Evaluation of a brief parenting intervention for parents of children suffering asthma or eczema. Childhood illnesses create a great burden for Australian families and many parents struggle with keeping their child healthy and well adjusted. This research will examine the effects of a brief parenting intervention to help parents become more skilled and confident in their role, leading to better child adjustment, health and wellbeing.
Bridging the gap on locational disadvantage: Impact of community-identified interventions on social capital, psychosocial and socioeconomic outcomes. Interventions to combat locational disadvantage are vital given the pervasiveness and long-term consequences for youth and communities. This research will offer important educational and socio-economic benefits by enriching the psychosocial adjustment and life potential of young Australians and the capacity of schools in locationally disadvantaged ....Bridging the gap on locational disadvantage: Impact of community-identified interventions on social capital, psychosocial and socioeconomic outcomes. Interventions to combat locational disadvantage are vital given the pervasiveness and long-term consequences for youth and communities. This research will offer important educational and socio-economic benefits by enriching the psychosocial adjustment and life potential of young Australians and the capacity of schools in locationally disadvantaged communities. Effective research and community-identified social capital and psychosocial interventions will enhance pro-social behaviours, health, psychosocial adjustment, and school and community engagement. This will build capacity at community, school, and individual levelsand contribute to national socioeconomic wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Older workers & psychological contracts: A dynamic perspective. This project aims to track the trajectories of older workers’ psychological contracts that shape their give-and-take with the organisation. Little is understood about how these psychological contracts change as older workers continue to pursue work through their fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth decades of life. This project tracks older workers over intensive, repeated in-depth interviews and a large-scale longitudinal panel study. ....Older workers & psychological contracts: A dynamic perspective. This project aims to track the trajectories of older workers’ psychological contracts that shape their give-and-take with the organisation. Little is understood about how these psychological contracts change as older workers continue to pursue work through their fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth decades of life. This project tracks older workers over intensive, repeated in-depth interviews and a large-scale longitudinal panel study. The outcomes fill significant gaps in our understanding of older workers’ needs and orientation toward work, and identify the age-related changes and organisational practices that spur older workers to sustain a strong trajectory of productive participation in the workforce.Read moreRead less
From Anxious Temperament to Disorder: The role of the parent- child interaction. Three studies are proposed. The first examines parent behaviour (overinvolvement, encouragement of avoidance) in a large group of inhibited and uninhibited preschoolers over two-years. The aim is to determine whether parent behaviour places an inhibited child at greater risk of developing an anxiety disorder. The second examines parents of anxious children interacting with non-clinical children and parents of non-cl ....From Anxious Temperament to Disorder: The role of the parent- child interaction. Three studies are proposed. The first examines parent behaviour (overinvolvement, encouragement of avoidance) in a large group of inhibited and uninhibited preschoolers over two-years. The aim is to determine whether parent behaviour places an inhibited child at greater risk of developing an anxiety disorder. The second examines parents of anxious children interacting with non-clinical children and parents of non-clinical children interacting with anxious children. It is expected that anxious children will elicit more help from non-clinical mothers. The third examines anxiety-disordered parents interacting with their children. It is expected that anxiety-disordered mothers would be overinvolved regardless of the child's anxiety.Read moreRead less
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
Investigating a New Explanation of Discrimination Against Migrant and Excluded People. Migrants and socially excluded people are often the subjects of discrimination and prejudice. Our research will provide valuable knowledge about when and why people discriminate against migrant and excluded individuals as well as how this type of behaviour can be reduced. Our research will benefit Australia by contributing scientific information to the policy developments of national organizations that aim to ....Investigating a New Explanation of Discrimination Against Migrant and Excluded People. Migrants and socially excluded people are often the subjects of discrimination and prejudice. Our research will provide valuable knowledge about when and why people discriminate against migrant and excluded individuals as well as how this type of behaviour can be reduced. Our research will benefit Australia by contributing scientific information to the policy developments of national organizations that aim to reduce discrimination and prejudice. Hence, our research falls within the Government's broader goal of creating a more harmonious multicultural Australian society.Read moreRead less
Evaluation of profile edge markings as a road safety countermeasure: Analysis of crash statistics and on-road study of driver behaviour and attitudes. Fatigue contributes to 20% of fatal car crashes. Profile line-marking (PLM) aims to reduce fatigue-related crashes by alerting drivers when they begin veering off the road. Substantial stretches are laid annually Australia-wide, although evaluations of PLM have been unsophisticated or flawed. We aim to improve understanding of PLM impacts by inve ....Evaluation of profile edge markings as a road safety countermeasure: Analysis of crash statistics and on-road study of driver behaviour and attitudes. Fatigue contributes to 20% of fatal car crashes. Profile line-marking (PLM) aims to reduce fatigue-related crashes by alerting drivers when they begin veering off the road. Substantial stretches are laid annually Australia-wide, although evaluations of PLM have been unsophisticated or flawed. We aim to improve understanding of PLM impacts by investigating: 1)beliefs/attitudes regarding PLM (e.g. "PLM damages cars"); 2)whether road-edge PLM increases head-on crashes; 3)the efficacy of PLM with more widely spaced "ribs", with and without separate raised pavement markers; 4)underlying mechanisms (e.g. reducing fatigue, increasing visibility during night/wet) in order to improve the efficacy and efficiency of PLM use.Read moreRead less
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.