Regulating anger: Cognitive reappraisal, emotional suppression, and post-event rumination. Australians bear the substantial psychological, social, and economic costs associated with unrestrained anger. Anger problems are associated with school and work difficulties, poor social relationship quality, alcohol and drug use, financial and legal difficulties, premature cardiovascular mortality, and clinically significant mental health problems. Anger and aggression also cause much harm to society th ....Regulating anger: Cognitive reappraisal, emotional suppression, and post-event rumination. Australians bear the substantial psychological, social, and economic costs associated with unrestrained anger. Anger problems are associated with school and work difficulties, poor social relationship quality, alcohol and drug use, financial and legal difficulties, premature cardiovascular mortality, and clinically significant mental health problems. Anger and aggression also cause much harm to society through crime, domestic abuse, and workplace violence among others. The Australian Institute of Criminology estimates the cost of assault, sexual assault, and homicide in Australia at over $2.5 billion per year. The insights gained from this research may help ameliorate these negative consequences of anger.Read moreRead less
Expressive Writing: An Investigation of How Writing About Stressful Experiences Can Be Used to Enhance Psychological and Physical Health Benefits. An experimental writing technique that involves writing about one's personal stressful experiences by using emotive descriptive words has been found to be helpful in improving mental health and physical functioning in various populations. This study will test how this expressive writing task leads to health benefits in two distinct samples; cancer sur ....Expressive Writing: An Investigation of How Writing About Stressful Experiences Can Be Used to Enhance Psychological and Physical Health Benefits. An experimental writing technique that involves writing about one's personal stressful experiences by using emotive descriptive words has been found to be helpful in improving mental health and physical functioning in various populations. This study will test how this expressive writing task leads to health benefits in two distinct samples; cancer survivors and healthy individuals. By identifying the methods by which this writing task can improve health functioning, this project will assist in adapting this task for use as a therapeutic technique in clinical settings to enhance the well-being of Australians. This will place less demands on health services, reduce absenteeism, and improve productivity. Read moreRead less
A longitudinal examination of the contribution of specific risk factors to the development of anxiety disorders during adolescence. The aims of this project are to follow a group of adolescent girls from around 12 to 16 years of age to examine possible predictors for developing anxiety disorders. A large group of girls and their parents will complete questionnaires in the first year of high school and a smaller group will be assessed through interviews and direct observation. The girls will be ....A longitudinal examination of the contribution of specific risk factors to the development of anxiety disorders during adolescence. The aims of this project are to follow a group of adolescent girls from around 12 to 16 years of age to examine possible predictors for developing anxiety disorders. A large group of girls and their parents will complete questionnaires in the first year of high school and a smaller group will be assessed through interviews and direct observation. The girls will be reassessed at yearly intervals over three years. The project will tell us a great deal about factors that are important in the development of anxiety. This will help to plan prevention programs in the future.Read moreRead less
Are there common mechanisms for the inhibition of fear? Disorders of fear and anxiety affect up to 28% of Australians across their lives. This project studies how the brain inhibits fear and anxiety. It has four National Benefits. First, the knowledge generated by this project will contribute to coherent theoretical accounts of fear inhibition. Second, it will increase Australia's competitiveness and reputation in experimental psychology and behavioural neuroscience. Third, it will provide novel ....Are there common mechanisms for the inhibition of fear? Disorders of fear and anxiety affect up to 28% of Australians across their lives. This project studies how the brain inhibits fear and anxiety. It has four National Benefits. First, the knowledge generated by this project will contribute to coherent theoretical accounts of fear inhibition. Second, it will increase Australia's competitiveness and reputation in experimental psychology and behavioural neuroscience. Third, it will provide novel insights into ways of reducing anxiety and fear among sufferers of clinical anxiety disorders. Finally, it will provide internationally competitive training opportunities for Australian students.
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The regulation of fear and attention: From genes to the brain to behaviour. Exposure to dangerous events elicits fear concomitant with attentional processing of environmental stimuli accompanying those events. However this fear and attention are typically inhibited so that they are restricted to dangerous events or stimuli which signal them. This project studies the role of endogenous opioids in the inhibition of fear and threat-related attention. It studies opioid inhibition in terms of its con ....The regulation of fear and attention: From genes to the brain to behaviour. Exposure to dangerous events elicits fear concomitant with attentional processing of environmental stimuli accompanying those events. However this fear and attention are typically inhibited so that they are restricted to dangerous events or stimuli which signal them. This project studies the role of endogenous opioids in the inhibition of fear and threat-related attention. It studies opioid inhibition in terms of its consequences for gene transcription, learning, and attention. It will provide the first integrated analysis of fear inhibition, from the level of the gene to the brain to behaviour. Thus, the project will provide significant insights into the biological complexity underpinning vulnerability to anxiety and fear.Read moreRead less
Predicting danger: The nature, consequences, and neural mechanisms of predictive fear learning. This project has four major national benefits. First, it addresses a fundamental scientific issue from a novel perspective to increase knowledge. By combining innovative approaches to study how the brain predicts danger, it will shed light on the relationship between brain and behaviour. Second, the project will contribute significantly to Australia's international competitiveness and reputation in ex ....Predicting danger: The nature, consequences, and neural mechanisms of predictive fear learning. This project has four major national benefits. First, it addresses a fundamental scientific issue from a novel perspective to increase knowledge. By combining innovative approaches to study how the brain predicts danger, it will shed light on the relationship between brain and behaviour. Second, the project will contribute significantly to Australia's international competitiveness and reputation in experimental psychology. Third, the knowledge generated by this project has the potential to improve the welfare of Australians by addressing an increasingly important health problem - anxiety. Finally, the project provides outstanding, internationally competitive, training opportunities for Australian students in Psychology.Read moreRead less
The cognitive and motivational consequences of affect in interpersonal behavior. Affect plays a major role in health and social adjustment and has a marked influence on many everyday behaviours, yet the mechanisms linking affect to thinking and behaviour remain poorly understood. These studies will produce a national and community benefit by contributing to our understanding of how affect influences thinking and behaviour. The project will develop a new, comprehensive theory of affective influen ....The cognitive and motivational consequences of affect in interpersonal behavior. Affect plays a major role in health and social adjustment and has a marked influence on many everyday behaviours, yet the mechanisms linking affect to thinking and behaviour remain poorly understood. These studies will produce a national and community benefit by contributing to our understanding of how affect influences thinking and behaviour. The project will develop a new, comprehensive theory of affective influences and the real-life consequences of affect in relationships, health, organisational, educational, marketing and clinical settings will also be explored. The project will contribute to Australia's research capability by training doctoral and postdoctoral students, and fostering international research collaboration.
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Popping the Bubblewrap, Unleashing the Power of Play. The long-term costs of childhood obesity, bullying and poor mental health are staggering. Despite the investment of billions of dollars for prevention and intervention, the statistics continue to worsen. We offer a simple, sustainable, cost-effective programme of prevention aimed at important national priorities within health and research. We expect to demonstrate a significant effect on children's activity levels, coping and social skills th ....Popping the Bubblewrap, Unleashing the Power of Play. The long-term costs of childhood obesity, bullying and poor mental health are staggering. Despite the investment of billions of dollars for prevention and intervention, the statistics continue to worsen. We offer a simple, sustainable, cost-effective programme of prevention aimed at important national priorities within health and research. We expect to demonstrate a significant effect on children's activity levels, coping and social skills through strategies that are replicable in every school playground in the nation and to contribute to policy regarding play, health, and education.Read moreRead less
Problem Gambling: Can Subtle Physiological Reactions To Wins And Losses Help Identify The Problem Gambler? Problem gambling is a major public health issue affecting 3%-6% of the adult population with the Productivity Commission (1999) detailing many associated consequences including major depression, suicide, substance abuse, marital and familial dysfunction and domestic violence. Problem gambling also has deleterious, long term effects on the mental and physical health of partners and children. ....Problem Gambling: Can Subtle Physiological Reactions To Wins And Losses Help Identify The Problem Gambler? Problem gambling is a major public health issue affecting 3%-6% of the adult population with the Productivity Commission (1999) detailing many associated consequences including major depression, suicide, substance abuse, marital and familial dysfunction and domestic violence. Problem gambling also has deleterious, long term effects on the mental and physical health of partners and children. Vulnerable groups include adolescents and young adults, socio-economically disadvantaged subpopulations, and specific ethnic minorities. The project's focus on identifying physiological patterns specific to problem gamblers represents an important first step in the development of an early screening test and timely interventions for at-risk individuals.Read moreRead less
Terrorism, Pandemic Influenza, and Global Warming: Future Conceptualisations and Societal Resilience. Understanding the potential and actual impact of mass adversity on individual and societal resilience and conceptualisation of the future will help improve the preparedness, response, and recovery by emergency workers, individuals, and society to these events. Guiding likely individual and social behaviours at an appropriate time will help to avoid or mitigate negative social, economic, and heal ....Terrorism, Pandemic Influenza, and Global Warming: Future Conceptualisations and Societal Resilience. Understanding the potential and actual impact of mass adversity on individual and societal resilience and conceptualisation of the future will help improve the preparedness, response, and recovery by emergency workers, individuals, and society to these events. Guiding likely individual and social behaviours at an appropriate time will help to avoid or mitigate negative social, economic, and health impacts. Studying Bali survivors will lead to an understanding of how their experiences and recoveries have impacted their behaviours and perception of the future, and will identify the most effective professional and community responses to future threat. Read moreRead less