Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back. Episodic Volunteering for Non-Profits. This project seeks to improve the policy and practice of volunteer involvement in the non-profit sector. Non-profit organisations rely on volunteers, and their capacity to deliver vital community services is threatened by the decrease in long-term, continuous volunteering and increase in episodic (short-term, flexible) volunteering. The interdisciplinary project aims to use mixed methods (qualitative interviews and quantitat ....Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back. Episodic Volunteering for Non-Profits. This project seeks to improve the policy and practice of volunteer involvement in the non-profit sector. Non-profit organisations rely on volunteers, and their capacity to deliver vital community services is threatened by the decrease in long-term, continuous volunteering and increase in episodic (short-term, flexible) volunteering. The interdisciplinary project aims to use mixed methods (qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys) and multiple perspectives (volunteers and staff who manage them) to develop an episodic volunteering definition; to explore the economic and social impact of episodic volunteering, and to develop a theoretical model of volunteer retention. The findings are intended to provide an evidence base and recommendations for non-profit sector policy and practice.Read moreRead less
Networks, neighbourhoods and newborns: defining household and local area influences on social connectedness, to understand pathways to health. Being socially connected is good for your health, but why? This project will compare social connections in Boroondara and Hume, to explore the influence of neighbourhoods on networks. With this information the project will consider potential pathways to better health outcomes, needed by agencies working to promote neighbourhood connectedness and health.
How economic prosperity hardens attitudes towards minorities. Most explanations for the current rise in popularity of anti-immigrant parties focus on economic hardship following the Global Financial Crisis, thereby being unable to account for the finding that support for such parties also increases in times of economic prosperity. For the first time, this project will provide a complete account of these relationships.
Consequences of inequality on social behaviour and political attitudes. This project aims to reveal how economic inequality shapes dynamics between groups within societies. Income inequality has effects beyond health but its effects on social behaviour and political attitudes are poorly understood. This project will move beyond a focus on the health and well-being costs of income inequality and study its effect on social behaviour and political attitudes. By uncovering these consequences of ineq ....Consequences of inequality on social behaviour and political attitudes. This project aims to reveal how economic inequality shapes dynamics between groups within societies. Income inequality has effects beyond health but its effects on social behaviour and political attitudes are poorly understood. This project will move beyond a focus on the health and well-being costs of income inequality and study its effect on social behaviour and political attitudes. By uncovering these consequences of inequality, the findings are expected to broaden the understanding of growing economic inequality, showing its consequences for the social health of a society and its citizens.Read moreRead less
Developing and evaluating a theoretically grounded novice driver education program incorporating simulators. Australian young drivers are 13 per cent of the population but account for nearly a quarter of road deaths. This project aims to develop a research informed, theory-driven education intervention that includes a simulator component to improve their driving skills and attitudes. A process and outcome evaluation aims to assess the effectiveness of the training including the impact on how ind ....Developing and evaluating a theoretically grounded novice driver education program incorporating simulators. Australian young drivers are 13 per cent of the population but account for nearly a quarter of road deaths. This project aims to develop a research informed, theory-driven education intervention that includes a simulator component to improve their driving skills and attitudes. A process and outcome evaluation aims to assess the effectiveness of the training including the impact on how individuals learn to drive, changes in skill and attitudes as well as the influence on crashes and offences. It is intended that a second parallel study will adapt the intervention for Indigenous Australians and examine the effectiveness of this adaptation.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101262
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$359,753.00
Summary
Decision making in older people approaching the end of life. End of life care provides an ideal framework in which to explore the principle of individual autonomy and consumer decision making. Older people at a high risk of dying in 6 months will be recruited from acute care wards, and asked about preferences for involvement in end of life decision making in a standardised interview survey. Surrogate decision makers and physicians will be asked to answer the same questions from the patient's per ....Decision making in older people approaching the end of life. End of life care provides an ideal framework in which to explore the principle of individual autonomy and consumer decision making. Older people at a high risk of dying in 6 months will be recruited from acute care wards, and asked about preferences for involvement in end of life decision making in a standardised interview survey. Surrogate decision makers and physicians will be asked to answer the same questions from the patient's perspective (namely what they think the patient wants). Findings will suggest ways end of life care can be better tailored so that patients can participate in decisions and receive care that is consistent with their wishes.Read moreRead less
Establishing safe driving practice: Improving young learner driver training. This project plans to develop a best-practice model to enable professional instructors to teach essential higher-order skills (e.g. hazard perception) to young learner drivers to establish safe driving behaviours. Australian young drivers aged 17–25 years comprise 13 per cent of the population but 22 per cent of road deaths. More effective teaching models are expected to reduce young drivers’ crash risk when they drive ....Establishing safe driving practice: Improving young learner driver training. This project plans to develop a best-practice model to enable professional instructors to teach essential higher-order skills (e.g. hazard perception) to young learner drivers to establish safe driving behaviours. Australian young drivers aged 17–25 years comprise 13 per cent of the population but 22 per cent of road deaths. More effective teaching models are expected to reduce young drivers’ crash risk when they drive unsupervised. The project aims to develop and assess the effectiveness of the model including the impact on instructor teaching practices, and changes in young driver skills, attitudes, and driving behaviours including crashes and offences. It also aims to assess instructor and young driver perceptions of the model.Read moreRead less
Overconfidence as an interpersonal strategy in negotiation and competition. The objective of the project is to develop and test a model of overconfidence that is based on the potential for overconfidence to give people a competitive advantage. Overconfidence can benefit people by causing others to value their skills more highly than they should. Nonetheless, it can be costly to businesses and governments who put their trust in overconfident managers and leaders because such individuals are often ....Overconfidence as an interpersonal strategy in negotiation and competition. The objective of the project is to develop and test a model of overconfidence that is based on the potential for overconfidence to give people a competitive advantage. Overconfidence can benefit people by causing others to value their skills more highly than they should. Nonetheless, it can be costly to businesses and governments who put their trust in overconfident managers and leaders because such individuals are often unprepared or ill-suited for their role. The project model, grounded in recent theorising in psychology, evolutionary biology and economics, would allow us to predict who will display overconfidence in a variety of situations, and would also clarify why people are overconfident and what benefits and costs accrue from overconfidence. Given the ubiquity and societal costs of overconfidence, a predictive model such as this would be useful for scientists and policy-makers alike.Read moreRead less
Sending and responding to messages about climate change: the role of emotion and morality. Climate change represents a moral challenge to humanity, and one that elicits high levels of emotion. This project examines how emotions and morality influence how people send and receive messages about climate change, and does so with an eye to developing concrete and do-able strategies for positive change.
Identifying and resolving challenges to the effectiveness of collective apologies. It is increasingly common for nations and organisations to apologise for current or past wrongdoing. This research investigates the unique psychological reasons for why collective apologies (as opposed to interpersonal ones) might struggle to win acceptance for victim groups; with an eye to identifying conditions that facilitate intergroup forgiveness.