Better Thinking

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.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr. Celine van Golde about the reliability of children as eyewitnesses and how that research has informed memory for repeated crimes (such as domestic violence) in adults. Dr. Celine van Golde is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on the reliability of eyewitness memory in children and adults, both for one-off and repeated events. Specifically, how interviewing techniques in forensic settings, such as those used by police, lawyers and judges can affect memory accuracy. She gives annual guest lectures within the NSW Police Force Child Abuse Training Program, as well as advising judges and lawyers on issues related to eyewitness memory. She is further the founder and director of Not Guilty; the Sydney exoneration project, which assesses cases of potential wrongful convictions. While applying her work in in a legal context, her expertise lies within psychology. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/celine-van-goldeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Fiona Kumfor about social cognition in clinical syndromes with a focus on dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. Dr Fiona Kumfor holds a Masters of Clinical Neuropsychology from Macquarie University and a PhD in Neuroscience from University of New South Wales. She is currently an NHMRC Career Development Fellow, Associate Professor in the School of Psychology and registered Clinical Neuropsychologist with AHPRA. Combining her clinical training in neuropsychology and research expertise in cognitive neuroscience her work investigates social cognition in clinical syndromes with a focus on dementia, and aims to improve diagnosis and prognosis of dementia, while also informing neurobiological models of complex human behaviours. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/fiona-kumforSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Micah Goldwater about understanding the psychology of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories. Dr Micah Goldwater received his BA in Linguistics from the University of Rochester in 2003, completed his PhD in Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin in 2009, and then held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University until joining the University of Sydney in 2013. Dr. Goldwater's research investigates the nature, acquisition, and use of knowledge. This work focuses on how children and adults can look past the superficial to recognize when disparate situations, problems, or ideas share deep structural commonalities. He examines both basic processes of cognition and development, their underlying neural mechanisms, and develops applications to improve education and public health. To achieve these broad research goals, Dr. Goldwater investigates a number of interrelated topics such understanding the psychology of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/micah-goldwaterSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Professor Stephen Hinshaw about his work on developmental psychopathology, clinical interventions with young people and addressing mental illness stigma in the community. Stephen Hinshaw is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Department Chair from 2004-2011. He is also Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his B.A. from Harvard (summa cum laude) and, after directing school programs and residential summer camps, his doctorate in clinical psychology from UCLA, before performing a post-doctoral fellowship at the Langley Porter Institute of UC San Francisco.   His work focuses on developmental psychopathology, clinical interventions with children and adolescents (particularly mechanisms underlying therapeutic change), and mental illness stigma. He has directed research programs and conducted clinical trials and longitudinal studies for boys and—more recently—for girls with inattention and impulse-control problems (who often express many comorbid disorders), having received over $20 million in NIH funding and an equal amount in foundation funding. He has been Principal Investigator of the Berkeley site for the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA) since 1992.  He is co-director of the UCSF-UC Berkeley Schwab Dyslexia and Cognitive Diversity Center, and he directs the UCLA -UC Berkeley Awareness and Hope (stigma reduction) component of the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge. He is also co-director of the Child Teen and Family Center at the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.  Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/stephen-hinshawSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Christopher Hunt about gambling addiction, gambling treatment, and clinical phenomena observed in gambling clients. Dr Christopher John Hunt is the Senior Clinical Supervisor at the University of Sydney'sGambleAware clinics, which are responsible for co-ordinating government-funded gambling treatment throughout Central, Western and South-Western Sydney, operating out of the University's Brain and Mind Centre. Dr Hunt first began work at the University in the then-titled Gambling Treatment Clinic in early 2007. Since then, he has gained wide recognition for his work with problem gamblers. He has published work on clinical phenomena observed in gambling clients, has been asked to testify before both federal and state parliamentary committees on gambling, has been extensively quoted on gambling in local, national and international media, and has written several pieces on gambling for lay audiences. He is also responsible for co-ordinating clinical supervision to psychologists and counsellors who are working in the gambling field throughout Sydney ,and organises training seminars for mental health practitioners working in the field of problem gambling and information seminars for the general public. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/christopher-huntSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Alina Morawska about promoting positive family relationships as an early intervention tool to promote lifelong health and wellbeing. Alina Morawska is the Deputy Director (Research) at the Parenting and Family Support Centre, The University of Queensland. Her research focuses on behavioural family intervention as a means for promoting positive family relationships, and the prevention and early intervention for young children at risk of developing behavioural and emotional problems. In particular, her focus is on improving the health and overall wellbeing of children and families. She completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Queensland in 2004, for which she received the Australian Psychological Society’s Excellent PhD Thesis in Psychology Award. She has published extensively in the field of parenting and family intervention and has received numerous grants to support her research. She is a Director of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy Ltd. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/alina-morawskaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Blake McKimmie about the influence of gender-based stereotypes and the influence of different modes of evidence presentation in jury decision-making. Blake McKimmie joined the School of Psychology at UQ in 2007 having previously been a lecturer at Queensland University of Technology. Blake won a Faculty Teaching Excellence Award in 2010 and a University of Queensland Teaching Excellence Award in 2016. He led a team that won the AAUT Higher Education Teacher of the Year award in 2019, and received the edX Prize in 2018. He currently teaches a second year elective about psychology and law. His research focuses on jury decision-making including the influence of gender-based stereotypes and the influence of different modes of evidence presentation. He is also interested in group membership and attitude-behaviour relations and how group membership influences thinking about the self. He is a leading instructor of the award-winning course: CRIME101x and the PSYC1030x Introduction to Developmental, Social & Clinical Psychology XSeries Program of four courses on edX.org. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/blake-mckimmieSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Fiona White about the development of effective strategies to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion. Fiona White was awarded her PhD in 1997 by the University of Sydney. She is now a Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Sydney, and the Director of the Sydney University Psychology of Intergroup Relations (SUPIR) Lab. She is recognized internationally for advancing new and effective strategies such as cooperative contact, dual identity recategorization and perspective tacking to promote positive intergroup relations in the short- and long-term. Across her career, Fiona has published over 90 peer-reviewed publications and her work has been cited over 4000 times. One of Fiona’s most significant research contributions has been the development of the E-contact intervention, a synchronous online tool that has been found to reduce anxiety, prejudice and stigma. E-contact has been shown to successfully improve intergroup relations between: Muslims and Christians in Australia; Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland; Turkish and Kurdish peoples; people who identify as homosexual vs heterosexual; people who identify as transgender vs cisgender; and mentally healthy people and people with schizophrenia. In our technological age, and especially during a time of COVID-19 induced social distancing, Fiona’s E-contact interventions will play an increasingly significant role in advancing intergroup relations research, especially in situations where outgroup anxiety is high and/or there is continued physical intergroup separation. Her prejudice reduction research has a strong ‘intergroup’ focus, where the voices from both groups are encouraged to be expressed in an equal, cooperative interaction, that works toward achieving a common goal. In recognition of her successes Fiona has received an Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) Excellence Award and two Vice Chancellor’s awards for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring. In acknowledgement of her impact on the field of intergroup relations, she accepted a funded invitation by the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) to Washington DC, as the Australian representative, alongside nine other world leading experts, to coauthor a State of the Science paper on intergroup relations (2020). In acknowledgement of her extensive 20-years of work in the field of racism reduction, Rotary invited Fiona to give the 2022 Royce Abbey Peace Oration which was titled ‘The many forms of peace and regeneration: Promoting a prejudice-free society for all’. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/fiona-white See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Frankie Fong about overimitation and the role of social learning in the development of scientific and religious beliefs and behaviours. Dr Frankie Fong is a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Psychology at UQ. His research interests lie broadly in social learning and overimitation, with a particular focus on factors that modulate children's conformity vs eschewal of normative approaches. Frankie is actively involved in cross-cultural research and has established a fieldsite for developmental psychology research in East Malaysia. His current research focuses on the role of social learning in the development of scientific and religious beliefs and behaviours. He is also developing a series of studies that compares children's learning and perception of information conveyed across different presentation mediums (e.g., digital-screens, books and in-person). Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/frankie-fongSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.