Dr Adelma Hills
Biography
I have been a university lecturer in psychology since 1991, coming to it a little later in life after careers first in accounting, then later in acting. Diversity is good, so they say, and my psychology career has been well served by this diversity. Scholarly interests have revolved around nonrational processes (emotion and motivation, values and meaning) particularly as applied to our relationship with the natural world, and also to aspects of moral reasoning. Perhaps my most compelling interest is in consciousness, but it is so hard to study. Recent research with my PhD student, looking at meditation and directed attention fatigue, has started me nibbling around the edges of consciousness.
My teaching area is much more mundane: research methods and statistics, although this is well suited to e-learning for which I have great enthusiasm.
In recent years most of my energy has been directed toward School administration as Associate Head of School (Academic), and currently as Deputy Dean.
Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise
Research methods and statistics, values and meaning, emotion and motivation, meditation and attention
Grants / Current Projects
Depression Intervention Program in Residential Aged Care Facilities
Researchers: Covic, T, Hills A, Crino R, Correia, H.
Funding Body: Bankstown GP Division
Period: 2009
Publications
Book
Hills, A. M. (2010). Foolproof guide to statistics using PASW. Frenchs Forest, Sydney: Pearson Education Australia.
Hills, A. M. (2008). Foolproof guide to statistics using SPSS (3rd ed.). Frenchs Forest, Sydney: Pearson Education Australia.
Book chapter
Hills, A. M. (2002). Empathy and offender behaviour: The motivational context. In G. B. Traverso & L. Bagnoli (Eds), Psychology and law in a changing world: New worldwide trends in theory, practice and research. London: Harwood Academic Publishers.
Journal articles
Hills, A. M., & Dickerson, M. (2002). Emotion, implicit decision making, and persistence at gaming. Addiction, 97, 598-599.
Hills, A. M., Hill, S., Mamone, N., & Dickerson, M. (2001). Induced mood and persistence at gaming. Addiction, 96, 1629-1638.
Campfield, K. M., & Hills, A. M. (2001). Effect of timing of Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) on posttraumatic symptoms. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 14, 327-340.
Dear, G. E., Thomson, D. M., & Hills, A. M. (2000). Self-harm in prison: Manipulators can also be suicide attempters. Criminal Justice and Behaviour, 27, 160-175.
Hills, A. M., & Lalich, N. (1998). Judgments of cruelty toward animals: Sex differences and effect of awareness of suffering. Anthrozo's, 11, 142-147.
Hills, A. M. (1996). Motivational bases of the human relationship with the natural environment. In M. A. Groves & S. Wong (Eds.), Design for people (pp. 67-78). Sydney: People and Physical Environment Research.
Hills, A. M. (1995). Empathy and belief in the mental experience of animals. Anthrozo's, 8, 132-142.
Hills, A. M. (1993). The motivational bases of attitudes toward animals. Society and Animals, 1, 111-128.
Conferences
Hills, A. M. (2003, April). Emotional experience: Testing predictions from reversal theory. Paper presented at the 32nd annual meeting of the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists, Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia.
Hills, A. M. (2000, October). Rediscovering emotion: Psychophysiology and conscious experience. Paper presented at the thirty fifth Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Dickerson, M., Hills, A. M., Shepherd, L., Hill, S., & Mamone, N. (2000, June). Psychological processes associated with impaired control of gambling behaviour. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Gambling and Risk-Taking, Las Vegas, Nevada.
