The award is made annually to assist students enrolled in accredited fourth year or Masters by Coursework programs in Psychology in carrying out empirical projects in peace-related areas. Projects are judged on their scientific merit and their potential contribution to theory or practice in the peaceful resolution of conflict, understanding and preventing aggressive behaviour, and fostering harmonious relationships, whether at global, inter-group or individual levels.
This year there were six applicants for PFP's Peace Project Award offered. As stipulated in the guidelines, selection of a winner was undertaken by a panel of three judges (academics) from different states in Australia.
We are pleased to announce that this year's winner is Irene Giaprakis from the School of Psychological Science at La Trobe University. Her Honours research entitled The contribution of emotional intelligence and its components in the prediction of forgiveness is supervised by Professor Eleanor Wertheim.
The judges acknowledged the high calibre of all applications, and thank commended all the students for their research efforts on topics relevant to "Peace".
Project Summary
The Contribution of Emotional Intelligence and its Components in the Prediction of Forgiveness
Although we gain comfort and support in our interactions with others, the interpersonal context is also a forum where transgressions and conflict inevitably arise. One way of overcoming such difficulties is by forgiving a transgressor. Some people are more adept at doing this than others. This research seeks to understand whether emotional intelligence differentiates people in their capacity to forgive and, if so, which components of emotional intelligence are implicated. The study uses both self-report and ability measures of emotional intelligence with a community sample of English-literate adults. This research may assist in identifying aspects of emotional intelligence that could be developed to promote peaceful conflict resolution through the process of forgiveness.
| 2007 | Not awarded |
| 2006 | Peggy Koutsos Paths to interpersonal forgiveness: The role of personality, dispositional forgiveness and situational forgiveness |
| 2005 | Luisa Rossi The Relationship between Language Skills and Outcomes of the PATHS Curriculum |
| 2004 | Not awarded |
| 2003 | Andreia Azevedo Adolescents’ value orientations and preferred strategies for resolving disagreements involving different student groups |
| 2002 | Helena Culbertson and Ashley Carl |
| 2001 | Jackie Bornstein and Anne Matuszek |
| 2000 | Elizabeth Le Clercq |
| 1999 | Andrew Hamilton and Albert Dinelli |
| 1998 | Michelle Fleming and Michael Virgen |
| 1997 | Adina Kotler, Tamara Noy, Heather Siddons, Brianna Harrison and Janet Ruffles |
| 1996 | Therese Meallin and Michelle Versluys |
| 1995 | Tony Pastore and Lana Strogonow |