Attributions for food intake and the control of eating. When explaining why they ate as much as they did in a particular situation, people generally overestimate the role of their hunger or the taste of the food, and underestimate the impact of other factors such as how much food they are served or how much other people eat. This project will examine the motivation behind these mis-attributions, and will also examine the behavioural and emotional consequences of the attributions people make for ....Attributions for food intake and the control of eating. When explaining why they ate as much as they did in a particular situation, people generally overestimate the role of their hunger or the taste of the food, and underestimate the impact of other factors such as how much food they are served or how much other people eat. This project will examine the motivation behind these mis-attributions, and will also examine the behavioural and emotional consequences of the attributions people make for their food intake. By doing so, the proposed research will make a significant contribution to the theoretical understanding of people’s food intake, and can also have practical implications for helping people appropriately regulate their food intake.Read moreRead less
How do social and environmental cues influence food intake? This project will determine how social and environmental factors influence how much people eat. These insights will have theoretical implications for our understanding of what drives people's food intake, and will have practical implications for interventions aimed at curbing excess energy intake, weight gain, and obesity.
Feeling and thinking: affect, implicit social cognition and behaviour. Although affect plays a major role in human affairs, the psychological mechanisms linking affect to thinking and behaviour remain incompletely understood. This project will investigate the influence of affective states on implicit cognitive processes and subsequent social behaviours. The project aims to develop and to test an innovative information processing theory linking affect to implicit cognition, and apply new experime ....Feeling and thinking: affect, implicit social cognition and behaviour. Although affect plays a major role in human affairs, the psychological mechanisms linking affect to thinking and behaviour remain incompletely understood. This project will investigate the influence of affective states on implicit cognitive processes and subsequent social behaviours. The project aims to develop and to test an innovative information processing theory linking affect to implicit cognition, and apply new experimental methods to measure the cognitive and behavioural consequences of affect. Studies will also explore the applied consequences of affect infusion for real-life social behaviours with expected implications for health, clinical, organisational, and educational outcomes.Read moreRead less
The emotional psychology of blood donors: understanding and using the affective key to donor return. Every week in Australia 27,000 blood donations are required to meet medical needs. Though donors are continually recruited, each year around 40per cent of Australian donors fail to re-donate. Why this occurs and how to prevent this is not well understood. Using an approach grounded in psychology and affective science, this project comprises a program of studies that aims to advance understanding ....The emotional psychology of blood donors: understanding and using the affective key to donor return. Every week in Australia 27,000 blood donations are required to meet medical needs. Though donors are continually recruited, each year around 40per cent of Australian donors fail to re-donate. Why this occurs and how to prevent this is not well understood. Using an approach grounded in psychology and affective science, this project comprises a program of studies that aims to advance understanding of the affective factors that contribute to blood donor return and translate that understanding into interventions to increase donor return. The project aims to advance the psychological conceptualisation of blood donation by integrating insight from affective science, while also enabling the Blood Service to meet the nation's demand for blood products.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
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL180100094
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,749,550.00
Summary
Responding to the challenge of identity change. This project aims to advance our understanding of factors that promote successful adjustment to collective-level change, which is imperative for well-being and the fabric of society. The psychological and financial cost of not understanding these dynamics is significant, and is at the forefront of concerns in organisational, educational, community and national contexts. This project will help elucidate the complexities of collective-level change an ....Responding to the challenge of identity change. This project aims to advance our understanding of factors that promote successful adjustment to collective-level change, which is imperative for well-being and the fabric of society. The psychological and financial cost of not understanding these dynamics is significant, and is at the forefront of concerns in organisational, educational, community and national contexts. This project will help elucidate the complexities of collective-level change and adjustment to such change, providing benefits to communities, organisations and policy makers. The project builds on The Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC), a theoretical approach which helps to understand how people might effectively cope with change; it forms the basis of an ambitious and integrated theoretical program of research that will examine SIMIC predictions in novel contexts.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100459
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$369,000.00
Summary
The influence of features of the online environment on risk taking. This project aims to increase our understanding of what aspects of websites encourage people to engage in risky behaviours. Risk taking in online environments can have significant negative consequences, such as being a victim or perpetrator of cybercrime. This project aims to develop and test a conceptual model to understand the psychological processes underlying risk taking online, focusing on the impact of social cues and spec ....The influence of features of the online environment on risk taking. This project aims to increase our understanding of what aspects of websites encourage people to engage in risky behaviours. Risk taking in online environments can have significant negative consequences, such as being a victim or perpetrator of cybercrime. This project aims to develop and test a conceptual model to understand the psychological processes underlying risk taking online, focusing on the impact of social cues and specific online environmental cues. Anticipated project outcomes will benefit policy-makers by identifying how sites can be made safer and may also show how to educate people to make safe decisions online and to avoid sites that may encourage them to take risks or engage in anti-social behaviours.Read moreRead less
The impact of outdoor youth programs on positive adolescent development: an empirical evaluation. This project will seek to ensure that the nation's outdoor resources are fully utilised for the benefit of young people. Accordingly, this project will conduct the first comprehensive randomised controlled trial of a structured outdoor youth program in order to inform more strategic investment in outdoor programs to promote positive youth development.
The Power of Causal Attributions: Genetic Essentialist Biases and Health. Great advancements in the science of genetics are accompanied by increased public propensity to attribute causality to the genes for diverse outcomes such as abilities, social group differences, attitudes, and diseases. These genetic attributions activate cognitive biases termed Genetic Essentialist Biases, which have been shown to instigate a variety of deleterious outcomes. The project will evaluate hypothesized detrimen ....The Power of Causal Attributions: Genetic Essentialist Biases and Health. Great advancements in the science of genetics are accompanied by increased public propensity to attribute causality to the genes for diverse outcomes such as abilities, social group differences, attitudes, and diseases. These genetic attributions activate cognitive biases termed Genetic Essentialist Biases, which have been shown to instigate a variety of deleterious outcomes. The project will evaluate hypothesized detrimental effects of genetic attributions on actual health behaviours, endorsement of health policies, and disease related stigma. Furthermore, it will test interventions designed to reduce the negative effects of such attributions on attitudes, beliefs, intentions, and behaviours related to a common disease. Read moreRead less
Strengthening community partnerships to promote adolescent school engagement and prevent problems such as alcohol misuse and violence. The project will reduce community rates of adolescent school non-attendance, adolescent alcohol misuse and antisocial behaviour. Adolescent school exclusion, alcohol use and antisocial behaviour are highly prevalent in Australia, and can be reduced using a variety of strategies that are coordinated at the school and community level. The project will decrease adol ....Strengthening community partnerships to promote adolescent school engagement and prevent problems such as alcohol misuse and violence. The project will reduce community rates of adolescent school non-attendance, adolescent alcohol misuse and antisocial behaviour. Adolescent school exclusion, alcohol use and antisocial behaviour are highly prevalent in Australia, and can be reduced using a variety of strategies that are coordinated at the school and community level. The project will decrease adolescent problems through community improvements in child and adolescent protective influences and reductions in risk influences. Furthermore, the project will equip communities with the capacity to learn how to identify and implement strategies to address the major influences that have the potential to reduce adolescent behaviour problems.Read moreRead less