Dr Simon Moss is a senior lecturer at Monash University. His primary research interest concerns how characteristics of organizations and societies, such as leadership, influence the psychological processes of individuals, such as their mood, creativity, intuition, engagement, honesty, and altruism. He is an author of “The Science of Management: Fighting fads and fallacies with evidence-based practices”.
Dr Moss is also a cofounder of Zenith Professional Development, a company that has collated every scientific discovery that contradicts prevailing management beliefs and practices. Using this database, he has developed a tool that identifies misconceptions in management. In addition, he has presented training programs to all levels of management—across a broad range of industries—that are designed to redress these misconceptions.
Ann Davidson is a clinical and forensic psychologist specialising in the assessment and treatment of mentally disordered offenders and the related issues of trauma, offending, and violence risk assessment.
Dr Davidson combines a small private practice with employment at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health (Victoria, Australia) in the rehabilitation unit of Thomas Embling Hospital. Her research interests include the intergenerational transmission of psychological sequelae of trauma, the role of trauma disclosure in psychological well-being, and the experience and treatment of traumatic stress in mentally-disordered homicide offenders. Prior to becoming a psychologist, Ann also worked in corrections, secondary school education, and corporate training.
Karyn Riddle is an Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She joined the department in the Fall of 2007.
Karyn received her undergraduate degree in Advertising with a minor in French from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1996. After graduation, Karyn worked in the media planning department of DDB Chicago for 5 years. She planned and executed national advertising campaigns for clients such as Betty Crocker Desserts, Hamburger Helper, Golden Grahams, JCPenney, FTD Flowers, and Lands’ End. She also contributed to the media plan for a successful new business pitch for Dell computers.
In 2001, Karyn left DDB Chicago and headed west to the University of California, Santa Barbara. She obtained her MA and PhD from the Department of Communication, focusing on the effects of exposure to media violence. During her time at UCSB, Karyn presented at numerous national and international conferences, receiving a top three student paper award from the Mass Communication Division of NCA in 2006. Her dissertation advanced a recent line of research attempting to provide a psychological explanation for the effects postulated by cultivation theory.
Currently, Karyn teaches classes related to her professional experience (e.g., Strategic Media Planning, Strategic Communication Campaigns) as well as classes related to her research interests (e.g., Mass Media and Youth, Effects of Mass Communication). One of her current research projects focuses on children’s fear responses to the mass media, with an emphasis on frightening images of violence and conflict in the broadcast news. She is also studying adults’ long-term memories for childhood exposure to violent and frightening entertainment media. Karyn is interested in understanding the differential effects of repeat exposure to mundane, sanitized violence versus exposure to one or a few highly memorable, vivid portrayals of graphic violence. She is also developing a scale for measuring long-term memories of everyday exposure to the mass media.
Karyn lives in Madison with her husband Mike and son Owen.
My research focuses on understanding how and why entertainment media influence individuals. I am also interested in how interactions with others, during or after TV exposure, can change the viewing experience and enhance positive and/or negative outcomes. Much of my research has focused on young people and developmental differences in media effects. For instance, I have conducted several studies on children’s emotional reactions to news and entertainment programming as well as age-related differences in parents’ use of coping strategies to alleviate their child’s TV news induced fears. My most recent research aims to explain the prosocial effects of entertainment television content. For example, I am currently looking at the effects of entertainment-education television on young adults’ risky sexual behavior and related discussions with others.
My teaching interests are very closely aligned with my research. I enjoy teaching classes on media effects, children and media, research methods, and others. In particular, I appreciate the fresh perspective that students often bring to the content. Overall, my approach to teaching focuses on helping students understand communication concepts, research, and theories in a way that is relevant to their everyday lives and careers.
When I’m not in the classroom or working on research I am a bit of a media junkie as well as a nature lover. I love movies, live music, and television and often come up with new research ideas while using media. I also enjoy spending time outdoors, especially hiking in the mountains.
Authors
Titles with Aresta: The Negative Side of Positive Thinking
Titles with Aresta: 
