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
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
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.
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
How do people make uncertain predictions? Exemplar-based and category-based approaches to inductive inference. This project is an innovative experimental and field study of how people reason under uncertainty. The project will broaden our understanding of human reasoning and enhance the reputation of Australian cognitive science.
Moral reasoning and mental illness: towards a model of moral judgment and moral accountability. This research examines capacities for moral judgment in people with schizophrenia, some of whom act on their delusional beliefs and commit crimes. Findings will, in turn, inform legal and philosophical consideration of the moral accountability of mentally ill defendants, and advance theoretical knowledge of healthy moral decision making.
The role of threat expectancy and attentional bias modification in promoting attentional capture and disengagement in acute experimental pain. This study will test the effectiveness of a number of variants of a promising new treatment in changing responses to an experimental pain task, the cold pressor. The aim is to develop a novel treatment, with preliminary evidence for its efficacy, that can be tested as a treatment for the prevention and treatment of chronic pain.
RCTs on Trial: How Placebo Effects Could Undermine Double-blind RCTs. Double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) are considered the gold standard for establishing treatment efficacy. However, there are both theoretical and empirical reasons to believe that they do not adequately control for the placebo effect. Cost and ethical considerations prevent researchers conducting actual double-blind RCTs with patients from exploring these issues. To address this gap, this project uses nove ....RCTs on Trial: How Placebo Effects Could Undermine Double-blind RCTs. Double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) are considered the gold standard for establishing treatment efficacy. However, there are both theoretical and empirical reasons to believe that they do not adequately control for the placebo effect. Cost and ethical considerations prevent researchers conducting actual double-blind RCTs with patients from exploring these issues. To address this gap, this project uses novel experimental models to systematically test key aspects of the double-blind RCT methodology that are intended to control for the placebo effect. The project aims to provide essential data on the validity of these trials, thereby improving Australia's health and ensuring that Government treatment subsidies are well spent.Read moreRead less