Professor Tom Denson
Professor
Ph.D., Social Psychology, 2007
M.A., Social Psychology, 2004
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
M.A., Research Psychology, 2002
California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
B.A., Psychology and Germanic Languages and Literature, 1997
University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
Science
School of Psychology
I am a Professor in the School of Psychology at UNSW. I am an experimental social-personality psychologist. My primary research focus is on the causes, consequences, and prevention of anger-driven aggression.
Anger and aggression are serious problems throughout the world. The research in my lab has helped us understand the causes of these phenomena and how they can be regulated. My students, international and domestic collaborators and I attack the problem from behavioral and biological perspectives. Our lab has investigated anger and aggression between strangers, romantic partners, and physical and sexual aggression toward women.
My lab has also studied alcohol-related aggression. We are at the forefront of discovering brain systems involved in alcohol-related aggression with the help of a 3-year grant from the Australian Research Council.
I received my PhD in 2007 from the University of Southern California took a tenure-track position as a Lecturer (US Assistant Professor equivalent) at the School of Psychology. I have won several awards for my research and teaching including the Association for Psychological Science’s ‘Rising Star’ Award, the NSW Young Tall Poppy Science Award, and the Society for Australasian Social Psychologists’ Early Career Researcher Award. I am a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and a Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Since 2009, I have received approximately $6.0 million in funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). I was an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Fellow and ARC Future Fellow. I have published over 100 articles and book chapters. I serve as an Officer for the International Society for Research on Aggression. https://www.israsociety.com/
E-mail
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2021-2023 Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP200101845), Toward an understanding of whether and how humility reduces anger. AUD$308,404. Harmon-Jones, E., Harmon-Jones, C., Denson, T. F., & Schmeichel, B.
2018 Awarded Fellow Status in the Society for Personality and Social Psychology for “longstanding contribution to SPSP and the field of Personality and Social Psychology”.
2016 University of New South Wales Postgraduate Supervisor Award, University-wide, student-nominated award.
2015 University of New South Wales, Science Faculty Staff Excellence in Teaching Award, AUD$1,500 (Based on student evaluation scores).
2015 Elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science
2012 Winner New South Wales Young Tall Poppy Science Award
2012 Society of Australasian Social Psychologists’ Early Career Award
2011 Association for Psychological Science “Rising Star”
2009 University of New South Wales, Science Faculty Staff Excellence in Research Award, AUD$1,500
2009 University of New South Wales, Australian Psychological Society’s Most Outstanding Lecturer in Psychology (UNSW) Award. Voted on by Bachelor of Psychology and Honours students. This was the first year the award was offered.
My work has appeared in high-profile international media. I have also discussed my research in Australian television and radio.
I have authored 5 articles on aggression for The Conversation, which attracted over 275,000 readers.
I am an Associate of the Australian Human Rights Institute.