Five minutes with the faculty: Gillian Ku
Gillian Ku on why we all rationalise our mistakes – and what that means for better decisions, self-awareness, and lasting performance
In 30 Seconds
Gillian Ku shares how studying social psychology and decision-making sparked her lifelong passion for understanding human behaviour.
She discusses balancing work, family, and productivity through structured to-do lists and mindful time management.
Gillian reflects on perspective-taking, self-justification, and how understanding opposing viewpoints deepens empathy and insight into human nature.
What first sparked your interest in your field?
When I was an undergraduate, I took some classes in psychology and fell in love with the social psychology classes and, in particular, the decision-making content. I kept having these big “aha” moments and knew that I wanted to understand these areas more.
What’s one thing students or colleagues might be surprised to learn about you?
This is very random, but as a child, I was involved in a children’s variety TV show in Singapore (where I grew up), so I appeared on TV a few times. I hope any and every record of that is completely lost!
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As a child, I appeared on TV in Singapore a few times. I hope any and every record of that is completely lost!
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I’ve received was from my mother who tried to counsel me that it would be difficult to manage work and family. As with all children, I’m sad to say that I arrogantly ignored her advice. In my defence, my mom was a physician and kept the household running and she made it look very easy, so I blame her!
And the worst?
Thankfully, the worst advice I’ve received has probably been inconsequential in nature. For example, this restaurant is great or this contract does a fantastic job!
What’s your go-to productivity trick or daily habit?
I cannot live without my to-do lists, which are organised in specific ways to understand long-term tasks in all parts of my work and private life and then scheduled on a weekly basis to accommodate meetings and things I need to accomplish. Interestingly enough, although much of the research focuses on how people schedule work activities and then separately talks about scheduling nonwork activities, my colleagues and I are actually working on a project that looks at the benefits of budgeting time for work and nonwork activities. Thinking about all of the things that we need to do increases our sense of control and our performance.
What’s the most unusual or memorable place you’ve ever worked or studied?
Maldives without a doubt. I did Scuba diving in the morning and then finished editing a paper and submitted it. My day would not have been as complete and perfect without doing that bit of work in paradise.
What’s a skill or hobby you have that would surprise your students or colleagues?
I’m a big foodie and love traveling the world to eat. Despite this, I can’t eat anything with chillies, which is a huge bummer.
If you could have dinner with any significant figure, who would it be and why?
Anyone with whom I do not see eye-to-eye. In a time when the world is very polarised, that’s a lot of people, but the point is that I study perspective-taking (ie, putting yourself in someone else’s shoes to understand their viewpoint) and I’m constantly fascinated to understand why people who have different viewpoints than I do, think what they think.
What book, film, quote, or piece of art has had the biggest impact on you and why?
East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It’s a very powerful novel generally, but a central theme of the book is around choice. That really resonated with me when I read it and was making decisions about where to go to university and what to study. That said, Wikipedia is now telling me that Steinbeck’s translation of a Hebrew word (timshol) – that was central to the book – is incorrect. Steinbeck translated the word as “thou mayest” whereas a more appropriate translation is apparently “you shall rule”. Hmm, I still (stubbornly? ignorantly?) choose to remember the book as one around choice!
I am amazed at how good human beings are at convincing themselves that the mistakes they make are reasonable and “not so bad”
What’s the most bizarre or unexpected fact you’ve come across in your research?
I’m not sure if this is bizarre or unexpected, but time and time again, I am amazed at how good human beings are at convincing themselves that the mistakes they make are reasonable and “not so bad”, that their perspective is THE right one. This is very functional – it allows us to not feel horrible about ourselves, to be confident, to take action, and to persist, but it might also hinder self-reflection, mutual understanding, and learning.
