Society of Australasian Social Psychologists, 2005

Associative and Rule based Cognitive Processes in Judgment
Laura Varanelli , PhD student; Supervisor: Dr. A. Stukas

Past research (Windschitl & Wells, 1996) has found that when a judgment task was presented in verbal format, rather than numerical format, people were more susceptible to the influence of irrelevant contextual information. The researchers concluded that verbal presentations increased reliance on (relatively automatic) associative processes, whereas numerical presentations increased reliance on (relatively controlled) rule based processes. Our present aim was to provide a stronger test of Windschitl and Wells' hypothesis. We partially replicated their study but added attentional capacity as another independent variable, based on the experimentally-supported assumption that high and low capacity would induce rule based and associative processing, respectively. We predicted that low attentional capacity would increase context effects under both verbal and numerical task presentations. Alternatively, if context effects were an artefact of task presentation we would then expect verbal task presentation to increase context effects and attentional capacity to exert no effect on judgments.

Society of Australasian Social Psychologists, 2004

The effects of peer group influence on the body concerns of adolescent girls
Kathryn Gillard, Masters by Research student; Supervisor: Dr. M. Halloran

This paper presented an overview of the research that has been conducted into the combination of social factors that may lead to body image dissatisfaction and disordered eating in young women and adolescence. The aim of this research is to demonstrate that while the media appears to have a negative impact on body esteem, evidence suggests more immediate social and personal factors may contribute to developing more serious levels of body dissatisfaction. Such factors include family, peers and personality characteristics. It is identified that adolescence is not only a time when young adults are particularly sensitive to developing disordered eating patterns but also when peers can have a significant influence on each others behaviours. Two studies that may contribute to the understanding of the role of peer influence on body image during adolescence are being conducted.

Society of Australasian Social Psychologists, 2003

Identity Negotiation in Psychotherapy
Jonathan Tandos, PhD/Clinical Masters student; Supervisor: Dr. A. Stukas

Identity negotiation is the interplay between two processes: 1) behavioural confirmation, which occurs when perceivers with expectations of targets lead these targets to behave in a manner that confirms perceivers’ expectations, and 2) self-verification, which occurs when targets elicit feedback from perceivers that confirms their self-concepts, thereby encouraging perceivers to see targets as they see themselves. Identity negotiation has never before been investigated between therapists (perceivers) and clients (targets) in psychotherapy. In the current study, 15-minute audio-taped counselling sessions are conducted and analysed, using postgraduate therapist trainees and undergraduate clients. Previous research suggests that identity negotiation in a therapeutic session could be influenced by the strategy employed by the therapist, thus two strategies, diagnosis and rapport-building, are also investigated in the current study. Therapists are led to believe that their clients are either depressed or non-depressed, and asked to employ either of the two strategies. The sessions are then analysed to determine the extent to which behavioural confirmation or self-verification occurred. In this paper, the theoretical background and methodology of the study will be discussed, along with some preliminary results.