Education

1997-2003 Ph.D, School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Title: Self-confidence and self-monitoring aspects of metacognition, their nature and their place within rationality debates: An individual differences perspective.
Supervisor : Prof. Lazar Stankov; Associate Supervisor: Dr. Richard D. Roberts

1996 Hons. (Psychology) The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Majors: Psychology of Individual Differences, Metacognition, Psychological Assessment, Psychometrics, Applied Statistics, Developmental Psychology
Thesis 1: The overconfidence phenomenon as a consequence of both the selection of test items and the person.
Supervisor : Dr. Lazar Stankov
Thesis 2 : Is the ADHD model really valid? Literature review.
Supervisor: Dr. Stephanie Whitmont and Dr. Lynne Sweeny

1995 B.A. The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Majors : Psychology; Mathematical Statistics; Industrial Relations & Human Resource Management.

Other:

2010 Advanced Structural Equation Modelling using MPlus (University of Sydney, Australia) (also initiated and convened this workshop)
2010 Workshop: Training for Higher Degree Research Supervision (University of Sydney, Australia).
2009 "Women in Leadership" workshop (University of Sydney, Australia).
2008 Research Enriched Learning & Teaching (University of Sydney, Australia).
2002 Multilevel analysis with MLwiN & LISREL 8.51; 18 th ACSPRI Program
2001 Applied Structural Equation Modelling; 17 th ACSPRI Program
2000 Introduction to Structural Equation Modelling; 16 th ACSPRI Program
1999 Principal Components andFactor Analysis; 15 th ACSPRI Program
1998 Risk and Decision-Making; 14 th ACSPRI Program
1997 Building Predictive models, SPSS training course, The University of Sydney

Research Interests

Individual Differences in Metacognitive Processes, Multivariate Data Analyses, Applied statistics, Psychological Assessment, Intelligence, Decision-Making, Cognitive styles, Self-Concepts, Personality, Developmental Psychology.

Professional History

• 2011-present. Senior Lecturer, The University of Sydney (full-time, continuing position)
   
• April 2004-2010. Lecturer, The University of Sydney
   
• April 2003-April 2004. Associate Lecturer, The University of Sydney
   
• February 1997 to March 2003: Ph.D Student, School of Psychology, The University of Sydney
  Supervisor: Prof. Lazar Stankov, Associate Supervisor: Dr. Richard D. Roberts
   
• May 2000 to December 2002 : Research Associate, SELF Research Centre, University of Western Sydney (part-time). Supervisor: Prof. Herb Marsh
   
• June 1998 to 2002 : Invited Lecturer, School of Psychology, The University of Sydney
  Courses: Intelligence, Individual Differences, Psychological Assessment.
   
• June 1997 - 2003 : Tutor, The University of Sydney
  Courses: Intelligence, Individual Differences, Psychological Assessment, Intermediate and Senior level statistics.
   
• June 1998 - 2002 : Research Assistant, Developmental Psychology Unit, School of Psychology, The University of Sydney
   
• May 1999 - May 2000 : Research Psychologist, Cornea & Contact Lenses Research Unit.
  Supervisor: Dr. Fiona Stapleton
   

Editorial Boards

• 2012: Editorial Board Metacognition and Learning (MEAL, IF=2.03)
• 2012: Guest Editor (with Prof. L. Stankov) on a Special Issue on Metacognition and Decision-Making, Learning and Individual Differences (L&ID; IF=1.5)

External Academic/Research Activities

• 2009-2011: A consultant on a project titled ?Europeans vs Confucians: high achievement but significant differences in maths anxiety and confidence? for the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• 2009: Delivered a workshop ?Learn smart, not just hard: the role of self-confidence and metacognitive beliefs for school outcomes? to teachers and school counsellors in (by invitation of the NSW branch of Australian Guidance and Counselling Association: AGCA).
• 2009: I presented talks on my metacognitive research (by invitations) at: Cambridge and Leicester Univ. (UK), Gothenburg Univ. (Sweden), and Nanyang Technological Univ. (Singapore)
• 2009: Delivered an invited ?Women in Science? talk for the University of Sydney Science Society.

 

Membership of Professional Associations

• EARLI
• ISSID

 

Awards and Distinctions

• Prize Winner for the Innovative Learning, Teaching and Assessment Resource Competition, 2011

 

 

Courses Taught

• Advanced Statistics
• Psychometrics
  
• Individual Differences
  
• Psychological Assessment
  
• Intelligence and Human Reasoning
  
• Statistics and Research Design
  
• Field Research Methods

 

Grants and Scholarships

• 2013 Bridging Support Grant (2013 ARC Discovery Project; $30,000)
• 2011 RIBG top-slice fund for updating the School of Psychology ID labs equipment.
• 2011 RIBG top-slice fund for extending research program on mStats_IQ .
• 2011 ARC application (with Prof. CM Allwood): Metacognitive traits in children: capturing confidence levels and their biases, and the roles of individual differences, key adults and activities.
• 2011 ARC application (with Prof J Kay, Prof. R Azevedo): Enabling people to harness their personal digital ecosystem for major long-term goals.
• 2010 RIBG top-slice fund for updating the School of Psychology ID labs equipment.
• 2010 Small Teaching Improvement and Equipment Scheme grant on a project entitled: Towards self-regulated learning: promoting motivation to engage in self-paced statistical and metacognitive training ($8,689)
• Application to the ARC Discovery on a project Self-confidence and self-monitoring metacognitive traits in children: The roles of individual differences, parents, teachers and activities. Submitted April 2010 ($597,000)
• 2008 Small Teaching Improvement and Equipment Scheme grant on a project entitled: Formative assessment quizzes for students of Advanced Statistics in Psychology ($10,000 AU)
• 2008 Re-entry Fellowship ($14,000 AU)
• 2006-2007 Early Research Career, Research & Development Grant on a project entitled: Metacognition, its implication for quality of life in pregnancy and its possible biological markers  ($18,000 AU)
• 2003 ($9,000 AU) Completion scholarship
• 1998-2001 Australian Postgraduate Award, APA (3.5 years)

 

 

Reviewed Manuscripts in the following Journals

• Pediatrics
• Journal of Educational Psychology
• British Journal of Educational Psychology
• Journal of Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied
• Learning and Individual Differences
• Personality and Individual Differences
• Metacognition and Learning
• Journal of Research on Adolescents

Tests/Questionnaires Developed

 

• Verbal Reasoning Test (VRT)

The test was developed as a research tool and intensively validated. The questions were designed to elicit the different cognitive strategies (e.g., answer recognition, inference and guessing). It incorporates main principles of critical reasoning, dynamic decision-making and heuristics-&-biases paradigms. The test includes unique information-weighting procedure and interactive design. It allows assessment and evaluation of the various aspects of decision-making. Subsequently the test was used in a number of projects at the USYD.

 

• Memory and Reasoning Competency Inventory (MARCI)

The test was developed as a research tool and intensively validated. The MARCI is a self-concept measure that assesses self-beliefs about competency of cognitive processes employed during decision-making. Subsequently the questionnaire was published (2007) used in a number of projects at the USYD and overseas (including ETS-related data collection).

 

• Geography General Knowledge Test (GGKT)

The test was developed as a part of Hon. Thesis in 1997. The test assesses knowledge of Australian geography and included typical general knowledge and ‘tricky’ items. Subsequently the test was used in a number of projects at the USYD.

• Contributed to the Development and Validation of the Following Tests

• Imagery Scales for Children in Three Modalities . The test is used for assessment of vividness of imaginary in primary and secondary school children;
• Peers Attitude Scale Towards Children who Stutter;
• OCEANIC. The questionnaire is designed to assess five personality dimensions.
• Course Evaluation Questionnaire. The test was comprised from a number of scales and was used to evaluate the effectiveness of newly implemented Graduate Medical Program at The University of Sydney.
• Eating Disorders Diagnostic Inventory. The test is used to diagnose eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia)
• Quality of Life Questionnaire. The test is used for screening patients with different eye conditions (eg., dry eyes);
• Sustainable Design Questionnaire. The test is used to assess people’s perception of quality of their surroundings;
• SES (proxy) questionnaire . The scale was designed to assess Social Economic Status.

 

Publications

 

Book

Kleitman, S. (2008). Metacognition in the Rationality Debate. Self-confidence and it Calibration. Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller E.K. Inc., Publishers.

 

Book chapters

Kay, J., Kleitman, S., and Azevedo. R. (in press). Empowering teachers to design learning resources with metacognitive interface elements. In R. Luckin, J. Underwood, N. Winters, P. Goodyear, B. Grabowski, and S. Puntambeker, editors, Handbook of Design in Educational Technology, pages to appear. Taylor and Francis, 2012. [View Details]

Kleitman, S., Stankov, L., Allwood, C. M., Young, S., Mak, K. (2012). Metacognitive Self-Confidence in School-Aged Children. In M. M. C. Mok (Ed.), Self-directed learning oriented assessment in the Asia-Pacific (pp. 147 - 163). New York: Springer.

Kleitman, S., Mak, K., Young, S., Lau, P & Livesey, D. (2011). Something About Metacognition: Self-confidence factor(s) in school-aged children. In S. Boag and N. Tiliopoulos (Eds.) (pp. 103-118). Personality and Individual Differences: Theory, Assessment, and Application. New York: Nova.

Kleitman, S. & Mascrop, T. (2010). Self-Confidence and Academic Achievements in Primary-School Children: Their Relationships and Links to Parental Bonds, Intelligence, Age, and Gender (pp. 293-326). In A. Efklides and P. Misailidi (Ed). Trends and Prospects in Metacognition Research, US: Springer.

Stankov, L., & Kleitman, S. (2008). Processes on the Borderline Between Cognitive Abilities and Personality: Confidence and Its Realism. In G. J. Boyle, G. Matthews, & D. Saklofske (Eds) (pp. 541-555). The Handbook of Personality Theory and Testing. Sage Publications.

 

Refereed journal articles

Kleitman, S., & Costa, D.S.J. (in press). The role of a novel formative assessment tool (Stats-mIQ) and individual differences in real-life academic performance. Learning and Individual Differences, pages to appear 2013, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2012.12.001

Morony, S., Kleitman, S., Lee, Y. P., & Stankov, L. (2013). Predicting achievement: Confidence vs self-efficacy, anxiety, and self-concept in Confucian and European countries. International Journal of Educational Research, 58, 79-96.

Grant, A. M., Cavanagh, M. J., Kleitman, S., Spence, G., Lakota, M., & Nickolas, Y. (2012). Development and Validation of the Solution-focused Inventory. Journal of Positive Psychology, 7(4), 334-348.

Kleitman, S. and Gibson, J. (2011). Metacognitive beliefs, self-confidence and primary learning environment of sixth grade students. Learning and Individual Differences, 21: 728-735

Fritz, K., Howie, P., & Kleitman, S. (2010). How do I remember when I got my dog? The structure and development of children's metamemory. Metacognition and Learning, 5(2), 207-28.

Langevin, M., Kleitman, S., Packman, A., & Onslow, M. (2009). The peer attitudes toward children who stutter (PATCS) scale: an evaluation of validity, reliability and the negativity of attitudes. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorder, 44 (3), 352-68.

Kleitman, S., & Stankov, L. (2007). Self-confidence and metacognitive processes. Learning and Individual Differences journal, 17(2), 161-173.

Stankov, L., & Kleitman, S. (2007). Processes on the Borderline Between Cognitive Abilities and Personality: Confidence and Its Realism. Suvremena Psihologija, 10, 109-129.

Want, J., & Kleitman, S. (2006). Feeling “Phony”: Adult Achievement Behaviour, Parental Rearing Style and Self-Confidence. Journal of Personality and Individual Differences, 40 (5), 961-971.

Howie, P., Marham, R., & Kleitman, S. (2006). The development of imagery scales for children in three modalities. Journal of Mental Imaginary, 30 (1-2), 39-64.

Kleitman. S. (2005). Knowing thyself: Self-Confidence and Self-Monitoring aspects of Metacognition. Published via the National Quality Schooling Framework (paper by invitation, a DEST funded initiative).

Kleitman, S . & Stankov, L. (2005). Self-Confidence and Metacognitive Processes. Journal of the Institute for Educational Research, 37 (1), 45-69.

Marsh, H., & Kleitman. S. (2005). Consequences of Employment During High School: Character Building, Subversion of Academic Goals, or a Threshold? American Educational Research Journal, 42 (2), 331-370.

Marsh, H., & Kleitman, S. (2003). Consequences of Sport Participation in High School. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 25 (2), 205-228.

Marsh, H., & Kleitman, S. (2002). Extracurricular School Activities: The Good, the Bad, and the Nonlinear. Harvard Educational Review, 72 (4), 464-514.

Pallier, G., Wilkinson, R., Danthiir, V., Kleitman, S., Knezevic, G., Stankov, L. & Roberts, R. (2002). The role of question format and individual differences in the realism of confidence judgments. Journal of General Psychology, 129 (3), 257-300.

Kleitman, S . & Stankov, L. (2001a). Ecological and person-driven aspects of metacognitive processes in test-taking. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 15, 321-341.

 

Other publications

Marsh, H. W. & Kleitman, S. (2005). School Performance. In D. Levinson & K. Christenson (Eds.). Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport (Vol. 3, pp. 1328-1332). Great Barrington MA, Berkshire Publishing.

Kleitman, S. (2003). Bias Score—An Instance of Systematic Irrationality? Published Proceedings of the ICCS/ASCS-2003 . Joint International Conference on Cognitive Science. Sydney, Australia 13 - 17 July 2003.

Kleitman, S . & Stankov, L. (2001b). Response selection strategies, metacognitive beliefs, and Confidence: An individual differences perspective. Published Proceedings of the Inaugural International Conference: Self-Concept Theory, Research and Practice: Advances for the New Millennium, Sydney, Blue Mountains, 5-6 October, Australia.

 

 

Work Currently Submitted

Jackson, S. A., & Kleitman, S. Decision-making tendencies in a medical paradigm: the role of individual differences in feelings of confidence and its calibration. Under review in the Journal of Behavioural Decision-Making.

Grant, A. M., Cavanagh, M. J., Kleitman, S., Spence, G., Lakota, M., & Nickolas, Y. Development and Validation of the Solution-focused Inventory. Under review in the Journal of Positive Psychology

Jiang, Y., & Kleitman, S. Metacognition and Motivation: Links with Self-Protection and Self-Enhancement.

Work in Progress

Bowman, D. B., Stankov. L., & Kleitman, S. Metacognitive processes in performance on cognitive tests: An individual differences perspective. Submitted in Metacognition and Learning

Kleitman, S., & Stankov, L. Thinking Dispositions and Metacognitive Trait of Self-confidence.

Kleitman, S., & Gibson, J. The Effects of the Learning Environment on the Metacognitive Beliefs, Self-confidence and Use of Self-handicapping Strategies of Sixth Grade Students. To be submitted to Journal of Educational Psychology.

Mak, K., Young S., & Kleitman, S. Metacognitive regulation in the cognitive and physical domains and its critical predictors.

Kleitman, S., & Stankov, L. Individual differences in coping with uncertainty and their link to cognition and metacognition. To be submitted to Personality and Social Psychology 2010.

Kleitman, S., & Stankov, L. Thinking Dispositions and Calibration Paradigm: Links between miscalibration and dogmatism. To be submitted to Intelligence.

Kleitman, S. Even more troubles with overconfidence: The effects of mathematical complexity and individual differences on the results of linear models.

Kleitman, S., & Costa, L. The Generality of Confidence Bias: Systematic Irrationality or methodological problems?

 Kleitman, S., & Bowman, D. "Intelligent" test-taking strategies and their impact on quality of decision-making.

 

Conferences Proceedings and Presentations

Richard Gluga, Judy Kay, Raymond Lister, Sabina Kleitman, and Tim Lever. (2012). Over-confidence and confusion in using bloom for programming fundamentals assessment. In Proceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '12). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 147-152. [View Details]

Gluga, R., Kay, J., Lister, R. , Kleitman, S., and Lever, T. (2012). Coming to terms with Bloom: an online tutorial for teachers of programming fundamentals. In ACE, Australasian Computing Education Conference, 147-156. [View Details]

Barua, D., Kay, J., Kummerfeld, B., Kleitman, S. , Paris, C.,and Azevedo. R. (2011). Personal goals and metacognitive scaffolding as a unifying framework for personal health informatics. In M. Z. Carsten Röcker, A. Holzinger, S. Hansen, and K. McGee, editors, Third International Workshop on Smart Healthcare Applications(SmartHEALTH'11) at OzCHI., 22-25. [View Details]

Kleitman, S., & Charles, M. (2009). The influence of metacognitive factors on students’ academic performance in a statistics course. Proceedings of the 8th Australasian Conference on Personality and Individual Differences, Sydney, Australia, 25-28 November.

Young, S., & Kleitman, S. (2009). Examining the relationships between children’s environments, self-concept, achievement and self-confidence. Proceedings of the 8th Australasian Conference on Personality and Individual Differences, Sydney, Australia, 25-28 November.

Mak, K., & Kleitman, S. (2009). Metacognitive regulation in the physical domain: An investigation of school aged children’s movement confidence and its relationship with self-concept and Big Five personality traits. Proceedings of the 8th Australasian Conference on Personality and Individual Differences, Sydney, Australia, 25-28 November.

Lau, P. & Kleitman, S. (2009). Predicting achievement and self-confidence: Intrapersonal and interpersonal predictors in school-aged children. Proceedings of the 8th Australasian Conference on Personality and Individual Differences, Sydney, Australia, 25-28 November.

Kleitman, S., & Moscrop, T. (2009). Individual Differences in Confidence judgments, their determinants and their role in academic outcomes in Primary School Children. Proceedings of the 3rd Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference, Singapore, 1-3 June.

Gibson, J., & Kleitman, S. (2009). The Impact of the Learning Environment on the Metacognitive Beliefs, Self-Confidence and use of Self-Handicapping Strategies. Proceedings of the 3rd Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference, Singapore, 1-3 June.

Kleitman, S. (2008). Metacognitive Self-Confidence and Self-Monitoring across cognitive and non-cognitive domains. Proceedings of the Seventh Australian Conference on Personality and Individual Differences, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland November 27-29.

Kleitman, S. & Stankov, L. (2008). Bias Score Revisited ­An Instance of Systematic Irrationality on a Metacognive Level. Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial meeting of the EARLI Special Interest Group 16 Metacognition, Greece, Ioannina, 8-10 May.

Moscrop, T., & Kleitman, S. (2008). Academic Achievements and Self-Confidence in School-Aged Children and Their Links to Parental Raring Styles. Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial meeting of the EARLI Special Interest Group 16 Metacognition, Greece, Ioannina, 8-10 May.

Kleitman, S. (2007). How broad are the Self-Confidence and the Under/Over-Confidence bias factors really? Proceedings of the Annual International Society for the Study of Individual Differences Conference, Germany, the University of Giessen from 22-27 July.

Kleitman, S. (2003). Bias Score—An Instance Of Systematic Irrationality? Published Proceedings of the ICCS/ASCS-2003, Joint International Conference on Cognitive Science . Sydney, Australia 13 - 17 July 2003.

Kleitman, S., & Stankov, L. (2003). Metacognition: Self-Concept, Personality and Cognitive Correlates. Proceedings of the Annual International Society for the Study of Individual Differences Conference , Graz, July 13-17.

Kleitman, S., Stankov, L. & Marsh, H. (2003). Metacognition: Self-Concept, Personality and Cognitive Correlates. Published Proceedings of the AARE/NZARE Conference SELF Research Centre Symposium. Auckland, New Zealand, 29 November - 3 December.

Kleitman, S ., Stankov, L. & Petocz, P. (2003). Miscalibration Bias and Rationality Debates. Proceedings of the 11th Australian Mathematical Psychology Conference , Sydney University, November 27-30.

Kleitman,S., Stankov, L. & Petocz, P. (2003). Metacognition and its Role in Rationality Debates. Proceedings of the 5th annual Post-graduate conference for the School of Psychology , University of Sydney, November 3.

Kleitman, S ., & Stankov, L. (2001). Tendency towards additivity in multiple choice test items. Proceeding of the 3 rd International Spearman Seminar, Sydney, November 28-30, Australia.

Kleitman, S., & Stankov, L. (2000). Cognitive strategies, metacognitive beliefs and confidence: An individual differences perspective. Published Proceeding of the Inaugural International Conference of Self-concept Theory, Research and Practice: Advances for the New Millennium, Blue Mountains, October 5-6, Australia.

Kleitman, S ., Stankov, L., & Roberts, R. D. (1999a). Cognitive strategies, metacognitive beliefs and overconfidence: An individual differences perspective. Australian Journal of Psychology. 51 , 33.

Kleitman, S ., Stankov, L., & Roberts, R. D. (1999b). Cognitive strategies and overconfidence. Proceeding of the Annual International Society for the Study of Individual Differences Conference, Vancouver, July 5-9, Canada.

Kleitman, S ., Stankov, L., & Roberts, R. D. (1999c). How rational are human beings really? Journal of Applied Health Behaviour, 1 (2), 60.

Baggs, K., Touyz, S., Kleitman, S. Gertler, R., & Korda, A. (1999). Prevalence of Eating disorders in Australia. Journal of Applied Health Behaviour, 1 (2), 54.

Erickson, D., Kleitman, S., and Erickson, P. (1999). Self-Efficacy and Psychosocial Variables in Monovision Lens Wear. Proceeding of the Annual International Society for the Study of Individual Differences Conference, Vancouver, July 5-9, Canada.

Kleitman, S., & Stankov, L. (1998). Confidence/Frequency Effects in Cognitive Tasks. Australian Journal of Psychology. 50, 46.

Kleitman, S., & Stankov, L. (1997). Ecological and Person-Oriented Aspects of Metacognitive Processes in Test-Taking. Australian Journal of Psychology. 49, 106.