Effects of social comparisons on academic achievement. Influences of conflicting goals on pursuing health related behaviours. Effects of prioritisation strategies on conflict resolution and pursue of health related goals

Social comparison and academic achievement
This project will examine whether students who receive the same grade (i.e., 70%) feel more competent if they compare themselves with a student who achieves a worst grade than if they compare themselves with a students who receives a better grade. This project aims to show that the value that students place on grades is relative and depends on classmates grades. The project will also look into students interpretations of social comparisons, levels of happiness and life satisfaction.

Social comparisons, differential treatment and happiness

This project will examine how students interpret differential treatment from parents, teachers or classmates and effects of such differential treatment on happiness, motivation and psychological well being.

Effects of conflicting goals and prioritisation on pursuing health related goals

In this project we aim to develop a new measure of prioritisation that asks people classify daily activities into priority lists (high priority list, lower priority list and no priority list). The project will test (i) whether this new measure predicts health behaviours and (ii) identify factors that lead people to classify behaviours into high versus low priority lists. The idea behind this project stems from behavioural economics because the “priority lists” are equivalent to budgets (budget for necessities, luxury budget etc.).

University

The successful candidate will be based in the School of Psychology and Speech Pathology at Curtin University (http://healthsciences.curtin.edu.au/teaching/psych_home.cfm). Psychology at Curtin was ranked 4 our of 5 in the most recent Excellent in Research for Australia (ERA) exercise (corresponding to ‘Above World Ranking’) and the QS World University Rankings® by Subject list the School of Psychology and Speech Pathology in the world top 150. We have recently opened the extensive new Psychology Experimental Research Laboratories at Curtin (PERL-C), a world-class research facility located directly adjacent to our office space. Curtin University is ranked in the Top 50 Under 50, a ranking of the world’s top 50 universities established within the last 50 years, based on the highest performing young institutions in the QS World University Rankings®:
http://www.topuniversities.com/top-50-under-50/2013#sorting=rank+region=+country=+faculty=+stars=false+search=
The successful candidate will be aligned with one of the School’s research groups, which represent the key areas of research in the School (http://healthsciences.curtin.edu.au/teaching/psych_research.cfm).

Location

The university is located in Perth, Western Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth), rated the 9th most liveable city in the world (https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/18692034/perth-in-top-ten-most-liveable-cities/.

Candidates wishing to find more information about studying for a PhD at Curtin University may wish to watch the following video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B20-7RNCzo&feature=youtu.be