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Read more about research projects and grants below. Papers relating to all research topics can be found on the Publications page of this site.
Judgment & Decision Making
I am interested in a range of topics broadly construed under the banner of judgment and decision making.
One strand of research examines cognitive models of multi-attribute judgment and heuristic decision making. The special issue of Judgment and Decision Making co-edited with Arndt Bröder details some of this work and provides an overview of the field. One current focus (in work with Michael Lee) is on the application of evidence-accumulation models to multi-attribute judgment (e.g., Newell & Lee, in press), and the development of hierarchical Bayesian methods for examining heuristic judgment (e.g., Lee & Newell, in press).
A second strand of research (primarily with Tim Rakow and PhD student Adrian Camilleri) is exploring the so-called ‘description-experience ‘gap’ in risky choice. The focus here is on discovering the reasons for the differences in preferences observed when participants make choices between described gambles or those learned about via experience through sampling from distributions. I guest-edited (with Tim Rakow) a special issue of the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making on this topic which appeared in January 2010.
A third strand has begun to investigate the controversial claim that complex decisions are better left to the unconscious mind. Our initial work (Newell et al., 2009) failed to find support for this notion and we are now attempting to discover some of the boundary conditions for the role of ‘unconscious thought’ in decision making.A recent paper in Social Cognition (Newell & Rakow, 2011) details some of our work in this area. Media coverage of the earlier work can be found on the News & Links page of this site.
I am also involved in work on understanding the concept of randomness (with PhD student Fiona McDonald) and on risk perception and communication, most recently with respect to climate change - see Newell & Pitman (2010) and the News & Links page of this site for more information.
Category Learning & Induction
I have two current strands of research related to understanding how we learn to categorize and make inductions.
The first strand examines the popular notion that category learning can be explained through the operation of distinct ‘implicit’ and ‘explicit’ systems. In work initiated with David Shanks and David Lagnado and continued with PhD student Megan Heffernan, we have investigated probabilistic categorization tasks in an attempt to find evidence for the operation of such separate systems. In a similar vein, work with John Dunn and Mike Kalish, is attempting to go beyond the ‘systems’ debate by utilizing a technique known as state-trace analysis to uncover the inherent dimensionality of category learning.
The second strand (with Brett Hayes) looks at induction, and specifically the mechanisms underlying induction on the basis of uncertain categorization judgments. This so-called ‘as-if’ reasoning (reasoning as-if a given judgment is true when there is uncertainty associated with it) appears to be prevalent. We are attempting to document some of the factors which affect the tendency to reason in this way.
Recent & Current Grants
Australian Research Council Future Fellowship: “Adapting cognition to a changing climate”: 2012-2015.
Australian Research Council Discovery Grant: “Exemplar-based and category-based approaches to inductive inference” (with Brett Hayes): 2012-2014.
Australian Research Council Linkage Grant: “Creating a Climate for Change” (with Brett Hayes, Stephan Lewandowsky, Marilynn Brewer, Andy Pitman, Matt England, and Chris Mitchell): 2012-2014.
Australian Research Council Discovery Grant: “Toward a unified account of adaptive decision making: learning to search stop and decide” (with Michael Lee): 2011-2013.
Australian Research Council Linkage Grant: “Reconnecting and engaging superannuation fund members” (with Ortmann, Bateman, Thorp, Dobrescu, Harrison & Wilcox): 2011-2013.
Australian Research Council Discovery Grant: “Uncovering the processes underlying human category learning” (with John Dunn & Mike Kalish): 2008-2010.
Australian Research Council Discovery Grant: “As-if thinking in categorisation, reasoning and decision making” (with Brett Hayes & Greg Murphy): 2007-2010.
Australian Research Council Discovery Grant: “Predicting the future: testing a unitary account of judgment under uncertainty”: 2005-2007.
University of New South Wales Faculty Research Grant: “Contrasting decisions from experience and decisions from description”: 2005.
University of New South Wales Faculty Research Grant: “Assessment of insight in multiple-cue judgment”: 2004.
Economic and Social Science Research Council Career Development Fellowship: 2001-2004.
Leverhulme Trust Research Grant: “Optimality and insight in human judgement and decision making” (with David Shanks): 2001-2004.
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