Outcomes of collective action: After the blockade, what next? The project intends to study how collective actors react when conventional or radical collective action succeeds or fails. If a democratic protest rally is ignored by authorities, does support for violence increase? If a turbulent riot attracts favourable media attention and concessions, does this increase the likelihood of future riots or undercut them? This project aims to answer these questions. It plans to test a new, theoreticall ....Outcomes of collective action: After the blockade, what next? The project intends to study how collective actors react when conventional or radical collective action succeeds or fails. If a democratic protest rally is ignored by authorities, does support for violence increase? If a turbulent riot attracts favourable media attention and concessions, does this increase the likelihood of future riots or undercut them? This project aims to answer these questions. It plans to test a new, theoretically integrative model of collective action and the intergroup dynamic, using a mixed-methods approach including experiments, small group research and longitudinal field surveys. Project outcomes may provide an evidence basis for policy-makers' debates about trajectories of radicalisation and deradicalisation, and for recommendations about engagement and negotiation of tactics for activists, political parties, and nongovernment organisations.Read moreRead less
Intergenerational Prediction of Social and Early Emotional Development. This project aims to investigate multi-generational influences on child psychosocial development. It plans to take advantage of a not-to-be-repeated opportunity to follow offspring born to one of Australia’s oldest longitudinal studies of social and emotional development. The Australian Temperament Project has followed around 2000 parents and offspring across 30 years from birth in 1983. Third-generation babies have been fol ....Intergenerational Prediction of Social and Early Emotional Development. This project aims to investigate multi-generational influences on child psychosocial development. It plans to take advantage of a not-to-be-repeated opportunity to follow offspring born to one of Australia’s oldest longitudinal studies of social and emotional development. The Australian Temperament Project has followed around 2000 parents and offspring across 30 years from birth in 1983. Third-generation babies have been followed across the peak period of first births to females. This project plans to continue recruitment across the peak period of first births for males in 2016–18. This would create one of the most extensive and well-powered three-generation resources worldwide, yielding unique data on intergenerational pathways through mother and father lines. It expects to inform targeting of interventions and psychosocial resources to promote wellbeing within and across generations.Read moreRead less
Preconception predictors of early childhood social and emotional development: a 30-year longitudinal study of grandparents, parents and children. There is increasing recognition of the importance of preconception pathways in shaping the family environments that parents provide for their children. This project will advance understandings of preconception pathways to healthy early child development, by recruiting offspring born to a 30-year longitudinal study: The Australian Temperament Study.
Advancing the science of willpower: investigating the mechanisms and processes of self-control. Willpower or 'good' self control is important for success in our academic, occupational, and social lives. This project will use cutting-edge scientific methods to investigate how glucose, the primary fuel for body function, promotes 'good' self-control and stimulates regions in the brain important for self-control.
Pathways to social cohesion and social change: opinion-based groups and the dynamic formation of identities. This project will update the understanding of political conflict by exploring groups based around shared opinions. It will show that groups are likely to be more successful in their political campaigns when they tie their causes to national and other positive identifies.
The emotional face: Effects on orienting, visual search, and categorization. The processing of facial expressions of emotion is essential for successful social functioning however our understanding of how these important signals are processed and of the factors which may impede appropriate processing is lacking. Using a range of converging methodologies drawn from neuroscience, social, and cognitive psychology, this project aims to advance our understanding of the processing of the expressions o ....The emotional face: Effects on orienting, visual search, and categorization. The processing of facial expressions of emotion is essential for successful social functioning however our understanding of how these important signals are processed and of the factors which may impede appropriate processing is lacking. Using a range of converging methodologies drawn from neuroscience, social, and cognitive psychology, this project aims to advance our understanding of the processing of the expressions of two central social emotions, happiness and anger, by delineating the conditions that support or limit it in the general population. This research aims to provide an invaluable knowledge base for subsequent applied research into deficits of emotional expression processing such as occur in autism, anxiety, or old age.Read moreRead less
Extending the theory and measurement of personal values and testing relations of values to attitudes and behaviour. Personal values indicate what is important to us, guide our behaviour and reflect real differences between cultures, social classes, occupations, and religions. This project seeks to refine the theory and measurement of personal values across cultures to better understand the motivations that lie behind attitudes and behaviours.
Exploring processes of change in parenting interventions for high-risk parents. This study will identify the timing and triggers of change in parents as they participate over 18 months in an intensive therapeutic parenting program. The findings will inform planners and service providers about the most effective features of such programs to facilitate change in parents at risk of abuse and neglect of their children.
Predicting health, well-being, and educational success in emerging adults: An 8 year longitudinal study. This project will inform the community about factors that affect the psychological, physical, academic, and employment outcomes of emerging adults. It will improve our knowledge of why some young people do not reach their full potential. The project will provide a comprehensive assessment of factors associated with well-being across several domains. It will better equip and assist professiona ....Predicting health, well-being, and educational success in emerging adults: An 8 year longitudinal study. This project will inform the community about factors that affect the psychological, physical, academic, and employment outcomes of emerging adults. It will improve our knowledge of why some young people do not reach their full potential. The project will provide a comprehensive assessment of factors associated with well-being across several domains. It will better equip and assist professionals to identify early those youth at risk of having poor psychological, health, and employment prospects post-school. The project will inform the development of intervention programs for young people and maximise their overall adjustment and well-being several years later.Read moreRead less