Memory, Induction, and Strategic Behaviour in Economic and Social Situations. This project will provide economists, game theorists and other social scientists with a theoretical framework to model players with limited memories, and to model the process by which they develop their subjective views. By giving a formal treatment of the problem of induction, it will help us to understand how people might come to have different views on the world. By capturing new aspects of bounded memory, it will e ....Memory, Induction, and Strategic Behaviour in Economic and Social Situations. This project will provide economists, game theorists and other social scientists with a theoretical framework to model players with limited memories, and to model the process by which they develop their subjective views. By giving a formal treatment of the problem of induction, it will help us to understand how people might come to have different views on the world. By capturing new aspects of bounded memory, it will extend our understanding of agents with bounded rationality. The emergence of sophisticated strategic concepts and behavioural implications of these subjective views in society can also be described and discussed in this framework. Read moreRead less
Air Traffic Controller Competencies and Selection. This project targets a National Priority area Safeguarding Australia, Priority Goal: Critical Infrastructure. The partner organization Airservices Australia is a key player in the effective operation of the Australian aviation industry which is a critical and strategic component of the national transport infrastructure. Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) provide the nation with aviation services that require them to perform all tasks without error. ....Air Traffic Controller Competencies and Selection. This project targets a National Priority area Safeguarding Australia, Priority Goal: Critical Infrastructure. The partner organization Airservices Australia is a key player in the effective operation of the Australian aviation industry which is a critical and strategic component of the national transport infrastructure. Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) provide the nation with aviation services that require them to perform all tasks without error. The project will help develop the standards of excellence of Australian ATCs, contribute to internationalizing Australian human factors literature, develop the knowledge and skills of the Airservices staff and research team, and assist RAF and civil ATC collaboration.Read moreRead less
Knowing the Nature of Knowledge. From Plato onwards, philosophers have tried to determine what it is to have knowledge. This project will uncover some factors that have impeded those philosophical efforts to understand knowledge's nature. The project will thus constitute a fundamental challenge to standard philosophical assumptions regarding how we could, if ever, know what knowledge is. A new conception of the nature of knowledge will be developed, by resurrecting an ancient but now-ignored con ....Knowing the Nature of Knowledge. From Plato onwards, philosophers have tried to determine what it is to have knowledge. This project will uncover some factors that have impeded those philosophical efforts to understand knowledge's nature. The project will thus constitute a fundamental challenge to standard philosophical assumptions regarding how we could, if ever, know what knowledge is. A new conception of the nature of knowledge will be developed, by resurrecting an ancient but now-ignored conception, and marrying it with contemporary technical sophistication. This new theory will be non-absolutist, admitting different grades of knowledge, even of a single fact. This will be a widely applicable theory.Read moreRead less
Should rational individuals be optimistic? Theory, survey evidence, experimental evidence, and policy implications. This project will help Australian policy makers design better information-revelation policies and will elevate the skill level of Australian research in behavioural economics. Insights we generate about how best to manage the public's expectations will enable policy design that strengthens Australia's social and economic fabric. We will disseminate the recommendations we generate ....Should rational individuals be optimistic? Theory, survey evidence, experimental evidence, and policy implications. This project will help Australian policy makers design better information-revelation policies and will elevate the skill level of Australian research in behavioural economics. Insights we generate about how best to manage the public's expectations will enable policy design that strengthens Australia's social and economic fabric. We will disseminate the recommendations we generate in a policy workshop at the end of our project. In terms of benefits to the level of science in Australia, the project will work with local data and local researchers, and will import into Australia new experimental medical equipment and the knowledge of how to use it. These benefits will help Australia progress to the forefront of behavioural economic research.Read moreRead less
The Disproportionate Impact of Negative Contact on Category Salience and Prejudice: Explaining Why Intergroup Interactions Can Be Harmful. The social psychological literature suggests that face-to-face interactions between people of rival groups will reduce mutual prejudice and discrimination. The present research tests the novel prediction that negative face-to-face interactions have a greater probability of worsening broad intergroup relations than positive face-to-face interactions have of im ....The Disproportionate Impact of Negative Contact on Category Salience and Prejudice: Explaining Why Intergroup Interactions Can Be Harmful. The social psychological literature suggests that face-to-face interactions between people of rival groups will reduce mutual prejudice and discrimination. The present research tests the novel prediction that negative face-to-face interactions have a greater probability of worsening broad intergroup relations than positive face-to-face interactions have of improving them. The research will benefit Australia by (a) explaining why intergroup conflict continues to be a key social issue in multicultural Australia despite increased intergroup interactions and by (b) informing policy makers about the social conditions that result in more conflicting intergroup relations as well as the social conditions that result in more harmonious relations.Read moreRead less
Uptalk in Australian English Intonation. Australian English speakers often use rising instead of falling intonation at the end of sentences which are not questions. This phenomenon of uptalk is one of the unique traits of the Australian English accent. The project will model uptalk by analyzing spoken dialogues from 150 speakers from three major populations, Sydney, Melbourne, and regional Victoria. The intonation patterns of regional and non-Sydney populations have been poorly investigated ....Uptalk in Australian English Intonation. Australian English speakers often use rising instead of falling intonation at the end of sentences which are not questions. This phenomenon of uptalk is one of the unique traits of the Australian English accent. The project will model uptalk by analyzing spoken dialogues from 150 speakers from three major populations, Sydney, Melbourne, and regional Victoria. The intonation patterns of regional and non-Sydney populations have been poorly investigated, so this kind of study is needed to get a more complete understanding of Australian English intonation and the Australian accent. Outcomes will include publications on intonation and laboratory phonology, sociophonetics, and a working model of intonation that can be implemented in speech output systems for Australian English.Read moreRead less
Practicalism: Knowing and Agency. Australian philosophy has a deserved reputation for excellence, especially in topics of traditional centrality for analytic philosophers. But more still needs to be done within Australian epistemology. Most of the recent related work has occurred within the philosophies of mind, of language, and of science, and to some extent within ethics. That work needs to be complemented by good work in epistemology. I hope this project will help to achieve that, thereby inc ....Practicalism: Knowing and Agency. Australian philosophy has a deserved reputation for excellence, especially in topics of traditional centrality for analytic philosophers. But more still needs to be done within Australian epistemology. Most of the recent related work has occurred within the philosophies of mind, of language, and of science, and to some extent within ethics. That work needs to be complemented by good work in epistemology. I hope this project will help to achieve that, thereby increasing the national and international philosophical visibility of Australian epistemology.Read moreRead less
Building Financial Literacy and Retirement Savings Engagement by Developing a Financial Education Programme for the Workplace. To limit the drain on the federal budget as the population ages government have introduced compulsory superannuation; making individuals responsible for a significant proportion of their own retirement income. Employees are able to choose both their superannuation fund and investment mix. These are complex decisions which require a significant level of financial literacy ....Building Financial Literacy and Retirement Savings Engagement by Developing a Financial Education Programme for the Workplace. To limit the drain on the federal budget as the population ages government have introduced compulsory superannuation; making individuals responsible for a significant proportion of their own retirement income. Employees are able to choose both their superannuation fund and investment mix. These are complex decisions which require a significant level of financial literacy. Failure to make appropriate decisions can significantly reduce wealth at retirement leading to a greater reliance on the age pension. Results from this project will inform government, employers and superannuation funds about the role of financial education in improving financial literacy and hence retirement savings decision making.Read moreRead less
History and the Individual Life: Autobiography, Biography and the history of the self in the British World c1750 -1980. In providing a new way of linking autobiography and biography with the history of identity and of the self, this project will open new avenues for the study of history which will be important in Australia and internationally. Its focus on the British world will also bring Australian writing and experience into a broader international framework. At a time when biography is so v ....History and the Individual Life: Autobiography, Biography and the history of the self in the British World c1750 -1980. In providing a new way of linking autobiography and biography with the history of identity and of the self, this project will open new avenues for the study of history which will be important in Australia and internationally. Its focus on the British world will also bring Australian writing and experience into a broader international framework. At a time when biography is so very popular and widely read, it offers the possibility of bringing academic scholarship closer to questions of general interest to the community and thus re-enforcing the significance of academic research in the humanities. Read moreRead less
Modelling dynamic interactive social processes. This project aims to enhance our understanding of complex social systems by developing empirically testable mathematical models for interactive, dynamic social processes. Models will be developed for such processes as the development of interpersonal and inter-organisational networks, and social influence and diffusion. They will be assessed using new and exacting evaluation techniques. The results will strengthen the mathematical foundation for ....Modelling dynamic interactive social processes. This project aims to enhance our understanding of complex social systems by developing empirically testable mathematical models for interactive, dynamic social processes. Models will be developed for such processes as the development of interpersonal and inter-organisational networks, and social influence and diffusion. They will be assessed using new and exacting evaluation techniques. The results will strengthen the mathematical foundation for modelling in the social sciences, and will have immediate application in several diverse domains, including: the structure of networks relevant to disease transmission; the social epidemiology of rural mental health; and the emergence of collective structures in organisations.Read moreRead less