Moral frontiers: When the needs of humans and nonhumans collide. Decision making about resources is not simply based on human needs alone. Issues relating to animal rights, biodiversity, and environmental protection weigh heavily in these debates. These issues are receiving increased attention at a time when the human (over)population of the planet is already placing pressure on scare resources, creating conflict between the needs of humans and non-humans. It is along our moral frontiers where t ....Moral frontiers: When the needs of humans and nonhumans collide. Decision making about resources is not simply based on human needs alone. Issues relating to animal rights, biodiversity, and environmental protection weigh heavily in these debates. These issues are receiving increased attention at a time when the human (over)population of the planet is already placing pressure on scare resources, creating conflict between the needs of humans and non-humans. It is along our moral frontiers where these conflicts will erupt and the rights and needs of humans and non-humans alike are given merit or discarded. This project will examine the psychological processes involved in extending moral concern to non-humans and the benefits and costs of this extended morality for the satisfaction of human needs.Read moreRead less
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.
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.
Building successful diverse communities: what works and why? This project is focused on strengthening locally-based interventions to maximise community harmony in the context of demographic diversity (ethnic, cultural, religious). It also will strengthen the relationship between world-leading researchers and senior policy experts and provides valuable research training for three junior scholars.
The intergenerational origins of social and emotional wellbeing. This project aims to map inter-generational pathways that connect parental life histories, from infancy to parenthood, to offspring development decades later. The project brings together rare data from three long running studies of social development in Australia and New Zealand: The Australian Temperament Project (est. 1983), The Victorian Inter-generational Health Cohort (est. 1992), and The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Dev ....The intergenerational origins of social and emotional wellbeing. This project aims to map inter-generational pathways that connect parental life histories, from infancy to parenthood, to offspring development decades later. The project brings together rare data from three long running studies of social development in Australia and New Zealand: The Australian Temperament Project (est. 1983), The Victorian Inter-generational Health Cohort (est. 1992), and The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Study (est. 1972). Expected outcomes include enhanced understanding of the factors that strengthen or undermine well-being in families from one generation to the next.Read moreRead less
Humans as animals and objects: the psychology of dehumanisation. This project will clarify how some individuals and groups as perceived as less than human. It will examine how some groups are subtly seen as animal-like and how some media images objectify individuals. It will yield a deeper understanding of how people may be degraded, dismissed, vilified and dehumanised.
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
Determining the role of disease avoidance in stigmatisation. The aim of this project is to test a disease avoidance model of stigmatisation. Stigmatisation is characterised by chronic avoidance of a person(s) by other people. Infectious disease may produce an apparently similar form of isolation—disease avoidance. This project proposes that many forms of stigmatisation reflect the activation of this disease avoidance system, which is predisposed to respond to signs of disease, irrespective of th ....Determining the role of disease avoidance in stigmatisation. The aim of this project is to test a disease avoidance model of stigmatisation. Stigmatisation is characterised by chronic avoidance of a person(s) by other people. Infectious disease may produce an apparently similar form of isolation—disease avoidance. This project proposes that many forms of stigmatisation reflect the activation of this disease avoidance system, which is predisposed to respond to signs of disease, irrespective of their accuracy. This will represent a significant shift in thinking about this issue and aims to provide the first empirically based model of stigmatisation as an evolved disposition that causes the exclusion of people who look like they may carry an infectious disease - even if they do not.Read moreRead less
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.