Teaching
The Science of Everyday Thinking
PSYC2371, The University of Queensland Lecturer & Course Coordinator
This course explores the nature of everyday thinking. Why people believe weird things, how to deal with opinion change, and why expectations and emotions skew our judgements. We examine and debate topics such as subliminal persuasion, paranormal phenomena, alternative medicine, placebos and miracles. Students learn how to evaluate claims, understand why we consistently make the same kinds of "irrational" mistakes, and how to make better decisions.
Judgment & Decision Making
PSYC3052, The University of Queensland
Judgement & Decision Making is an elective third-year psychology course that explores some of the most interesting cognitive phenomena of our time: expertise, brain training, cognitive illusions, methods for investigating cognitive processes, heuristics and biases, wisdom of the crowd, cognition in applied domains, optimal methods for learning, artificial intelligence, non-human cognitive feats, Eureka! moments, metacognition, and distinguishing between fact and fiction. Because the subject nature of the course includes thinking, insight, learning, expertise, deliberate practice, and so on, we have structured the course and assessment to exploit the very same concepts and practices that our students learn about.
Outreach
My love for teaching is certainly not limited to the confines of a university setting! Wherever I can, I love to take the opportunity to introduce both primary and secondary school students to basic, yet powerful cognitive principles. Whether it is through a single session or a multi-day workshop, I have found that students love to learn about how their mind sometimes plays tricks on them, how to decide what to trust, the differences between reasoning and gut feelings and more!