Learning and choosing in a complex world. How do people make choices in a complex world? Making good choices requires expertise, but people must often forego rewards in order to acquire this knowledge. This is the essence of an "explore-exploit dilemma": to maximise rewards across a long time frame, people must take the time to explore and learn now. Empirically, this project aims to unify much of the existing psychological literature and extend it to cover richer, more complex problems. Theoret ....Learning and choosing in a complex world. How do people make choices in a complex world? Making good choices requires expertise, but people must often forego rewards in order to acquire this knowledge. This is the essence of an "explore-exploit dilemma": to maximise rewards across a long time frame, people must take the time to explore and learn now. Empirically, this project aims to unify much of the existing psychological literature and extend it to cover richer, more complex problems. Theoretically, the project aims to use tools from machine learning to compare human decision making to optimal planning models.Read moreRead less
Problem gambling: development and application of a new conceptual framework for aetiology and treatment. Around 470,000 Australians (3.3% of the adult population) are estimated to have 'significant' or 'severe' gambling problems. This project responds to the call for a new framework for theorising and researching problem gambling (Productivity Commission, 1999). Currently, the research literature is characterised by disagreement about definition, causes, and treatment. At the community level, di ....Problem gambling: development and application of a new conceptual framework for aetiology and treatment. Around 470,000 Australians (3.3% of the adult population) are estimated to have 'significant' or 'severe' gambling problems. This project responds to the call for a new framework for theorising and researching problem gambling (Productivity Commission, 1999). Currently, the research literature is characterised by disagreement about definition, causes, and treatment. At the community level, different stakeholder constructions of problem gambling have deadlocked debate. There is a clear need to re-think existing approaches. This project applies an innovative, social-scientific methodology specifically designed to analyse complex, real-world social problems in order to develop a new conceptual framework for understanding and treating problem gambling.Read moreRead less
Expecting the unexpected: how people prioritise predictability. This project aims to investigate how people represent and use information about unpredictability in their environment. Seeing too much predictability is problematic, but seeing too little can also be a problem, for example inappropriate "learned helplessness" can occur, whereby people feel disempowered because the world is seen as random. Recent findings demonstrated a bias in fundamental learning that may maintain these inappropria ....Expecting the unexpected: how people prioritise predictability. This project aims to investigate how people represent and use information about unpredictability in their environment. Seeing too much predictability is problematic, but seeing too little can also be a problem, for example inappropriate "learned helplessness" can occur, whereby people feel disempowered because the world is seen as random. Recent findings demonstrated a bias in fundamental learning that may maintain these inappropriate beliefs about unpredictability. This bias is not anticipated by formal theories of learning. The project will investigate how this bias is brought about by first formalising a novel theory of fundamental learning and then systematically testing its assumptions.Read moreRead less
How to manage on-farm surface water storage for sustainable and safe catchments. Unsafe on-farm storage of runoff is a potential but silent problem ready to strike downstream communities. Unfair storage already occurs at the expense of farmers, communities and environment. Stakeholders will gain understanding of these two inter-related problems and the factors that drive them. The national benefit will be empirical evidence and policy guidance about the drivers of on-farm dam storage which ensur ....How to manage on-farm surface water storage for sustainable and safe catchments. Unsafe on-farm storage of runoff is a potential but silent problem ready to strike downstream communities. Unfair storage already occurs at the expense of farmers, communities and environment. Stakeholders will gain understanding of these two inter-related problems and the factors that drive them. The national benefit will be empirical evidence and policy guidance about the drivers of on-farm dam storage which ensures fairness and safety in surface water sharing systems by (1)providing certainty of water entitlements and encouraging farming investment in safe dams, (2)minimising hardship to farmers and communities not benefiting from their full entitlement and to those that suffer from dam failures, and (3)maximising environment's share.Read moreRead less
Towards an integrated model of reasoning and reasoning development. This project aims to identify the core cognitive processes that underlie different forms of reasoning and how they develop. The project intends to use a signal detection framework to derive detailed computational models of reasoning which can then be tested through Bayesian computational modelling as well as the first systematic investigation of developmental change in reasoning processes. Expected outcomes include a more princi ....Towards an integrated model of reasoning and reasoning development. This project aims to identify the core cognitive processes that underlie different forms of reasoning and how they develop. The project intends to use a signal detection framework to derive detailed computational models of reasoning which can then be tested through Bayesian computational modelling as well as the first systematic investigation of developmental change in reasoning processes. Expected outcomes include a more principled and comprehensive computational model of reasoning in both adults and children. The project should provide significant benefits by helping to resolve long-standing debates about how humans reason complex arguments relevant to everyday lives and guide development of more effective methods for teaching reasoning.Read moreRead less
Young People with Disability & Young Carers: Opportunities & Contributions. This project aims to examine opportunities that young people with disability and young carers (aged 12-24) value and access, and contributions they make to families, communities and society. Using novel conceptual framing, qualitative research and large-scale survey data, the project expects to provide new knowledge on how policy can support access to valued opportunities and contributions for young people with disabilit ....Young People with Disability & Young Carers: Opportunities & Contributions. This project aims to examine opportunities that young people with disability and young carers (aged 12-24) value and access, and contributions they make to families, communities and society. Using novel conceptual framing, qualitative research and large-scale survey data, the project expects to provide new knowledge on how policy can support access to valued opportunities and contributions for young people with disability and young carers to support them to reach their full potential. Young people are centrally involved as co-researchers and the project is guided by a Policy Advisory Group. Benefits include evidence for a strengths-based policy approach to disability and care, longer-term economic gains and improved social cohesion.Read moreRead less
Uncovering the processes underlying human reasoning: A state-trace approach. This project aims to answer the most important unresolved question in the psychology of reasoning; how many distinct cognitive processes underlie human reasoning? To answer this question, this project aims to conduct an extensive experimental investigation of the factors that selectively impact inductive and deductive inferences and the application of high-dimensional state-trace analysis; a powerful new method for diag ....Uncovering the processes underlying human reasoning: A state-trace approach. This project aims to answer the most important unresolved question in the psychology of reasoning; how many distinct cognitive processes underlie human reasoning? To answer this question, this project aims to conduct an extensive experimental investigation of the factors that selectively impact inductive and deductive inferences and the application of high-dimensional state-trace analysis; a powerful new method for diagnosing underlying processes from behavioural data. The project is expected also to develop a new computational model that accounts for both inductive and deductive forms of reasoning.Read moreRead less
Artificial intelligence in education: Democratising policy. The rapid introduction of artificial intelligence into education is occurring with inadequate policy support. Additionally, there is a lack of stakeholder input into decisions about the use of AI in education. Utilising social science and data science approaches, this project aims to democratise policy about AI in education by building tools to monitor policies, and developing collaborative policy making methods. The expected outcomes i ....Artificial intelligence in education: Democratising policy. The rapid introduction of artificial intelligence into education is occurring with inadequate policy support. Additionally, there is a lack of stakeholder input into decisions about the use of AI in education. Utilising social science and data science approaches, this project aims to democratise policy about AI in education by building tools to monitor policies, and developing collaborative policy making methods. The expected outcomes include publicly available policy resources to anticipate, and respond to, the role of AI in education, and participatory frameworks for policy making. The benefits include informed stakeholder engagement, and concrete policy recommendations that are globally relevant and adaptable to the Australian context.Read moreRead less
Job quality and care quality in aged care. The project aims to investigate how job quality and the quality of care are linked in residential and community-based aged care services. Population ageing and fewer informal carers place pressure on aged care provision across the OECD There is little understanding, at either the policy or workplace levels, of how the quality of aged care jobs affects the viability and quality of that provision. The project expects to improve knowledge about how job qua ....Job quality and care quality in aged care. The project aims to investigate how job quality and the quality of care are linked in residential and community-based aged care services. Population ageing and fewer informal carers place pressure on aged care provision across the OECD There is little understanding, at either the policy or workplace levels, of how the quality of aged care jobs affects the viability and quality of that provision. The project expects to improve knowledge about how job quality affects aged care quality; and identify care markets, policy regimes and work organisation that best support sustainable quality aged care.Read moreRead less
School Exclusionary Policies and Practices and their Impact. This project aims to investigate how and why Australian schools use exclusionary practices to manage disorderly students. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of school discipline about the extent and impact of these practices. It will provide a detailed analysis of the political, legislative and policy frameworks that impact on exclusion rates. Expected outcomes of this project include alternative policy and prac ....School Exclusionary Policies and Practices and their Impact. This project aims to investigate how and why Australian schools use exclusionary practices to manage disorderly students. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of school discipline about the extent and impact of these practices. It will provide a detailed analysis of the political, legislative and policy frameworks that impact on exclusion rates. Expected outcomes of this project include alternative policy and practice recommendations for legislatures and education systems. This should provide significant benefits, such as reducing youth alienation from schooling; creating inclusive schools; reducing the financial burden of exclusion on individuals and governments; and improving the health and wellbeing of young people.Read moreRead less