Better Thinking

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Nick Haslam about “concept creep” in the field of psychology and how it has reshaped many aspects of modern society. Nick Haslam is Professor of Psychology at the University of Melbourne. He received his BA(Hons) from the University of Melbourne, his MA and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, and taught at the New School for Social Research in New York City before returning to Australia in 2002. Nick's research interests are in personality, social and clinical psychology and he has published 11 books and about 300 articles or book chapters in these and related areas. In addition to his academic writing, Nick contributes regularly to The Conversation, Inside Story and Australian Book Review, and he has also written for TIME, The Monthly, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Australian and two Best Australian Science Writing anthologies. Nick is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Association for Psychological Science. At his university Nick is a leader in the social psychology group and co-director of the Mental Health PhD program. In the past he has been Head of the School of Psychological Sciences, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Graduate), a member of the ARC College of Experts, and President of the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/nick-haslamSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Janet Hall about user-friendly strategies offering practical solutions to sexual and relationship issues. Dr. Janet Hall is a retired psychologist of 40 years and still working as a, hypnotherapist, sex therapist, author, professional speaker, trainer, and media consultant. Dr Jan consults regularly with print media and is a frequent guest on talk-back radio and current affairs shows. Dr Jan was a regular for two years on the Sex Life television program in Australia. Dr Jan user-friendly strategies offer practical solutions to sexual and relationship issues making her knowledge accessible for all. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/janet-hallSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Rebecca Collie about promoting and understanding educational settings to help both teachers and student thrive. Rebecca Collie is a Scientia Associate Professor of Educational Psychology in the UNSW School of Education. She conducts research in the areas of motivation, wellbeing, and social-emotional development using quantitative research methods. Her research also encompasses related factors such as adaptability, engagement, interpersonal relationships, and achievement. She examines predictors and outcomes of these different factors among children, youth, and adults in educational settings. Broadly speaking, her research aims to identify how to best support and promote social, emotional, and academic/occupational thriving among students and teachers. Rebecca has been awarded over $1M in national and international grants, and government and non-government research tenders. Her publications include 80+ peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters, 1 co-edited book, along with over 25 publications for professional audiences. Her research features regularly in print and online media articles and podcasts, and she has delivered invited/keynote presentations to academic, community, and educational organisations. Her work has been recognised with several honours including an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship (2020-2023), the Richard E. Snow Award for Early Career Research Contributions from the American Psychological Association Division 15 (2021), and the Outstanding Early Career Scholar Award from the American Educational Research Association Division C (2020). Prior to that, she was awarded the Young Scientist Award from the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (2018), and Outstanding Reviewer for the American Educational Research Journal (2016). She is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology, Consulting Editor of Educational Psychology, and an Editorial Board Member for Learning and Instruction, Teaching and Teacher Education, Social Psychology of Education, Educational and Developmental Psychologist, and Theory into Practice. She has held Visiting Research Fellowships at the University of Oxford, Université Laval, and the University of British Columbia. She completed her doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia in Canada, and previously worked as a primary school teacher in Melbourne. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/rebecca-collieSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Paul Fitzgerald about the development of novel brain stimulation treatment options including repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for patients with depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, PTSD, autism and Alzheimer’s disease. Paul Fitzgerald is the Head of the School of Medicine and Psychology at the Australian National University. He is a qualified psychiatrist, has a MBBS degree, Masters of Psychological Medicine and research PhD from Monash University. He has conducted an extensive range of more than 20 clinical trials, especially focussed on the development of novel brain stimulation treatment options including repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for patients with depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, PTSD, autism and Alzheimer’s disease. He has had continual NHMRC grant support for over 20 years and over $10 million in research support in the last 5 years. He has published several books, over 500 journal articles and been cited over 20,000 times. He has established multiple clinical rTMS services, founded several device and clinical service companies and the first rTMS training program in Australia. He led a national application to the Department of Health at the Federal Government level and this resulted in Medicare funding $283 million in year 1 of rTMS therapy for patients with depression in 2021. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/paul-fitzgeraldSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Divna Haslam about child maltreatment and the findings of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study, which conducted the first prevalence data of child maltreatment in Australia. Dr Divna Haslam is a clinical psychologist and family researcher based in the Faculty of Law at Queensland University of Technology, working in the area of childhood adversity. She holds an adjunct appointment at the Parenting and Family Support Centre at the University of Queensland where she conducts parenting-related work and research supervision. The overarching theme of her research is how to best ensure all children have the opportunity to thrive and have safe, loving, non-violent childhoods. This has spanned clinical intervention development and evaluation of evidence-based behavioural family interventions (Triple P), specific work with families in different contexts (e.g., working parents, parents across different cultures), and epidemiological and population health in Australia and parenting in China. Her work uses a population health perspective with a prevention focus. As an academic she has over >60 published peer-reviewed papers primarily in Q1 journals as well as invited chapters and a range of clinical resources including a number of clinical and research instruments including the Work and Family Conflict Scale and the Guilt About Parenting Scale and the Workplace Triple P Program. she has received $>1.7 million in external research funding. She has substantial experience in consulting with various governments (eg Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the UK) about the implementation of evidence-based parenting programs and more recently about the identification and prevention of child maltreatment and other childhood adversity. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/divna-haslamSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Helen Joyce about the complexities society faces with trying to support and understand transgender people’s experiences while also trying to preserve commonly held societal rules.  Helen Joyce is an Irish journalist and critic of the transgender rights movement. She studied as a mathematician and worked in academia before becoming a journalist. Joyce began working for The Economist as education correspondent for its Britain section in 2005 and has since held several senior positions, including finance editor and international editor. She is the author of Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, which was named as one of the books of the year in 2021 by the Observer, Spectator and Times. It analyses the recent trend towards sidelining biological sex in favour of self-declared “gender identity”. The Sunday Times praised it as a “searing and at times devastating analysis”, and the New York Times as an “intelligent, thorough rejoinder to an idea that has swept across much of the liberal world seemingly overnight”. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/helen-joyceSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Jodie Fleming about understanding chronic illness management to finding values during difficult times. Dr Jodie Fleming is a Clinical and Health Psychologist; Positive Psychology Practitioner; Australia’s only certified Run Walk Talk Therapist; author, and wellness retreat leader. Jodie has an extensive history of working in the areas of mental health and chronic illness, but currently enjoys working as a School Psychologist in Warrnambool, and running her private practice, The Psychology of It.  Her latest venture as co-director of Being Well Collective is where Jodie truly thrives, having turned a career into a calling, helping humans flourish, in collaboration with one of her favourite humans, Eve Drew.  Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/jodie-fleming Links: Dr Jodie Fleming of The Psychology of It (website)Being Well CollectiveA Hole in My Genes (book)@drjodiefleming (social media)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Ilan Dar-Nimrod about the effects of perceived genetic aetiology for various phenomena. Dr. Ilan Dar-Nimrod is an Associate Professor at the School of Psychology, University of Sydney. Ilan has completed his BA with a double major at Haifa University and his MA and PhD (social psychology) at the University of British Columbia. Ilan’s main research focus is social cognition – the manner in which our social world affects our cognition. Within this focus, he concentrates on understanding how a deeply rooted psychological mechanism – Psychological Essentialism – is involved in categorising people into groups, leading to a host of effects on people’s beliefs, emotions, and behaviours. In addition to this main line of research, he maintains ongoing research foci on a number of topics, such as existential social and clinical psychology, sexuality, gender psychology, and the psychology of religion. His research on this topic appeared in myriad of prestigious journals, such as Science, Psychological Bulletin, Nature Human Behaviour, and Genetics in Medicine. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/ilan-dar-nimrodSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Professor Kristie Miller about the nature of time, perspectives of time, and temporal experience. Professor Kristie Miller took up an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Queensland in Jan of 2006. In July of that 2006 Prof Miller moved to Sydney with the grant and in January of 2009 she was awarded a University of Sydney DVC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Since 2011, Prof Miller has been a Senior ARC Research Fellow and is currently joint Director of the Centre for Time. Prof Miller joins me today to discuss the nature of time, perspectives of time, how we make decisions and some fascinating empirical finding she has worked on. I really enjoyed this discussion as it stretched my mind and raised lots of questions for me to continue considering in my therapy and also in myself. Hope you enjoy the conversation. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/kristie-millerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Alexander Holcombe about the replication crisis, trust in science, and the causes of the replication crisis. Alex Holcombe is a professor at the University of Sydney, who received his PhD in psychology from Harvard University in 2000. He has a strong interest in improving scientific practices and has been involved in the Association for Interdisciplinary Meta-research and Open Science, the Free Journal Network, PLoS ONE, the WikiJournal of Science, and the creation of the tenzing.club web app to promote scientific collaboration. As well as doing meta-science, Alex conducts psychology experiments on topics such as how humans keep track of moving objects. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/alexander-holcombeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.