PEOPLE

Luke is the director of the Personality Processes Lab and has a wide range of interests in personality psychology. He completed his PhD at the University of Queensland, postdoctoral research at the University of London, and came to the University of Melbourne in 2011. Some recent themes in his research include (a) the biological bases of personality, (b) links that personality traits have with emotion and wellbeing, and (c) how our personality influences prosocial and moral behaviour. Outside academia his interests revolve around yoga, books, bikes, travel, music, and sleeping.

Haisu's PhD investigates the underlying mechanism of two personality traits Extraversion and Neuroticism. Specifically, how these mechanisms may explain why different people behave/feel/think differently in the same situations. In her honours thesis, she examined the effects of awe on people’s pro-environmental tendencies. She is a strong advocate of the scientific aspect of Buddhism, and keen in applying Buddhist practices (e.g., meditation and not-self teaching) in clinical psychology and personality change, such as to decrease Neuroticism and increase Openness.

Hayley’s PhD asks (1) what are candidate neurobiological correlates of personality traits? and (2) what cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms underpin personality traits? Approaches used to investigate these questions include machine learning (MVPA) on resting state EEG, experimental paradigms embedded within questionnaires, and simulations and computational modelling. She has a particular interest in openness/intellect and curiosity. Hayley is co-supervised by Alan Pickering (Goldsmiths, University of London). Outside the lab, Hayley enjoys rock climbing and playing keys/flute in The Fainters.

In his PhD thesis, Tim is investigating how well "narrow" personality scales can be described by the Big Five and where a collection of such scales fit within the Big Five structure. He is undertaking this project in collaboration with Steven Ludeke (University of Southern Denmark). In his honours thesis, Tim examined whether differences in people's propensity to find a type of nonsense ("pseudo-profound bullshit") meaningful could be described by DeYoung and colleagues' (2012) Openness/Intellect Simplex. Tim formerly worked as a Senior Economic Analyst in Melbourne and London before becoming interested in personality and psychology.

Erin's PhD applies a trait-based approach to the study of moral exceptionality—i.e., the class of emotions, cognitions, and behaviours that uphold our standards of ‘rightness’, yet go beyond what’s typical or expected. She is particularly interested in the morally exceptional content of Big Five Agreeableness and Openness/Intellect, including traits below and between these domains. Dr Simon Laham (University of Melbourne) collaborates with Erin in this project. In her downtime, you will most likely find her messing around on the guitar, riding her bike, reading a book, or watching Seinfeld.

Nicholas is a PhD student investigating the individual differences in how people obscure their unethical behaviour. Nicholas will explore these differences in the context of the "meat paradox" which describes the discomfort experienced when meat eaters are made aware of the animal origins of their meat meal. His PhD is in collaboration with Dr Brock Bastian (University of Melbourne). Nicholas is often described as an "all-round-keen-guy" within psychology for his unabashed interest in all its sub-disciplines (e.g., cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, computational psychology). Outside of psychology you can find Nicholas on the basketball court shooting hoops, or off the court playing board games with friends.

Reb comes from a background in organizational behavior and positive psychology that informs his research interests in how people can live and work well. His still-developing PhD topic is likely to focus on the strategies people use to work with and/or around different aspects of their personality as they pursue personal and prosocial goals. Some of the goals he’s personally working on at the moment are mastering the appropriate use of “g’day” and other Aussie-isms in everyday conversation, finding the best coffee in Melbourne, and figuring out how to get his toddler and infant daughters to share a bedroom.

Luiza comes from a background in Biology and Neuroscience, and during her PhD she intends to uncover biological mechanisms that underlies individual differences in prosocial personality. She is particularly interested in studying how EEG neural indexes of empathic concern, moral thinking and reward processing might be related to Altruistic tendencies and Enlightened Compassion. The methodologies she will be using includes Event Related Potentials (ERP), time-frequency analysis and machine learning (MVPA). Her PhD is in collaboration with Dr Stefan Bode (University of Melbourne). Outside of the lab, Luiza spends most of her time reading books, singing, cooking and enjoying nature.