Dr Sue Watt
Senior Lecturer, School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences
Qualifications
Ph.D. University of Western Australia; B.Sc. (Honours) University of Western Australia; B.A. (Honours) University of Western Australia
Contact
| Email: | sue.watt@une.edu.au |
| Room: | Psychology (S6) Room 16 |
| Phone: | 02 6773 2153 (or +61 2 6773 2153 overseas) |
| Fax: | 02 6773 3820 |
Areas of Teaching
PSYC 200 Social Psychology (Co-ordinator & Presenter)
PSYC 401H Reading course: Prejudice in modern western society (Co-ordinator & Presenter)
Research interests
I conduct research into several different topics in social psychology. My main interests are in stereotypes and prejudice, and immigrants' adjustment.
In stereotypes and prejudice, I have studied how stereotypes form and how they can be changed, and am particularly interested in the underlying reasons for prejudiced attitudes. A practical application of this research is in interventions to reduce prejudice. I have recently focused on the false consensus effect in prejudice, where we have found that prejudiced people experience an exaggerated sense that others agree with their views. In migrant adjustment I am currently exploring the effects of acceptance or rejection in the host community on immigrants' adjustment. In particular, I am interested in how immigrants establish new social networks in their new community, and effects of this on their adjustment. I have also investigated group dynamics on the Internet, and maintain an interest in this field of research.
Representative Publications
Watt, S. E., & Larkin, C. (In press). Prejudiced people perceive more community support for their views: The role of own, media and peer attitudes in perceived consensus. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. Accepted June 2008.
Watt, S. E., & Badger, A. (2009). Effects of social belonging on homesickness: An exploration of the belongingness hypothesis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(4), 516-530.
Pedersen, A., Griffiths, B., & Watt, S. E. (2009). Attitudes toward outgroups and the perception of consensus: All feet do not wear one shoe. Journal of Community and Applied Psychology, 18(6), 543-557.
Maio, G.R, Haddock, G., Watt, S.E., & Hewstone, M. (2008). Implicit measures in applied contexts: An illustrative example of antiracism advertising. In R. Petty, R. Fazio & P. Brinol (Eds.) Attitudes: Insights from the Implicit Measures (pp. 327-357). Psychology Press: New York.
Watt, S. E., Maio, G. R., Haddock, G., & Johnson, B. T. (2008). Attitude functions in persuasion: A motives approach to attitude change. In B. Crano & R. Prislin (Eds.), Attitudes and Attitude Change (pp.189-211). Frontiers of Social Psychology Series. Psychology Press: New York.
Lea, M., Spears, R., & Watt, S. E. (2007). Visibility and anonymity effects on attraction and group cohesiveness. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 761-773.
Watt, S. E., Maio, G. R., Rees, K. J., & Hewstone, M. (2007). Functions of Attitudes Towards Ethnic Groups: Effects of Level of Abstraction. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 441-449.
Pedersen, A., Watt, S., & Griffiths, B. (2007). Prejudice against asylum seekers and the fear of terrorism: The importance of context. In V.Colic-Peisker & F.Tilbury (Eds)., Settling in Australia: The social inclusion of refugees (pp.38-55). Centre for Social and Community Research, Murdoch University, Perth.
Pedersen, A., Griffiths, B., Watt, S. E., & Dudgeon, P. (2006). Attitudes toward indigenous Australians: The issue of "special treatment". Australian Psychologist, 41(2), 85-94.
Pedersen, A., Watt, S. E., & Hansen, S. (2006). The role of false beliefs in the community's and the federal government's attitudes toward Australian asylum seekers. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 41(1), 105-124.
Maio, G. R., Watt, S. E., Rees, K. J., & Hewstone, M. (2003). Attitude properties and reactions to anti-racism messages: the unique effect of ambivalence. Paper presented at the Attitude change and strength-related attitude properties: Cognitive mechanisms of influence. Symposium at the annual meeting of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Watt, S. E., Lea, M., Spears, R., & Rogers, P. (2002). How social is internet communication? Anonymity effects in computer-mediated groups. In S. Woolgar (Ed.) Virtual Society? technology, cyberbole, reality (pp. 61-77). Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Spears, R., Postmes, T., Lea, M., & Watt, S. E. (2000). A SIDE view of social influence. In J. P. Forgas & K. D. Williams (Eds.), Social influence: Direct and indirect processes. (pp. 331-350). Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
Lea, M., Spears, R., Watt, S. E., & Rogers, P. (2000). The INSIDE story: Social psychological processes affecting on-line groups. In T. Postmes, R. Spears, M. Lea & S. D. Reicher (Eds.), SIDE issues centre stage: Recent developments in studies of de-individuation in groups. (pp. 47-62). Amsterdam: Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie vsn Wetenschappen
Supervision Areas
Stereotype formation and change
Effects of advertisements on attitudes
Measures of implicit attitudes/personality
Migrant adjustment