Dr Matt Williams PhD, MA, GDipArts, BBS

Contact details

• Ph: +64 9 414 0800 x43117
  Location: 3.23, School of Psychology
  Campus: Auckland

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy - Massey University (2016)
• Master of Arts - Massey University (2010)
• Graduate Diploma in Arts - Massey University (2007)
• Bachelor of Business Studies - Massey University (2006)

Certifications and Registrations

• Licence, Supervisor, Massey University

Prizes and Awards

• Massey University Vice-Chancellor's Doctoral Scholarship - Massey University (2010)
• Dean's Award for my PhD thesis. I.e., my PhD thesis, "How well do psychologists’ research methods equip them to contribute to climate change research? A methodological investigation with particular reference to the effects of temperature increase on violent behaviour", was placed on Massey University's Dean's List of Exceptional Theses for 2015. - Massey University (2015)

Research Interests

• Psychology of climate change
• Beliefs in conspiracy theories
• Meta-psychology
• Psychometrics

Thematics

Resource Development and Management, Health and Well-being

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Applied Statistics (010401):
Health, Clinical and Counselling Psychology (170106):
Mathematical Sciences (010000):
Personality, Abilities and Assessment (170109): Psychological Methodology, Design and Analysis (170110): Psychology (170100): Psychology And Cognitive Sciences (170000):
Statistics (010400)

Keywords

Climate change and psychology, mental health, conspiracy theories, statistics.

Courses Coordinated

• 175.746 Psychological Research: Quantitative Data Analysis

Graduate Supervision Statement

I no longer have any space for additional supervision in 2022. I have described my research interests below for students interested in supervision from 2023 onwards.

Metapsychology and methodology. How frequent are numeric reporting errors in published articles? How useful is preregistration? Can completing survey questions about mental health itself cause distress?

Misinformation and conspiracy theories. Why do people develop (or reject) beliefs in conspiracy theories?

Climate change. What do members of the public believe about climate change, and why? How is climate change likely to affect human behaviour?

Most of my research is quantitative, and I am a strong supporter of open science practices (e.g., preregistration, open data, open materials). I lead the Reproducible Psychology at Albany lab, where students can network with one another in a supportive environment.

Whenever possible, I prefer to work with students who have successfully completed 175.303 The Practice of Psychological Research and 175.746 Psychological Research: Quantitative Data Analysis (or equivalent courses from other institutions).

Current Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

• Jacek Cywinski - Doctor of Philosophy
  Researchers' degrees of freedom
• Andrew Dodge - Doctor of Clinical Psychology
  Generational Divide: Exploring Differences in Mental Health Literacy Across Generations of New Zealand Men
• Casey Scott-Campbell - Doctor of Philosophy
  Investigating the role of evolutionarily adaptive psychological abilities in suicide
• Sarah Kember - Doctor of Clinical Psychology
  Vaccination in Aotearoa: the role of anticipated regret, temporal discounting and maternal mental health
• Mikayla Holman - Doctor of Clinical Psychology
  A Temporal Network Analysis of Risk Factors for Suicide
• view more...
• Shoni Marshall-Edwards - Doctor of Clinical Psychology
  An investigation into the personal and professional experiences of bereaved mental health practitioners following client suicide
• Donnella De Silva - Doctor of Clinical Psychology
  The Relationship Between Self-Injury, Emotion Regulation, Self-Esteem and Self-Compassion among Tertiary Students
• Emily Cory - Doctor of Clinical Psychology
  Nonsuicidal Self-Injury and Perfectionism in Young Adults
• view less...

Co-supervisor of:

• Evan Valdes - Doctor of Philosophy
  Investigating the Cross-cultural Differences of Socio-Economic Status Markers on Categorical Thinking and Legitimizing the Status Quo
• Shaun Garea - Doctor of Philosophy
  Loot Boxes and Proximal Gambling Practices Found in Video Games

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

• 2021 - Andrew Walmsley - Doctor of Clinical Psychology
  The Right Tool for the Job: An Investigation into Men’s Help-Seeking Behaviours and Attitudes in a sample of New Zealand Construction Workers

Co-supervisor of:

• 2021 - Brooke Yelavich - Doctor of Clinical Psychology
  An Investigation of the Factors Relating to Attendance of Psychological Appointments
• 2021 - Charlotte Gibson - Doctor of Clinical Psychology
  Babies and Babble: Parents' Experiences of the Neonatal Unit and the Role of the Babble App
• 2021 - Natalija Damnjanovic - Doctor of Clinical Psychology
  The “ACT-ive” Pursuit of Loss and Gain: The Impact of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-based Intervention on Post Weight-Loss Surgery Individuals.
• 2020 - Aramis Dennan - Doctor of Clinical Psychology
  A Dominant Swipe: Does Ambivalent Sexism Impact Young Adults’ Engagement with Dating Applications?
• 2019 - Joseph Smith - Doctor of Clinical Psychology
  Network Models of Mindfulness

Media

• 29 Apr 2021 - Radio
  RNZ The Panel
  I was interviewed about our research on conspiracy theories (Marques et al., 2021) on RNZ's The Panel.
• 27 May 2021 - Television
  The Project
  Our recent research on beliefs in conspiracy theories was covered on TV3's 'The Project'. (From 12:54 in the video)
• 21 Jun 2015 - Newspaper
  New research finds connection between climate and
  An article in the Sunday Star Times entitled "New research finds connection between climate and crime" discussed my journal article "The relationship between temperature and assault in New Zealand".
• 01 Dec 2016 - Online
  Interview:"Who Cares? What's the point?" (podcast)
  I was interviewed on Sarb Johal's "Who cares? What's the point?" podcast, with the episode focusing on my research on climate change and human aggression.
• 01 Dec 2016 - Online
  Interview: "Who cares? What's the point?" podcast
  My research on climate change and assault resulted in an interview on Sarb Johal's "Who cares? What's the point?" podcast. The interview was subsequently covered on sciblogs.co.nz, which is New Zealan

Other Links

• Personal website