The politics of opinion: Individuals, groups, and the social psychology of opinion in the public sphere. Public opinion is crucial to democratic theory and practice, but its extensive multi-disciplinary literature is littered with contested definitions. One major (and heated) debate concerns whether public opinion should, in principle, comprise the views of individuals, as aggregated in polls, or of groups, as expressed through collective statements and action. This project examines public opi ....The politics of opinion: Individuals, groups, and the social psychology of opinion in the public sphere. Public opinion is crucial to democratic theory and practice, but its extensive multi-disciplinary literature is littered with contested definitions. One major (and heated) debate concerns whether public opinion should, in principle, comprise the views of individuals, as aggregated in polls, or of groups, as expressed through collective statements and action. This project examines public opinion in reality rather than in principle, using social psychology to predict that individuated and group-based representations serve distinct purposes for specific social actors under specific social and political conditions. It offers new answers to longstanding questions about the role of citizen opinion in democratic politics.Read moreRead less
Radicalisation, Counter-Radicalisation, and De-Radicalisation: Developing a New Understanding of Terrorism in the Australian Context. Concentrating on the unique drivers of extremism within Victoria (and Australia), the study will enhance counter terrorism stakeholders' understanding of domestic radicalization. This will assist in designing policies appropriate for Australian circumstances that can: 1. pre-empt, prevent and detect radicalisation without jeopardising social cohesion and 2. reduce ....Radicalisation, Counter-Radicalisation, and De-Radicalisation: Developing a New Understanding of Terrorism in the Australian Context. Concentrating on the unique drivers of extremism within Victoria (and Australia), the study will enhance counter terrorism stakeholders' understanding of domestic radicalization. This will assist in designing policies appropriate for Australian circumstances that can: 1. pre-empt, prevent and detect radicalisation without jeopardising social cohesion and 2. reduce Australia's reliance on overseas counter-radicalisation and de-radicalisation models, where practitioners confront different community dynamics. Working towards understanding what causes radicalization in Australia, the project offers to enhance national security and by addressing local circumstances carries the prospect of creating more cost-efficient counter terrorism practices.Read moreRead less
Enhancing outcomes for separated families by improving family mediation. More than 100,000 adults and 60,000 children experience family breakdown each year in Australia, which wreaks enormous personal, social, and economic costs. This project aims to develop more effective ways to mediate disputes over shared parenting after family breakdown.
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
Self-Leadership towards Innovation & Well-Being. Innovation and well-being in the workplace are of paramount importance in maintaining Australia's social and economic environment. Self-leadership training provides employees with strategies to build confidence and resilience, identify opportunities in the environment, deriving greater meaning and enjoyment from work. Self-leadership training has already been shown to improve performance; this project extends self-leadership research by testing th ....Self-Leadership towards Innovation & Well-Being. Innovation and well-being in the workplace are of paramount importance in maintaining Australia's social and economic environment. Self-leadership training provides employees with strategies to build confidence and resilience, identify opportunities in the environment, deriving greater meaning and enjoyment from work. Self-leadership training has already been shown to improve performance; this project extends self-leadership research by testing the effects of self-leadership training on employee innovation and well-being. It also elucidates the psychological processes underlying improvements in innovation and well-being. The project addresses ARC Research Priorities 2 and 3 and contributes to Australia's social and economic advancement.Read moreRead less
Site-Level Community Engagement Processes in the Australian Minerals Industry: A Comparative Analysis. A key principle of corporate social responsibility is that companies should endeavour to engage with, and be responsive to, the concerns of affected local communities. With the support of four industry partners, this study will compare how community engagement has been practised at seven Australian minerals operations. The study will assess the effectiveness and appropriateness of existing enga ....Site-Level Community Engagement Processes in the Australian Minerals Industry: A Comparative Analysis. A key principle of corporate social responsibility is that companies should endeavour to engage with, and be responsive to, the concerns of affected local communities. With the support of four industry partners, this study will compare how community engagement has been practised at seven Australian minerals operations. The study will assess the effectiveness and appropriateness of existing engagement processes, account for significant differences between sites, and identify opportunities for improving how companies engage with communities. Social Identity Theory will be utilised to structure the research and inform the development of advice to industry on effective engagement strategies.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE120100177
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$150,000.00
Summary
A flexible high throughput analytical system for psychopharmacology and drug discovery. A sensitive new liquid chromatography mass spectrometer will enable a team of leading researchers to detect drugs of abuse and therapeutic drugs in the brain and body as well as levels of hormones, peptides and neurotransmitters. This will enhance a large number of projects examining new treatments for addictive disorders and mental illness.
Outcome Trust: An Experimental Validation. Scholars have studied trust from a host of disciplinary perspectives. With such a diversity of scholarship, we find both a conflict over approaches and methods as well as the inevitable differences about the fundamental nature of the concept of trust. Bhattacharya, Devinney & Pillutla develop a remarkably robust operational model of trust that is a function of two factors, the uncertainty faced by the parties to a relationship and the conjectures they ....Outcome Trust: An Experimental Validation. Scholars have studied trust from a host of disciplinary perspectives. With such a diversity of scholarship, we find both a conflict over approaches and methods as well as the inevitable differences about the fundamental nature of the concept of trust. Bhattacharya, Devinney & Pillutla develop a remarkably robust operational model of trust that is a function of two factors, the uncertainty faced by the parties to a relationship and the conjectures they form about each other's actions. We propose to test this formulation rigorously, using experimental methods, thereby allowing us to broaden our understanding of the critical concept of trust.Read moreRead less
Reducing fire deaths - a new approach to smoke alarms. Disturbingly, those most at risk of dying in residential fires are also least likely to awaken to the current smoke alarm signal, now mandatory in Australian residences. This project will develop a new alarm (using Gibsonian, naturalistic sounds and/or a voice signal) and compare its waking efficacy with the current smoke alarm. Testing will involve three vulnerable groups; sleep deprived young adults, children and alcohol intoxicated. The r ....Reducing fire deaths - a new approach to smoke alarms. Disturbingly, those most at risk of dying in residential fires are also least likely to awaken to the current smoke alarm signal, now mandatory in Australian residences. This project will develop a new alarm (using Gibsonian, naturalistic sounds and/or a voice signal) and compare its waking efficacy with the current smoke alarm. Testing will involve three vulnerable groups; sleep deprived young adults, children and alcohol intoxicated. The research is innovative with important implications for community public safety, the national and international smoke alarm industry, performance based models of building safety and our theoretical understanding of cognitive processing during sleep.Read moreRead less