Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences
Psychology has been taught at the university since the late 1800s. Today, the Psychological Sciences contains one of the largest departments of psychology in Australia, offering a diversity and quality of undergraduate and postgraduate programs unrivalled in this country. The school’s teaching is underpinned by excellence in research across a range of fields, including cognitive and behavioural neuroscience, quantitative psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology and clinical science.
Upcoming Event
Upcoming Conference
Nov 29 & 30 - 11th Australian Conference for Personality and Individual Differences (ACPID)
Bulletin Board
Psychological Sciences has been very successful in this year's national competitive grant funding schemes, with almost $4 million dollars in research funds from the ARC and NHMRC.
Congratulations to the following academic staff from the department for obtaining ARC and NHMRC grants (along with researchers from other university departments and external universities):
ARC Discovery Grants ($2,394,446 in total):
- Professor Nick Haslam ($339,446): Humans as animals and objects: the psychology of dehumanisation.
- Dr Dan Little ($245,000): Feature processing in categorisation: modelling the time course of perceptual decision making.
- Dr Dan Little ($$765,000): From fluid intelligence to crystallised expertise: an integrative Bayesian approach (along with Professor Stephan Lewandowsky; and Associate Professors Thomas Griffiths & Adam Sanborn).
- Associate Professors Neil McLachlan & Sarah Wilson ($180,000): From sound to hearing: the integration of behavioural, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging research with computational models.
- Professor John Trinder, Dr Amy Jordan, & Dr Christian Nicholas ($255,000): Common synaptic inputs to human upper airway muscles (along with Dr John Semmler).
- Professors Nick Allen & John Trinder, & Dr Paul Dudgeon ($280,000): Early puberty and brain development: exploring the neurobiology of adolescent mental health (along with Dr Sarah Wittle; Professors George Patton, Chris Pantelis, and Stephen Wood; and Associate Professor Craig Olsson).
- Professor Pip Pattison ($330,000): New models and analyses for social networks and criminological careers (along with Professors Murray Aitkin & Brian Francis).
NHMRC Project Grants ($1,586,374 in total):
- Professor Nick Allen & Dr Paul Dudgeon ($865,304): The GOOD NIGHT project: A sleep intervention to prevent depression and improve cardiac health in adolescence (along with Associate Professor Greg Murray; and Professors Ron Dahl & Anna Marsland).
- Dr Amy Jordan & Professor John Trinder ($326,250): The role of lung volume in the pathogenesis and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.
- Associate Professors Sarah Wilson & Neil McLachlan ($394,820): Signals and noise: a study of the neurocognitive mechanisms underpinning habituation to noise in normal and damaged hearing.
On August 18 Psychological Sciences hosted the 2011 Brotherton Lecture by Stanford University’s Professor Carol Dweck. The lecture, on “Mindsets: Understanding Motivation and Achievement,” explored Professor Dweck’s research on the many implications of fixed and growth mindsets, and how a growth mindset can be fostered. To access a podcast of the lecture, go to: Carol Dweck lecture.
On June 1 Psychological Sciences and Australian Unity co-hosted a public lecture by renowned Harvard University psychologist Professor Ellen Langer. Entitled "Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility", the lecture explored Professor Langer's groundbreaking work on mindfulness and its implications for health, wellbeing and aging. To access a podcast of the lecture, go to: Langer lecture.