical, health, organisational and counselling psychology. Yet the role that affective states play in thinking, judgments and many everyday social behaviours remains poorly understood.. This project will produce direct national and community benefit by developing a new, integrative theory of affective influences on thinking and action, and exploring the functions and processing consequ ....The social and cognitive functions of affect. Dealing with affective problems represents a major challenge in clinical, health, organisational and counselling psychology. Yet the role that affective states play in thinking, judgments and many everyday social behaviours remains poorly understood.. This project will produce direct national and community benefit by developing a new, integrative theory of affective influences on thinking and action, and exploring the functions and processing consequences of affect in everyday settings. The real-life consequences of affect infusion in applied areas will also be explored. The project will also contribute to Australia's research capability by training doctoral and postdoctoral students, and fostering international research collaboration.Read moreRead less
Licensing negotiation: How credits, credentials, and context generate behavioural latitude. Women need to negotiate in order to secure economic resources, but their efforts to negotiate violate gender stereotypes and evoke backlash. This project integrates the negotiation, gender stereotypes, and psychological licensing literatures to understand how employees’ behavioural histories, and the behavioural histories of their employers, give employees psychological license to violate stereotyped expe ....Licensing negotiation: How credits, credentials, and context generate behavioural latitude. Women need to negotiate in order to secure economic resources, but their efforts to negotiate violate gender stereotypes and evoke backlash. This project integrates the negotiation, gender stereotypes, and psychological licensing literatures to understand how employees’ behavioural histories, and the behavioural histories of their employers, give employees psychological license to violate stereotyped expectations. This project combines laboratory and field methods to identify situations in which both men and women can negotiate economic outcomes without putting their organisational relationships at risk. The project’s findings will help employees to decide when and where to negotiate, and enable managers to design workplaces that sustain gender equity.Read moreRead less
Hearts and minds: Affect, thinking and behaviour. Understanding the influence of affect on health, adjustment and on many everyday behaviours remains an enduring puzzle. This project will produce direct national and community benefit by developing a new, integrative theory of affective influences on thinking and action, and exploring the mechanisms that facilitate or inhibit affective influences on everyday behaviours. The real-life consequences of affect infusion in health, organisational, educ ....Hearts and minds: Affect, thinking and behaviour. Understanding the influence of affect on health, adjustment and on many everyday behaviours remains an enduring puzzle. This project will produce direct national and community benefit by developing a new, integrative theory of affective influences on thinking and action, and exploring the mechanisms that facilitate or inhibit affective influences on everyday behaviours. The real-life consequences of affect infusion in health, organisational, educational, marketing and clinical settings will also be explored. The project will also contribute to Australia's research capability by training doctoral and postdoctoral students, and fostering international research collaboration.Read moreRead less
Implicit cognitive processing of environmental food and eating cues in obese adults. Obesity is a major public health concern in Western countries, including Australia. In focusing on implicit cognitive processing of environmental food and eating cues, this project addresses a factor that has hitherto been neglected in obesity research. The inclusion of a component that specifically addresses food-related cognitions has the potential to dramatically improve the success of weight-loss programs. A ....Implicit cognitive processing of environmental food and eating cues in obese adults. Obesity is a major public health concern in Western countries, including Australia. In focusing on implicit cognitive processing of environmental food and eating cues, this project addresses a factor that has hitherto been neglected in obesity research. The inclusion of a component that specifically addresses food-related cognitions has the potential to dramatically improve the success of weight-loss programs. Accordingly, our research has clear potential benefit for Australian national health and well-being, consistent with Research Priority 2: Promoting and maintaining good health. It will also contribute to the international profile of Australian social science and provide valuable research training opportunities for students.
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'Images of desire': An experimental cognitive approach to understanding and reducing food cravings. Food cravings are an important precursor to binge eating, a risk factor for both obesity and bulimia nervosa. Like many other Western countries, Australia has recently seen an alarming rise in these disorders. This project aims to investigate the imagery basis of food craving and develop effective techniques for its reduction. It has clear potential benefit for Australian national health and well- ....'Images of desire': An experimental cognitive approach to understanding and reducing food cravings. Food cravings are an important precursor to binge eating, a risk factor for both obesity and bulimia nervosa. Like many other Western countries, Australia has recently seen an alarming rise in these disorders. This project aims to investigate the imagery basis of food craving and develop effective techniques for its reduction. It has clear potential benefit for Australian national health and well-being, consistent with National Research Priority No. 2, "Promoting and Maintaining Good Health." The research will clearly contribute to the international profile of Australian social science and provide valuable research training for undergraduate and postgraduate students.Read moreRead less