In it to win it: an interdisciplinary investigation of sports betting. This project aims to better understand how young adults use, communicate about and experience mobile phone sports betting applications. Gambling generates significant health and social harms in Australia. Yet there is little research on the use of betting apps, even though sports betting is the fastest growing segment of the gambling market. This project intends to examine how use of sports betting apps is becoming establishe ....In it to win it: an interdisciplinary investigation of sports betting. This project aims to better understand how young adults use, communicate about and experience mobile phone sports betting applications. Gambling generates significant health and social harms in Australia. Yet there is little research on the use of betting apps, even though sports betting is the fastest growing segment of the gambling market. This project intends to examine how use of sports betting apps is becoming established as everyday social practice normalising problem gambling. The findings will enhance understanding of the social contexts of sports betting, and inform gambling policy and programs leading to better health and social outcomes.Read moreRead less
Young injecting drug users, embodied identities and social worlds: an ethnographic study. This research explores the social experience of young injecting drug users, mapping processes of initiation, the hidden drug experience, and modes of maturing out of drug use. It analyses and compares the trajectories of young drug users in both rural and urban contexts, focusing on the experience of embodied selfhood, social worlds and identities, exploring injecting use as a medium of relationship with t ....Young injecting drug users, embodied identities and social worlds: an ethnographic study. This research explores the social experience of young injecting drug users, mapping processes of initiation, the hidden drug experience, and modes of maturing out of drug use. It analyses and compares the trajectories of young drug users in both rural and urban contexts, focusing on the experience of embodied selfhood, social worlds and identities, exploring injecting use as a medium of relationship with the self and the other, and mapping social networks and cultures of risk. It will develop key implications for national and local drug policy in three critical areas: prevention, harm minimisation and withdrawal.Read moreRead less
Affective influences social thinking and behaviour: A social neuroscience approach. Affective states have a major influence on how people think and behave in everyday life. However, the psychological and neural mechanisms producing these effects remain incompletely understood. This project will investigate how external situations and internal cognitive and neurological mechanisms interact to facilitate or inhibit affective influences on judgments and behaviour. The project will also develop and ....Affective influences social thinking and behaviour: A social neuroscience approach. Affective states have a major influence on how people think and behave in everyday life. However, the psychological and neural mechanisms producing these effects remain incompletely understood. This project will investigate how external situations and internal cognitive and neurological mechanisms interact to facilitate or inhibit affective influences on judgments and behaviour. The project will also develop and test an innovative information processing theory of affective influences, and develop new empirical methods for measuring the cognitive and behavioural consequences of affect. Studies will also investigate the influence of affect on clinical, organisational, educational and health outcomes, and on various real-life behaviours.
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Inequality, Identity and Future Discounting: A Comparative Ethnographic Approach to Social Trauma in Aboriginal Australian Communities. Via fieldwork in Aboriginal communities, this study examines the extent to which psychosocial processes of identity serve as a mechanism whereby social inequality becomes personal and community disadvantage. We focus on Aboriginal perspectives, their experiences and accounts of social traumas. The study's significance lies in the persistence of differentially hi ....Inequality, Identity and Future Discounting: A Comparative Ethnographic Approach to Social Trauma in Aboriginal Australian Communities. Via fieldwork in Aboriginal communities, this study examines the extent to which psychosocial processes of identity serve as a mechanism whereby social inequality becomes personal and community disadvantage. We focus on Aboriginal perspectives, their experiences and accounts of social traumas. The study's significance lies in the persistence of differentially high negative social indicators in Aboriginal communities. Its originality lies in conceptualizations of future discounting as a dimension of identity and of identity as a process critical to well-being. Outcomes include further understanding of the relationship between inequality,identity and well-being.Read moreRead less
Feeling, thinking and doing: Affective influences on social cognition and behaviour. Affect has a major influence on how people think and behave in social situations, yet the psychological mechanisms responsible for these effects remain incompletely understood. The proposed experiments will investigate the circumstances that facilitate or inhibit affect infusion into social thinking, judgments and behaviours and explore the real-life consequences of these effects. A comprehensive theoretical mod ....Feeling, thinking and doing: Affective influences on social cognition and behaviour. Affect has a major influence on how people think and behave in social situations, yet the psychological mechanisms responsible for these effects remain incompletely understood. The proposed experiments will investigate the circumstances that facilitate or inhibit affect infusion into social thinking, judgments and behaviours and explore the real-life consequences of these effects. A comprehensive theoretical model, the recently revised Affect Infusion Model will be tested as an integrative explanation for affect infusion phenomena.Read moreRead less
Econometric studies of the dynamics of loneliness and social isolation. This project aims to provide new insights into the socioeconomic dynamics of loneliness and social isolation using advanced econometric modelling techniques applied to longitudinal data from Australia and the UK. This project will apply advanced econometric modelling techniques to data from four nationally-representative longitudinal surveys to substantively help address these knowledge gaps, giving policy-makers new informa ....Econometric studies of the dynamics of loneliness and social isolation. This project aims to provide new insights into the socioeconomic dynamics of loneliness and social isolation using advanced econometric modelling techniques applied to longitudinal data from Australia and the UK. This project will apply advanced econometric modelling techniques to data from four nationally-representative longitudinal surveys to substantively help address these knowledge gaps, giving policy-makers new information about how to address these growing societal concerns. The expected outcomes will provide policy-makers with a better understanding of the socioeconomic triggers for loneliness and social isolation; quantify the costs of loneliness and social isolation on health and wellbeing; and identify policy interventions aimed at reducing loneliness and social isolation.Read moreRead less
An examination of the factors shaping recent developments in youth drinking. Over the past 15 years, the proportion of Australian teenagers who drink alcohol has halved. This project aims to understand the drivers of this major shift in teenage drinking behaviour. Initial work has shown that drinking has declined across demographic, socio-economic and cultural groups. This project plans to use mixed methods to analyse new and existing data to examine four potential drivers of this generational c ....An examination of the factors shaping recent developments in youth drinking. Over the past 15 years, the proportion of Australian teenagers who drink alcohol has halved. This project aims to understand the drivers of this major shift in teenage drinking behaviour. Initial work has shown that drinking has declined across demographic, socio-economic and cultural groups. This project plans to use mixed methods to analyse new and existing data to examine four potential drivers of this generational change in behaviour. Understanding the reasons behind this shift is important both to expand knowledge about the socio-cultural conditions shaping teenage alcohol consumption practices, and to support and maintain these trends through informed social policy.Read moreRead less
Attributions for food intake and the control of eating. When explaining why they ate as much as they did in a particular situation, people generally overestimate the role of their hunger or the taste of the food, and underestimate the impact of other factors such as how much food they are served or how much other people eat. This project will examine the motivation behind these mis-attributions, and will also examine the behavioural and emotional consequences of the attributions people make for ....Attributions for food intake and the control of eating. When explaining why they ate as much as they did in a particular situation, people generally overestimate the role of their hunger or the taste of the food, and underestimate the impact of other factors such as how much food they are served or how much other people eat. This project will examine the motivation behind these mis-attributions, and will also examine the behavioural and emotional consequences of the attributions people make for their food intake. By doing so, the proposed research will make a significant contribution to the theoretical understanding of people’s food intake, and can also have practical implications for helping people appropriately regulate their food intake.Read moreRead less
How do social and environmental cues influence food intake? This project will determine how social and environmental factors influence how much people eat. These insights will have theoretical implications for our understanding of what drives people's food intake, and will have practical implications for interventions aimed at curbing excess energy intake, weight gain, and obesity.
A Model and Segmentation of Household Obesogenicity in Australia. Critical to reducing obesity is reduced consumption of energy dense foods and increasing physical activity. This project provides greater insight into relationships between environment, household obesogenicity and consumer behaviour, and an improved basis for policy development regarding obesity prevention. National benefits are; Less obesity and other nutritionally related diseases and therefore reduced treatment costs in the hea ....A Model and Segmentation of Household Obesogenicity in Australia. Critical to reducing obesity is reduced consumption of energy dense foods and increasing physical activity. This project provides greater insight into relationships between environment, household obesogenicity and consumer behaviour, and an improved basis for policy development regarding obesity prevention. National benefits are; Less obesity and other nutritionally related diseases and therefore reduced treatment costs in the health sector; Reduced demand for unhealthy foods and greater demand for higher quality products boosting product innovation and supporting Australia's competitiveness in the global markets; Greater health benefits among the low SES parts of the population contributing to creation of equity in Australian health.Read moreRead less