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
The regulation of desire by bodily state. Many experiences, like food, wine and sex, are pleasurable. These experiences are also desired, but less so when sated. The aim of this proposal is to understand how satiation regulates desire. We propose two memory-based models, and test them using several new experimental approaches. This is significant, not only because poorly regulated desire is linked to many social and economic ills (e.g., over-eating), but also because it is a key part of huma ....The regulation of desire by bodily state. Many experiences, like food, wine and sex, are pleasurable. These experiences are also desired, but less so when sated. The aim of this proposal is to understand how satiation regulates desire. We propose two memory-based models, and test them using several new experimental approaches. This is significant, not only because poorly regulated desire is linked to many social and economic ills (e.g., over-eating), but also because it is a key part of human motivation that is poorly understood. The expected outcome is a new theoretical model of how memory processes interact with bodily signals to generate both sated states and desire. The benefits include a new understanding of how desire is regulated and how and why this might break down.Read moreRead less
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
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
Statistical models for social networks, network-based social processes and complex social systems. Our methodological advances (flexible, theoretically defensible and empirically testable quantitative models for a wide range of interactive social processes) will add significantly to national capacity in modelling complex social systems. Existing collaborations will result in practical scientific outcomes relating to: the impact of social contact and needle-sharing networks on HIV transmission; ....Statistical models for social networks, network-based social processes and complex social systems. Our methodological advances (flexible, theoretically defensible and empirically testable quantitative models for a wide range of interactive social processes) will add significantly to national capacity in modelling complex social systems. Existing collaborations will result in practical scientific outcomes relating to: the impact of social contact and needle-sharing networks on HIV transmission; the social epidemiology of mental health; health policy and local government networks; governance arrangements in environmental management; intra-organizational networks; labour market dynamics; and acculturation processes for international students. A major emphasis will be the training of a new group of quantitative social science graduates.Read moreRead less
Managing the risks posed by Artificial General Intelligence. It is widely acknowledged that a failure to implement appropriate controls for the next generation of Artificial Intelligence, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), could have catastrophic consequences, including in the worst case - the extinction of the human race. This research aims to forecast the risks associated with AGI systems and identify the controls required to ensure that risks and existential threats are minimised. The exp ....Managing the risks posed by Artificial General Intelligence. It is widely acknowledged that a failure to implement appropriate controls for the next generation of Artificial Intelligence, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), could have catastrophic consequences, including in the worst case - the extinction of the human race. This research aims to forecast the risks associated with AGI systems and identify the controls required to ensure that risks and existential threats are minimised. The expected outputs will provide designers, organisations, regulators and governments with a framework to support the design, implementation, and management of safe and efficient AGI systems. This will ensure that the potential far-reaching benefits of AGI are realised without undue threat to society.Read moreRead less
From fluid intelligence to crystallised expertise: an integrative Bayesian approach. Intelligence is correlated with learning but uncorrelated with most aspects of expertise. Why is this so? Why does the role of intelligence diminish as one becomes more expert at a task? This project examines a broad range of cognitive tasks to provide a concise mathematical description of how intelligence relates to expertise.
Managing compliance with procedural justice: The role of motivational postures, legitimacy and emotion. Regulatory authorities exist to ensure that members of the public comply with their obligations under the law. At the same time, however, regulators should not exercise their authority in ways that result in the alienation of the public. Using social science methodology, this project will examine the role that procedurally fair regulation can play in promoting trust and confidence in authoriti ....Managing compliance with procedural justice: The role of motivational postures, legitimacy and emotion. Regulatory authorities exist to ensure that members of the public comply with their obligations under the law. At the same time, however, regulators should not exercise their authority in ways that result in the alienation of the public. Using social science methodology, this project will examine the role that procedurally fair regulation can play in promoting trust and confidence in authorities. The national and community benefits of this project will include ascertaining how greater levels of cooperation and compliance with regulatory decisions and laws can be facilitated; particularly among those who may feel disgruntled with their experiences with authority.Read moreRead less
The boomerang effect of rumour denials: An attributional analysis. Rumours can have many harmful consequences. They may lead to damaged reputations, reduced morale, panic, stress and loss of interpersonal trust. Furthermore, they are very hard to manage. A simple denial of a rumour can often result in increased belief in the rumour. This boomerang effect makes it very difficult to combat harmful rumours. The proposed research applies causal attribution theory to explain the causes behind the boo ....The boomerang effect of rumour denials: An attributional analysis. Rumours can have many harmful consequences. They may lead to damaged reputations, reduced morale, panic, stress and loss of interpersonal trust. Furthermore, they are very hard to manage. A simple denial of a rumour can often result in increased belief in the rumour. This boomerang effect makes it very difficult to combat harmful rumours. The proposed research applies causal attribution theory to explain the causes behind the boomerang effect. It uses a combination of laboratory and field experiments and aims to develop and test strategies to overcome this effect.Read moreRead less
Experimental Studies of the effects of the research process on participant behaviour. A key national challenge for social science is to develop and evaluate cost effective health behaviour interventions that may have relatively small effects at the individual level, but which, when aggregated across a large population, produce a measurable benefit. The trials required to evaluate such interventions are typically subject to biases arising from study design and measurement of behaviour, and theref ....Experimental Studies of the effects of the research process on participant behaviour. A key national challenge for social science is to develop and evaluate cost effective health behaviour interventions that may have relatively small effects at the individual level, but which, when aggregated across a large population, produce a measurable benefit. The trials required to evaluate such interventions are typically subject to biases arising from study design and measurement of behaviour, and therefore result in poor estimates of efficacy and cost-effectiveness. By quantifying the extent to which aspects of the research process affect estimates of intervention efficacy, efforts to address national health priorities such as physical inactivity, smoking, hazardous drinking, and poor nutrition will be enhanced.Read moreRead less