Survey of the nature and extent of gambling and problem gambling in the ACT

Gambling participation and expenditure • Approximately 75% of surveyed ACT residents gambled last year with nearly 36% of gamblers participating on at least a weekly basis. • The highest levels of gambling expenditure were recorded for gaming machines and lotteries. • According to latest Tasmanian Gaming Commission statistics, total gambling expenditure by ACT residents in 1999-2000 was $209m

Social value orientation and contextual cues influence cooperation and trustworthiness

The higher than predicted levels of cooperation in social dilemmas have motivated others to develop social preference models of behaviour (Dufwenberg and Kirchsteiger, 2001; Fehr and Schmidt, 1999; Rabin, 1993). However, norm-based models of behaviour in social dilemmas (Bicchieri, 2006) may complement social preference models. Six experiments examined the impact of situational cues on cooperative and trustworthy behaviour of proself and prosocial introductory psychology students within a single-play Prisoner’s dilemma or modified Trust game. Using 195 participants, the first study supported the hypotheses that prosocial participants subjectively transformed the Prisoner’s dilemma into a coordination problem and made choices based on these subjective transformations, while proself participants preferred and made choices that reflected the incentive structure of the Prisoner’s dilemma. Findings suggested that the sequential nature of the Prisoner’s dilemma promoted cooperative behaviour in prosocial participants and non-cooperative behaviour in proself participants. The finding that situational cues moderated the predictive value of social value orientation was explored in later studies. In Study 2, using 222 participants, the stimuli for selfish, cooperative, and altruistic expectations were developed for a modified Trust game in Study 3. Using 228 participants in Study 3, proselfs displayed significantly less trustworthiness, compared to prosocials, in the selfish and altruistic trust conditions. However, the difference between the two social value orientations was attenuated in the cooperative trust expectation. Study 4 removed the possibility that participants were acting differently because they did not believe they were playing against a real person. Using 218 participants, proselfs in the high immediacy condition (face-to-face) compared to the low immediacy condition (anonymous) displayed significantly more trustworthiness in response to selfish expectations. This finding suggested that expectations associated with trust and the immediacy of social influence moderated individual differences based on social value orientation. Study 5 proposed and tested a model by which expectations associated with trust activated or deactivated social norms that mediated trustworthy behaviour. Using 265 participants, this study replicated the findings of the selfish and cooperative trust condition in Study 3, although it found no significant difference in the reaction times that underlie the proposed psychological mechanisms mediating trustworthy behaviour. In the altruistic trust condition, proselfs did not significantly keep more money than prosocials, yet displayed significantly faster reaction times for the compliance construct. In the previous studies of this thesis, situational cues had impacted prosocial participants, compared to proself participants, to a lesser extent. One possible reason for this was that prosocials, when playing with an interactive other, were guided by shared expectations of equality, irrespective of the situational cues within the experiment. In Study 6, prosocial participants played against a computer, in which the computer randomised choices between the decision to cooperate and defect. With shared expectations of behaviour absent in this design, prosocial participants cooperated significantly less in a sequential Prisoner’s dilemma when their interactive partner was a computer, compared to another participant. Overall, these findings suggested that situational cues influenced proselfs and prosocials differently. Proselfs were more likely to resist the temptation to take advantage of trust if cooperative expectations were either made salient or in response to a selfish expectation from an immediately-present partner. Furthermore, the findings proposed a social norm perspective of decision making which complemented social preference models of behaviour in interdependent situations

Cooperative behaviour in a prisoners dilemma : a terror management perspective

This paper examines the terror management function of cooperative behaviour within a single-play Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD). Using 312 introductory psychology students, mortality salience significantly increased the cooperative behaviour of prosocial participants, while there was a non-significant difference in cooperative behaviour for individualistic and competitive participants. Changes in cooperative behaviour were not influenced by the ingroup or outgroup status of the other player. These findings identify cooperative behaviour for prosocials as an important behaviour that serves a terror management function

Attitudes and understanding are only part of the story : self-control, age and self-imposed pressure predict plagiarism over and above perceptions of seriousness and understanding

Although individual and socio-demographic factors are known to affect student plagiarism there is little research conducted to show how the milieu of factors interact with each other to influence plagiarism behaviour. University students (N = 891) completed surveys on several possible predictors of plagiarism and plagiarism engagement. It was found that predictors of plagiarism accounted for 22.9% of variance in student’s engagement in plagiarism behaviour. The following variables all predicted plagiarism engagement over and above students’ understanding of plagiarism and perception of plagiarism as serious: self-control, pressure from self and others to achieve high grades, age, gender, culture and study major. These findings are important as they highlight the need for interventions that target student perceptions and personal factors such as self-control

Is plagiarism really on the rise? : results from four 5-yearly surveys

Historical trends in plagiarism are often estimated by comparing survey results from a diverse range of samples, institutions, and measures. However, in multi-institution multi-method comparisons changes over time are difficult to separate from differences in methods. We assessed self-reported engagement in, awareness of, and attitudes toward seven forms of plagiarism in surveys of four comparable groups of students at the same university on four occasions over 15 years, each separated by 5 years (2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019). The new 2019 sample was 1099 students. A downward trend in plagiarism from 2004 to 2014 was not continued in 2019, with similar rates of engagement in, awareness of, and attitudes toward the seven forms of plagiarism in 2019 as in 2014. These results emphasize the need to continue efforts to detect and prevent plagiarism, and to educate academics and students about academic integrity conventions

[In Press] Self‑efficacy and self‑control mediate the relationship between negative emotions and attitudes toward plagiarism

Plagiarism is a problematic issue in universities across the globe (Curtis & Vardanega, 2016). This study explored the relationship between negative emotionality and positive attitudes toward plagiarism through the mediation of academic self-efficacy and self-control. Negative emotionality was examined as three components: stress, anxiety, and depression. Self-report surveys were completed by 454 university students to investigate the relationship between negative emotionality and positive attitudes toward plagiarism, as well as the mediating role of academic self-efficacy and self-control in this relationship. The hierarchical multiple regression found that negative emotionality significantly predicted positive attitudes toward plagiarism over and above age and gender (i.e., where male students and younger students were more likely to plagiarise). Furthermore, three mediation analyses showed that academic self-efficacy and self-control mediate the relationship between positive attitudes toward plagiarism and each component of negative emotionality. Considering these results, subsequent research should investigate whether implementing strategies that alleviate stress, anxiety, and depression could increase academic self-efficacy and self-control, which in turn, could then reduce positive attitudes toward plagiarism

Job characteristics, fatigue and motivation : is a happy and healthy worker a productive worker?

This paper outlines a research program for exploring the relationship between job characteristics, fatigue and motivation within the workplace. This research program expands upon the job demands-control model (Theorell & Karasek, 1996), taking into account individual differences in the perception of workplace stressors. Theorell and Karasek’s (1996) model claim that an active work environment leads to greater levels of learning motivation while a high strain environment leads to burnout and fatigue. The dynamic model predicts that over time learning motivation will impede feelings of burnout, and vice versa. This dynamic model of job characteristics, burnout and motivation are likely to be moderated by individual differences. This paper outlines a program of study, consisting of a two wave longitudinal sample, to test and extend the model, as they apply to secondary high school teachers. In extending this model, an important goal of this program is to investigate if motivation and fatigue is a product of the workplace environment or the personal characteristics that are brought to the workplace. Given the importance of teachers’ influence on children’s learning processes, the results of this research could aid in workplace interventions that increase teacher wellbeing and effectiveness, in addition to school-related outcomes

Can the Dunning-Kruger effect occur in the motor performance domain?

The Dunning-Kruger effect is commonly understood as the tendency of relatively poor performers to grossly overestimate their ability and performance. This effect has been observed in a number of domains for which competence is wholly dependent on domain specific knowledge (e.g., the academic domain; the medical domain). However, it is claimed that the motor performance domain is not susceptible to the Dunning-Kruger effect because competence in this domain is dependent on factors other than knowledge (e.g., physical skill). The present study aims to test this claim. Eighty-three male participants performed one trial of the hand-grip strength task using their dominant hand. They also estimated their relative ability on the task, their relative performance on the task, and their score on the task. Participants were split into quartiles based on their actual task score. For each quartile, the mean estimated ability percentile and the mean estimated performance percentile were compared to the mean actual task score percentile. Also, mean estimated task score and mean actual task score were compared across quartiles. Consistent with the typical Dunning-Kruger effect, it was found that the worst performers were the most miscalibrated and significantly overestimated themselves, whereas the best performers significantly underestimated themselves. These findings indicate that the Dunning-Kruger effect can occur in the motor performance domain. They also cast doubt on the adequacy of the “metacognitive deficit” explanation, suggesting instead that, in the motor performance domain, motivational biases and defenses play a key role in the Dunning-Kruger effect

Are knowledge-intensive service activities enablers of innovation processes? : a study of Australian software firms

The rising interest in innovation studies as indicators of industry growth has resulted in the proliferation of research unpacking the elements that enable companies to learn and to innovate (Arthur De Little, 2001; Smith, 2000). In recent years the attention has been focused on knowledge-intensive business services (KlBS) as the providers of knowledge-intensive services to both producers and suppliers of both manufacturing products or other services. Although this extensive literature, largely dominated by European countries, has been very prolific in informing the role of KlBS as organisations critical to the modern economy (Hauknes, 2000; Hales, 2000; Miles, 1999), there is limited literature on how 'the firm' engages in a process of learning that facilitates continuous product, service or process innovations. The paper hypothesises that knowledge-intensive service activities (KlSA) are critical elements of building the learning capacity in firms, and that the innovation process of the firm is linked to its capacity to engage in such activities. The paper examines knowledge-intensive service activities using Australian software firms as an example of how KlSA contributes to the innovation capacity of small firms. Surveys and in-depth interviews were conducted on fifty-four software firms in Australia and the findings discussed