Teaching

Legacy Teaching

PSYC3302 Psychological Measurement and its Applications

This unit introduces students to the theoretical and practical underpinnings of psychological measurement. Topics covered include the theoretical and empirical bases of reliability and validity, classical and contemporary approaches to reliability and validity, test biases, responses biases, item response theory, and applications of psychological measurement to intelligence and personality assessment. Teaching is by lectures (12×2 hours) and laboratory classes (12×2 hours). Evaluation is by laboratory report (25%), SPSS Lab Exam (25%), and final exam (50%).

Lectures

  1. Week 1: Part I. The Importance of Psychological Measurement. Part II. Scaling.
  2. Week 2: Individual Differences and Correlation.
  3. Week 3: Part I. Reliability: Theoretical Basis. Part II. Reliability: Empirical Estimates.
  4. Week 4: Reliability: Importance for Psychological Measurement.
  5. Week 5: Validity: Theoretical Basis.
  6. Week 6: Part I. Factorial Validity. Part II. Estimating Convergent and Discriminant Validity.
  7. Week 7: Psychometric Barriers I: Response Biases.
  8. Week 8: Psychometric Barriers II: Test Biases.
  9. Week 9: Intelligence and its Assessment.
  10. Week 10: Personality and its Assessment.
  11. Week 11: Item Response Theory.

PSYC3310 Specialist Topics in Psychology

This unit focuses on providing students with the opportunity to learn about and perform research in a specialist topic area of psychology. Teaching is by seminars (10×2 hours) and tutorials (10×2 hours) which are delivered to a small class of between 20–30 students. Evaluation is by small scale research project report (60%), research proposal (15%), ethics application (5%), class participation and informal group presentation (10%), and formal group presentation (10%). I have delivered topics in this unit spanning a wide range of areas including: Principles of Short-term and Episodic Memory, Psychology and Climate Change, and Political Psychology. For the past few years I have delivered a topic on Behavioural Economics.

Seminars

  1. Week 1: Unit Outline and Topic Overview.
  2. Week 2: Introduction to Behavioural Economics. [Readings]
  3. Week 3: Decision Making Under Certainty. [Readings]
  4. Week 4: Judgement Under Risk and Uncertainty. [Readings]
  5. Week 5: Decision Making Under Risk and Uncertainty. [Readings]
  6. Week 6: Mental Accounting. [Readings]
  7. Week 7: Intertemporal Choice. [Readings]
  8. Week 8: Social Preferences. [Readings]
  9. Week 9: Game Theory. [Readings]
  10. Week 10: Happiness and Utility. [Readings]

PSYC2212/3312 Psychology and Social Behaviour

This unit examines the factors that influence psychological functioning in a social environment. The unit considers some of the latest theories, research and applications in areas such as attitudes, stereotyping and prejudice, relationships, altruism and social groups. Teaching is by seminars (13×2 hours) and laboratory classes (5×2 hours). Evaluation is by laboratory class participation (10%), two laboratory reports (20% each), and final exam (50%). I deliver a guest lecture and laboratory class on the Behavioural Economics of Social Preferences.

Current Teaching

PSYC201 Cognitive Psychology

  1. Week 6a: Cognitive Psychology of Misinformation
  2. Week 6b: Cognitive Psychology of Climate Change
  3. Week 7a: Short-Term Memory for Serial Order
  4. Week 7b: Theories of Serial Order
  5. Week 8a: Free recall and Memory Search
  6. Week 8b: Models of Free Recall
  7. Week 9a: Standard Economic Model
  8. Week 9b: Prospect Theory and Preference Reversals
  9. Week 10a: Judgemental Heuristics and Biases
  10. Week 10b: Two Systems of Judgement and Decision Making?

PSYC204 Experimental Research Methods

  1. Week 1: Experimental Research Design
  2. Week 2: Between-Participants Designs
  3. Week 3: Within-Participants Designs
  4. Week 4: Factorial Designs

PSYC214 Statistics for Group Comparisons

  1. Week 6: Introduction to Factorial Designs and Interactions [Lab]
  2. Week 7: Two-Factor Between-Participants ANOVA [Lab]
  3. Week 8: Two-Factor Mixed and Within-Participants ANOVA [Lab]
  4. Week 9: Three-Factor ANOVA [Lab]