STAFF TALK on the consequences of positive and negative intergroup contact: Tuesday 4th November

----------------------------------------------------------------------

WHO/WHAT FOR: Dr Stefania Paolini, school of psychology, UON will deliver a research presentation entitled “Valence asymmetries in intergroup relations: The challenges of improving intergroup relations against the relative advantage of negative contact”, This talk is sponsored by the school’s Social and Organisational Psychology research group.

WHEN: Tuesday 4^th November, 12-1pm,

WHERE: Keats room, Aviation building, Callaghan

WHERELSE:  video conferenced to: Humanities Meeting room (HO 1.73), Ourimbah (please advise Stefania if you plan to be at the Ourimbah)

ABSTRACT: Due to a focus on prejudice reduction, social psychological analyses of intergroup contact have traditionally shied away from negative contact and negative-positive contact comparisons. These analyses provide a more positive report for contact than related disciplines; one that disagrees with global trends of intergroup conflict. This paper showcases Australian-led research on valence asymmetries aiming to redress these research disconnects. Stefania will first introduce a Self-Categorization Theory’s inspired model of valence asymmetries in intergroup relations. Based on this model, negative experiences with the outgroup should worsen intergroup attitudes more than positive experiences with the outgroup improve intergroup attitudes (i.e., negative valence asymmetry on intergroup attitudes) because negative contact causes higher category salience than positive intergroup contact (i.e., negative valence asymmetry on social categorization). Stefania will then present a systematic program of research testing the basic tenets of this model in a variety of intergroup settings and with several research paradigms. She will identify a series of moderating factors exacerbating, mitigating, and even reversing negative valence asymmetries on social categorization and intergroup attitudes and discuss the implications of these findings for theory, social interventions, and future research.

BIO: Stefania Paolini trained in social psychology at the Universita’ di Padova (Italy), under the supervision of Prof Dora Capozza, and completed her doctoral work in 2001 under the supervision of Prof Miles Hewstone at Cardiff University (UK). For her PhD, she used models and methods of intergroup contact and social categorization to explore ‘when’ and ‘why’ information about individual members of a social group affects the judgements of the group as a whole. Since, she has published in leading international journals and has been regularly invited to act as reviewer for leading journals and grant bodies on the topics of member-to-group generalization, intergroup contact, intergroup friendship, and intergroup emotions. Her current research focuses on valence asymmetries on categorization and attitudes, on motivational predictors of intergroup contact, and on the learning mechanisms of intergroup anxiety and stereotyping. As part of this work, she has investigated conflict-ridden intergroup contexts, like Northern Ireland, Cyprus, and Arizona’ southern border. Stefania is currently senior lecturer in social psychology at the University of Newcastle (Australia), co-chair of the internationalisation committee of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), and will be organising the upcoming annual meeting of the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists (SASP) at Newcastle in 2015. For more information on her work, visit: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/stefania-paolini

Cognitive Psychology Colloquium NOT ON THIS WEEK

Due to the CTMHN postgraduate conference there will be no meeting this week, but please come along next week to hear about the future of statistics (see preview below)!

When: Thursday 6th November, 12-1pm
Where: Keats Reading Room, Psychology Building
Title: JASP ̶ A free and open alternative to SPSS, a rich and user friendly alternative to R.

Authors: Jonathon Love(a), Ravi Selker(a), Josine Verhagen(a), Martin Smira(b), Anneliese Wild(c), Maarten Marsman(a), Quentin Gronau(a), Richard D. Morey(d), Jeff Rouder(e), Eric-Jan Wagenmakers(a)
a University of Amsterdam
b University of Brno
c University of Newcastle, Australia
d University of Groningen
e University of Missouri

Abstract
The two dominant software platforms for performing statistical analyses in psychology are SPSS
and the R programming language. SPSS is expensive, closed source, and does not implement the
newest analyses (such as recent developments in bayesian statistics). In contrast, the R
programming environment is open source and implements the newest analyses, however it requires
users to write software in a programming language, and is a challenging platform for people without
programming experience to use.

This talk introduces JASP, an alternative to both SPSS and R which combines the best of both
worlds. JASP implements the latest Bayesian analyses, is free and open source, and provides a rich
user interface such that individuals without programming experience can use.

JASP is available from http://jasp-stats.org
JASP is funded by a grant from the European Research Council.

Bio
Jonathon Love is a Software Developer and Researcher at the University of Amsterdam. He
completed his studies with Andrew Heathcote at the University Newcastle, Australia, and has over
15 years experience in Software development. Jonathon's interests are promoting the use of
liberated (free and open source) software in science and developing software which bridges the gap
between methodologists and applied researchers. He is the lead developer of the JASP project.

The School of Psychology’s Sensory, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Group is pleased to present the following PhD completion seminar. All Welcome!

Theta oscillatory networks influence individual differences in cognitive control ability.

Patrick S. Cooper, PhD Candidate
School of Psychology
Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory
University of Newcastle, Callaghan. NSW 2308 AUSTRALIA

Wednesday 29^th October 12-1pm in the Keats Reading Room, Psychology Building Callaghan Campus (video conferenced to Science Offices meeting room Ourimbah).

Abstract: Cognitive control processes enable flexible adjustment of intentions and actions in order to guide goal-directed behaviour. Low frequency neural oscillations promote widespread integration across cortical regions, with theta (~4-7Hz) oscillations playing a key role in integrative processes associated with cognitive control. My research has focused on understanding the extent of individual variability that exists in theta oscillations and their influence on cognitive control ability. To do so, I have applied functional connectivity techniques to the oscillatory EEG data that is typically averaged over during event-related analysis. In this talk, I will present evidence that theta oscillations vary both between individuals and within individuals and that these variations have specific effects on cognitive control efficiency and trial-by-trial performance. Interestingly, these relationships appear to have real-world implications too, with control-related theta signatures linked to differences in subjective reports of anxiety and quality of life. I will argue that individual differences in low frequency oscillatory activity can provide unique insight into brain-behaviour relationships. 

Tue 28th Oct: RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS on intergroup psychology

Please join us for two research presentations on the 28^th of October by two scholars from the University of Sydney. Full details below.

These research talks are sponsored by the school’s Social and Organisational Psychology research group. 

Hope to see many of you then. Cheers,   Stefania at: Stefania.Paolini@newcastle.edu.au

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WHEN: Tuesday 28^th October, 11.30-1pm,

WHERE: Keats room, Aviation building, Callaghan

WHERELSE:  video conferenced to: The Science Offices Meeting room, Ourimbah

 

WHO/WHAT FOR: Karen Gonsalkorale, visiting scholar, University of Sydney, delivering a research presentations entitled “Now You See it, Now You don’t: Automatic Bias and Overcoming Bias in Implicit Attitudes” (see abstract and bio below)

WHO/WHAT FOR: Andrea van Dommelen, visiting scholar, University of Sydney delivering a research presentations entitled “Multiple Social Identities in Minority Group Members: individual and contextual differences” (see abstract and bio below)

Gonsalkorale’s Abstract

When implicit measures of attitudes first burst onto the psychology scene, they were often conceived as uncontaminated reflections of the automatic associations stored in memory. Many researchers considered these implicit measures to be revolutionary in their capacity to reveal automatic attitudes that people are unwilling or unable to express on self-report measures. However, we now know that performance on implicit attitude measures is influenced both by the nature of activated evaluative associations and by people’s ability to regulate those associations as they respond. I will describe a method for separating the multiple automatic and controlled processes underlying implicit measures, and discuss how this method can be used to understand the processes responsible for variability and malleability in implicit attitudes. Specifically, I will present studies in which we applied the Quad model (Sherman et al, 2008) to examine variability in implicit attitudes as a function of group membership (Black vs. White participants) and age (young vs. older participants), and malleability in implicit attitudes resulting from prejudice reduction training and alcohol intoxication. The findings indicate that implicit attitude variability and malleability do not only involve activated associations, and may not involve associations at all, in some cases. I will wrap up by discussing the implications of the findings for the measurement and interpretation of implicit attitudes.

Gonsalkorale’s Bio

My research interests include social cognition, stereotyping and prejudice, intergroup relations, and ostracism. I am currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney. Prior to joining the University of Sydney as a Lecturer in 2008, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Davis. I received a Bachelor of Psychology (Hons) in 2001 and a PhD from the University of New South Wales in 2005.

van Dommelen’s Abstract

Members of ethnic and religious minority groups belong to distinct ethnic, religious and national groups that may differ in group composition, values, norms and attitudes. In this talk, I will propose a conceptual and operational framework to examine how minority group members subjectively construe their ingroup in the context of such multiple, cross-cutting group memberships. I will describe the subjective combination of multiple social identities in terms of structure (Social Identity Structure, SIS) and inclusiveness (Social Identity Inclusiveness, SII), and present findings of three studies using this conceptual framework.  In the first two studies, we assessed SII and SIS in a sample of Turkish Belgian Muslims (N = 95) and Turkish Australian Muslims (N = 132). The findings of both studies showed that participants, despite sharing membership in three specific social groups, varied widely in how they combined these group memberships in their ingroup construals. More inclusive ingroup representations predicted how participants felt towards people from other social groups, including remote groups with whom participants were unlikely to have contact. In a third study, again using a sample of Turkish Australian Muslims (N = 143), we examined how ingroup representations are altered after a threat or reassurance to their religious group identity. We found that participants were less likely to integrate multiple social identities in their ingroup construals after the value of their religious group identity was threatened as opposed to reassured. These findings highlight the need for a more thorough understanding of individual versus contextual differences in multiple social identity management in ethnic and religious minority groups.

van Dommelen’Bio

I completed my Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of Brussels (VUB), in Belgium (where I am originally from), in 2008. My Master’s dissertation was in the area of social cognition (stereotype activation upon an encounter with an atypical target), under supervision of Prof. Vincent Yzerbyt at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. In 2010, I worked with Dr. Katharina Schmid and Prof. Miles Hewstone (University of Oxford, UK) on a project on social identity complexity. Later in 2010, I started my PhD research at the University of Sydney, under supervision of Dr. Karen Gonsalkorale and Prof. Marilynn Brewer. For my PhD, I studied how people belonging to ethnic and religious minority groups in Australia, combine their ethnic, religious and national group memberships into an ingroup construal, and how such ingroup construals relate to intergroup variables such as outgroup contact and attitudes. I conducted correlational and experimental studies with community samples of adult and adolescent Turkish Australian Muslims. I recently completed my PhD and will be graduating in October 2014. My research interests are social identity, intergroup relations, acculturation, minorities and refugee mental health. 

****

 

Cognitive Psychology Group Colloquium (and The Great Bayes Debate!)

This week we have two special events.

First, a colloquium from Prof. Cliff Hooker (a pioneer of Cognitive Science at Newcastle, now an Emeritus Professor) in our usual time slot.

Then on Friday we debate whether "Bayesian cognitive models advance our understanding of the human mind." with Dan Navarro (University of Adelaide, http://health.adelaide.edu.au/psychology/ccs/people/dan/) and Don van Van Ravenzwaaij in the affirmative and Ben Newell (http://www2.psy.unsw.edu.au/Users/BNewell/) and Scott Brown in the negative.

When: Thursday 23th October, 12-1pm (Colloquium)  and
            Friday 24th October, 1-2pm (Bayes Debate)

Where: Keats Reading Room, Psychology Building

COLLOQUIUM DETAILS

Title: A Universal Model for Deep Problem Solving
Authors: Robert Farrell, Cliff Hooker

Abstract:
This paper provides a specific proposal for the internal drive and organisation of a problem solving process capable, if anything is, of solving initially strongly ill-defined (= deep) problems, and an explanation of why it is so cognitively powerful. Arguably it works, if anything does, everywhere deep problems arise, including in design, science, management and detective work, and performs as well or better than alternatives on most wicked problems. The proposed model arose from our study of the development of research into ape linguistic capacities using our high-level organisational model of learning process: self-directed anticipative learning (SDAL) combined with the standard model of design process in which problem and solution are iteratively reformulated.

Bio's:

Robert Farrell holds a PhD (ANU) in Philosophy of Science, has published a well received book on Paul Feyerabend's critique of the common, too simplistic, accounts of scientific method, and 8 papers on the present research.

Cliff Hooker, PhD (Physics), PhD (Philosophy), FAHA is emeritus prof. of Philosophy at NewcastleU. he has published 150+ papers (incl. 7 of Farrell's 8 papers) and authored/edited 20+ books on foundations of physics, biology and complex systems, and on rationality, philosophy of science, applied ethics and kindred topics.

JUST PUBLISHED: Resilience and Responses to Persistent Pain

The concept of resilience is of considerable interest in clinical practice.  The resilient person shows relatively speedy recovery from a disturbance and an ability to resume their former work practices, habits and normal life.  In addition, they are able to maintain that recovery over the long-term.

The maintenance of recovery is of particular interest in patients suffering from chronic pain, since the presence of persistent pain leads to a raft of behavioural and cognitive changes all aimed at coping with the pain.  And since the pain is persistent, the adaptations are chronic, be they beneficial or not.

In a recently published study, Christie Mason, Toby Newton-John and Mick Hunter interviewed 101 patients attending a pain clinic and administered a range of self-report and assessment scales.  The scales covered areas of perceived pain intensity; attitudes to the pain; functional disability; mental health and wellbeing and available social support, as well as measures of resilience and self-reliance.

The results showed clear association between greater pain intensity and poor coping scores.  The measures of coping (scores showing fear of movement and of re-injury, evidence of catastrophising, depression and disability) were negatively associated with measures of resilience and self-efficacy.  Importantly, for this group, there was a significant positive relationship between resilience and the likelihood of the patient attending work.  However, the very strong relationship between pain intensity and depression, which explained much of the variance in a hierarchical regression of the variables, illustrates the difficulties faced by clinicians in treating these patients.

For further information, please see the following article:

Newton-John TR, Mason C, & Hunter M (2014). The role of resilience in adjustment and coping with chronic pain. Rehabilitation psychology, 59 (3), 360-5 PMID: 25019306

***Our hearty congratulations go to Christie Mason on her recent graduation with a Clinical Doctorate.***

Cognitive Psychology Group Colloquium

When: Thursday 16th October, 12-1pm
Where: Keats Reading Room, Psychology Building
 

Prof. Michael Humphreys, University of Queensland

Dr. Kerry Chalmers, University of Newcastle

Title: Episodic Memory

The distinction between episodic and semantic memory dominates most introductions to the study of human memory.  However, in practice this distinction is often ignored.  In an effort to understand whether the distinction is really important and whether it is the best way to introduce students to the study of memory we look at the history of the episodic/semantic distinction.  The object is to understand the problems the distinction addresses and to evaluate the possibility of defining episodic memory. We also consider why it is so difficult to answer questions about whether non-human animals and young children have episodic memories.

JUST PUBLISHED: A Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of an Integrated Smoking Cessation Intervention among Mental Health Patients

Depending on diagnosis and setting, between 33 and 90 per cent of people with mental illness smoke tobacco, both in Australia and worldwide. As a result, tobacco-related diseases are one of the leading causes of mortality among this population subgroup. A paucity of research to date has examined the efficacy of cessation strategies to assist people with mental illness to quit smoking. However, limited findings have suggested that aids that have been found to be effective for the general population of smokers, including counselling and nicotine replacement therapy, are also efficacious for people with mental illness. The introduction of smoke free policies within mental health inpatient settings in Australia and other countries has created an opportunity to intervene and address the health and social inequities experienced by people with acute mental illness. An admission to a smoke-free psychiatric inpatient facility, where nicotine dependence was adequately treated, has been shown to increase patient self-efficacy to make longer term changes to their smoking. However without the provision of support post discharge, preadmission smoking levels typically resume.

To assess the efficacy of integrating inpatient smoking care with community based support upon discharge, a randomised controlled trial is being undertaken across four mental health inpatient settings within the Hunter New England Local Health District, New South Wales, Australia.  All inpatients will be approached, assessed for eligibility and, if applicable, offered the opportunity to participate. All adult inpatients that smoked and had the capacity to give consent were eligible, regardless of their readiness to change or diagnosis. At the time of recruitment, participants were allocated to receive either standard hospital care or 16 weeks of support post discharge (consisting of NRT and supportive telephone calls).

As follow-up data collection is not yet complete, the outcomes of this trial have not been ascertained. However, analysis of process data suggests this project was well received by mental health inpatients; a finding that is contrary to current beliefs surrounding persons with mental illness receptivity to the offer of smoking care.  Of the 2,317 patients approached, 91% agreed to discuss smoking with the research staff and, of the eligible patients, on average 65-70% agreed to participate (N = 754). Among the participants who were eligible to receive support post discharge (n= 379), 84% opted to utilise psychosocial and/or pharmacological support in the community. These findings suggest that people with mental illness are receptive to the offer of smoking cessation care and choose to utilise such care when offered.

For further information, please see the following article:

Metse, A., Bowman, J., Wye, P., Stockings, E., Adams, M., Clancy, R., Terry, M., Wolfenden, L., Freund, M., Allan, J., Prochaska, J., & Wiggers, J. (2014). Evaluating the efficacy of an integrated smoking cessation intervention for mental health patients: Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial Trials, 15 (266), 1-7 DOI: 10.1186/1745-6215-15-266

or contact Alex Metse.