Social and Behavioural
Explore Social and Behavioural

Professor Danica Fink-Hafner | What Influence do Political Parties Have on Anti-democratic Trends?
The relationship between political parties and democracy is complex. Liberal thought at first didn’t even include political parties in the theory of democracy. In practice, however, factions and then parties gradually emerged. Since World War II, parties have often been seen as essential to representative democracy. Nevertheless, their role has evolved over time. During the last decade, undemocratic trends have been flourishing worldwide, raising questions about how political parties may have contributed. Some factors have been studied, but the research hasn’t been substantial or systematic.

Prof. Thea Brown | Unveiling Factors Linked to the Murder of Children by Their Parents
Filicide, where a parent or guardian kills a child, is a heinous crime. Thea Brown, Danielle Tyson and Paula Fernandez Arias from the Monash Deakin Filicide Research Hub have been studying filicide for years, to uncover common factors for future prevention initiatives.

Dr. Precious Skinner-Osei – Peter Claudius Osei | Beyond Bars: Guiding Re-entry Programs to Implement C.A.R.E.
The U.S. detains approximately 2 million individuals in prisons and jails, with 10.6 million annual bookings, mostly for short-term or pre-trial detentions. As a result, over 90% of these individuals will eventually be released, underscoring the importance of re-entry programs. Upon release, many encounter the same challenges that contributed to their incarceration, making reintegration a complex process. These challenges include navigating the labor market, preventing re-offending through counseling and education, and rebuilding family and community ties. Re-entry programs aim to address these challenges by providing services, including family reunification, employment aid, mental health support, housing, and education.

Dr Bronwyn Maree Wilson | Revealing Differences in Communication Needs within Neurodiverse Relationships
Everyone deserves to have satisfying relationships, romantic or otherwise. Communication skills are hugely important in fostering affection and connection within such relationships. However, some couples and families may have more trouble communicating than others. For ‘neurodiverse’ relationships consisting of neurotypical and autistic people, communication can be particularly difficult. Autism involves differences in social interaction and communication. However, the extent to which these differences affect adults in neurodiverse relationships is largely unknown, as the majority of autism research focuses on children. To address this, Dr Bronwyn Maree Wilson of Edith Cowan University and colleagues have conducted a study into the communication issues experienced by neurodiverse couples and families.

Dr Laurie Durel – Laure Gosselin | How Conversations Shape the Effectiveness of New Climate Policies
Climate change has become a topic of public discussion, no longer confined to scientists and politicians. Various stakeholders, including environmental NGOs and industry representatives, hold different perspectives on how to address climate change. This web of actors and ideas in a given political debate, combined with their interactions, is called a discursive field. Discursive fields influence our thinking and determine whether certain ideas gain political traction. They can enable or constrain the ability of political institutions to adopt new policies. As agreeing on efficient climate change policies becomes increasingly urgent, it is vital that we consider how discursive fields impact climate change policy.

Professor Kenneth Scheve – Professor David Stasavage | Why US Tax Policy Hasn’t Responded to Rising Inequality
Whether policymaking can develop solutions for the inevitable problems that capitalism creates has long been a concern of political economists. One of these issues is rising inequality across the USA and other countries. Inequality is a significant risk for political stability, so it is vital to understand how democratic societies respond to it. Progressive taxation policies, which tax the rich at higher rates, can help to equalize incomes and wealth. Despite this, over the last four decades while inequality has increased, successive US governments have introduced falling tax rates for top earners. Why is this?

Professor Louise Steel | Viewing Egyptian Influences in Late Bronze Age Cyprus Through a Postcolonial Lens
The role of Egyptian or Egyptian-inspired artefacts found in the East Mediterranean has long been considered by archaeologists. Some have highlighted how these objects may have conferred elite authority on their owners. More recently, analysis has been grounded in postcolonial thought, which emphasises the agency of the native population involved in the exchange of artefacts. In a recent paper, Professor Louise Steel explores the Egyptian influence in the Late Bronze Age town of Enkomi in Cyprus.

Empowering Families with FRAIT: A Transformative Public Health Tool
Family resilience is the ability of a family to respond positively to an adverse situation, and emerge from the situation feeling strengthened, more resourceful and more confident than its prior state. The family is seen as a unit, and resilience refers to the family itself rather than the individual members. Families can be confronted with a multitude of challenges at any time. Those with newborn babies and young children are particularly vulnerable to stress. In the face of economic hardship, health crises, and other unforeseen adversities, it is remarkable to see families harnessing their resilience.

Professor Jorge Dominguez | Solving the Mystery of Vanishing Undocumented Mexican Migrants
Hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants have been apprehended every year in recent years while trying to enter the US from Central American countries, including Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Mysteriously, however, the percentage of apprehended migrants from Mexico has dropped substantially. In 2004, US border patrol apprehended 1.1 million Mexicans, accounting for 9 out of 10 undocumented migrants that year. This number dropped to a low of 265 thousand in 2017 and then rose, to between 700 and 800 thousand in the early 2020s. So, what caused the number of undocumented Mexican migrants to plummet over time? Professor Jorge Dominguez recently set out to solve this mystery.

Investigating the Darker Side of AI and Its Impact on Human Relationships
Scientists are developing increasingly sophisticated systems designed to replicate human interaction, ranging from chatbots to robots that offer companionship to humans. While AI systems are useful, they also have a darker side that we do not fully grasp yet. Anne Zimmerman, Joel Janhonen, and Emily Beer recently explored the ethical implications of developing machines with increasingly human-like characteristics and deploying them in human-AI relationships.

Dr. Jill Ordynans | How Collaborative Critical Reflection Amongst Teachers is a Powerful Tool for Creating Change
The pandemic was a stressful time for both students and teachers, leading to a worldwide call for improving how education is conceptualized and carried out in schools. As a result, there is a need for more supportive and effective teacher development approaches, as the voice of teachers is vital in deciding how to move forward. In a recent study, Dr. Jill Ordynans of Touro University and colleagues investigated how critical reflection can be incorporated in collaborative teaching communities. These communities have been offered as a humanizing way to support teachers in improving education.

Dr Richard Gunton | A Pluralistic Evaluation Framework that Responds to the Complex Challenges We Face
Societies across the world are facing complex sustainability challenges. We are changing the climate, over-consuming resources, and failing to appreciate the connections between water, energy, and food systems. However, well-meaning policy responses can often produce unintended consequences and controversy, because important factors are overlooked. Many existing evaluation methods focus on accountability and whether a policy has achieved stated objectives. This does not address whether the outcomes have delivered real benefits in the eyes of all stakeholders. There is an urgent need for a more inclusive tool to shape and evaluate policies.
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