Lauren Shaw

Dr Lauren Shaw is the coordinator of the external (online) 4th year psychology programs at James Cook University. An enthusiastic educator, with a unique ability to synthesise and convey complex information in a simple, personable and straightforward manner, Lauren is passionate about providing a high-quality, transformative learning experience to students from all walks of life.

Lauren has taught and managed 4th year psychology programs at several Australian universities and through her previous roles, has developed and taught applied social and organisational psychology programs for a range of industry clients (e.g., Queensland Public Service Commission; Australian Army). Lauren adopts an experiential approach to education, where she crafts hands-on activities that provides students’ space to inquire and reflect on their own thought processes and behaviour. She has supervised over 70 4th year psychology research projects to completion since 2016.

Lauren’s research sits at the intersection of social, forensic, organisational and educational psychology, exploring individual difference and social-psychological predictors of non-clinical aggression and antisocial behaviour. She completed her PhD on social-cognitive predictors of driver aggression at Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety-Queensland (CARRS-Q) in 2016 and since then, has expanded her research to explore social-cognitive predictors of antisocial behaviour in workplaces, social media and in online learning. In doing so, she has paid particular attention to the role of narcissism and is interested in exploring differences in the manifestation of narcissistic aggression between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. An accomplished public speaker, Lauren has presented her research findings on several media outlets, including The Project, Chanel 7 news, and local ABC radio stations throughout Australia.