Profile

Stephen Read

Professor of Psychology

Contact Information
E-mail: read@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-2291
Office: SGM 821

LINKS
Curriculum Vitae
Personal Website


 

Education

  • B.A. Psychology, Princeton University, 5/1974
  • Ph.D. Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 8/1981

Postdoctoral Training

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University, Department of Psychology, 09/1982-08/1984  
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University, Department of Psychology, 09/1981-08/1982  

Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History

  • Professor of Psychology, University of Southern California, 01/01/1998-  
  • Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Southern California, 01/01/1990-01/01/1998  
  • Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Southen California, 01/01/1984-01/01/1990  

Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests
Professor Read has five main areas of research.
  • His primary area of interest is in computational models of social reasoning and social behavior. He focuses on neural network models of personality and social behavior, legal and everyday decision making, causal reasoning, and causal learning. He is also interested in models of human motivation.
  • The creation of realistic personality in computer based intelligent agents in virtual reality training systems.
  • Coherence based, constraint satisfaction based models of decision making and impression formation.
  • The structure and dynamics of human personality.
  • The use of interactive media in changing risky sexual behavior.
Research Keywords
neural network models, social reasoning, personality, virtual reality, sexual behavior
Research Specialties
Neural Network Models of Social Reasoning and Personality. Knowledge structures in causal reasoning and decision making. Narrative models of social explanation. Use of Interactive Media to change risky social behaviors. Structure and function of belief systems. Role of beliefs and attitudes in information processing.

Funded Research

Contracts and Grants Awarded
  • SOLVE-IT: Real Risk Reduction for MSM (National Institute of Mental Health), Lynn C. Miller, Stephen J. Read, $3,800,000, 04/01/2008-03/31/2013  
  • Measuring Teamwork Skills and Predicting Reactions to Policies using Computer Agents (Navy Personnel Research, Studies and Technology), Stephen J. Read, Lynn C. Miller, $114,000, 2008-2009   
  • Motive and Affect-Based Robotic Control (ONR), Wayne Zachary, Stephen J. Read and Lynn C. Miller, $450,000, 2008-2009   

Affiliations with Research Centers, Labs, and Other Institutions

  • Communication Solutions

Publications

Book Chapter
  • Miller, L. C., Christensen, J. L., Godoy, C. G., Appleby, P. R., Corsbie-Massay, C., Read, S. J. (2009). Reducing Risky Sexual Decision-Making in the Virtual and in the Real World: Serious Games, Intelligent Agents, and a SOLVE Approach. Serious Games: Mechanisms and Effects. Routledge, Taylor and Francis..
  • Read, S. J., Monroe, B. M. (2009). Using Connectionist Networks to Understand Neurobiological Processes in Social and Personality Psychology. New York: Guilford Press.
  • Read, S. J., Monroe, B. (2008). Computational Models in Personality and Social Psychology. Cambridge: Handbook on computational cognitive modeling. Cambridge University Press..
  • Appleby, P. R., Godoy, C., Miller, L. C., Read, S. J. (2008). Increasing healthy behavior through the use of interactive video technology. Communication perspectives on HIV/AIDS for the 21st century. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates..
  • Read, S. J., Miller, L. C., Kostygina, A., Chopra, G., Christensen, J. L., Corsbie-Massay, C., Zachary, W., LeMentec, J. C., Iordanov, V., Rosoff, A. (2007). The Personality-enabled architecture for Cognition. Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction 2007. Springer-Verlag.
  • Miller, L., Read, S. J. (2006). Virtual Sex: Creating environments for reducing risky sex. pp. p. 000-000. Virtual Decisions: Digital simulations for teaching reasoning in the social sciences and humanities/Erlbaum.
  • Read, S. J., Miller, L., Monroe, B., Brownstein, A., Zachary, W., LeMentec, J., Iordanov, V., Rosoff, A., Eilbert, J. (2006). The PAC Cognitive Architecture. (Vol. NA). Intelligent Virtual Agents/Springer, Berlin, Germany.
  • Read, S. J., Miller, L., Monroe, B., Brownstein, A., Zachary, W., LeMentec, J., Iordanov, V. (2006). A Neurobiologically Inspired Model of Personality. (Vol. 4133). Intelligent Virtual Agents 2006 (IVA 2006)/Springer, Berlin, Germany.
  • Read, S. J., Miller, L. (2005). Explanatory coherence and goal-based knowledge structures in making dispositional inferences. pp. p. 000-000. Boston, MA: Other Minds/Guilford Press.
Journal Article
  • Read, S. J., Monroe, B. M. (2007). Modeling Cognitive Dissonance using A Recurrent Neural Network Model with Learning. Personality and Social Psychology Review.
  • Read, S. J., Monroe, B. M., Brownstein, A. L., Yang, Y., Chopra, G., Miller, L. C. (2009). A Neural Network Model of the Structure and Dynamics of Human Personality. Psychological Review.
  • Yang, Y., Read, S. J., Miller, L. (2009). The Concept of Situations. Social and Personality Psychology Compass.
  • Read, S. J., Monroe, B. M. (2009). Must Judgments About Intentionality Precede Dispositional Inference?. Psychological Inquiry. Vol. 20, pp. 1–7.
  • Read, S. J., Monroe, B. M., Brownstein, A. L., Yang, Y., Chopra, G., Miller, L. C. (2007). Virtual Personalities II: A Neural Network Model of the Structure and Dynamics of Human Personality. Psychological Review.
  • Monroe, B. M., Read, S. J. (2008). A General Connectionist Model of Attitudes and Attitude Change: The ACS (Attitudes as Constraint Satisfaction) Model. Psychological Review. Vol. 115, pp. 733–759.
  • Brownstein, A., Read, S. J. (2007). Situation models and memory: The effects of temporal and causal information in recall sequence. Memory. Vol. 15, pp. 730-745.
  • Roseman, I., Read, S. J. (2007). Psychologist at Play: Robert P. Abelson's Life and Contributions to Psychological Science. Perspectives in Psychological Science. Vol. NA
  • Read, S. J., Monroe, B. M. (2007). Gaps in the Mapping between Simulations and Self: Concerns with the Proposed Neural Network Model: Commentary on the Target Article by Kashima et al. Psychological Inquiry.
  • Read, S. J., Miller, L., Appleby, P. R., Nwosu, M., Reynaldo, S. E., Lauren, A., Putcha, A. (2006). Socially Optimized Learning in a Virtual Environment: Reducing Risky Sexual Behavior Among Men Who Have Sex With Men. . Human Communication Research/International Communication Association. Vol. 32 (1), pp. 1-34.
  • Yang, Y., Read, S. J., Miller, L. (2006). A taxonomy of situations from Chinese idioms: Goal processes as a central organizing principle. Journal of Research in Personality/NA. Vol. 40, pp. pp. 750-778.
  • Jones, D., Read, S. J. (2005). Expert versus Novice differences in the representation of political knowledge. Discourse Processes/NA. Vol. 39, pp. 45-80.
  • Van Osselaer, S. M., Ramanathan, S., Campbell, M. C., Cohen, J. B., Dale, J. K., Herr, P. M., Janiszewski, C., Kruglanski, A. W., Lee, A. Y., Read, S. J. (2005). Choice based on goals. Marketing Letters/Springer. Vol. 16, pp. 335-346.
  • Simon, D., Snow, C. J., Read, S. J. (2004). The Redux of Cognitive Consistency Theories: Evidence Judgments by Constraint Satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology/American Psychological Association. Vol. 86, pp. 814-837.
  • Brownstein, A., Read, S. J., Simon, D. (2004). Effects of Individual Expertise and Task Importance on Pre-decision Reevaluation of Alternatives. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin/NA. Vol. 30, pp. 891-904.
  • Read, S. J., Urada, D. (2003). A neural network model of the outgroup homogeneity effect. Personality and Social Psychology Review/Erlbaum. Vol. 7, pp. 146-169.
  • Read, S. J., Miller, L. (2002). Virtual Personalities: A Neural Network Model of Personality. Personality and Social Psychology Review/Erlbaum. Vol. 6, pp. 357-369.
  • Chulef, A., Read, S. J., Walsh, D. A. (2001). A Hierarchical Taxonomy of Human Goals. Motivation and Emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology/American Psychological Association. Vol. 25, pp. 191-232.
  • Read, S. J. (1999). An autoassociative model of causal learning and causal reasoning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology/American Psychological Association. Vol. 76, pp. 728-742.
  • Read, S. J., Vanman, E. J., Miller, L. (1997). Connectionism, Parallel Constraint Satisfaction Processes and Gestalt Principles: (Re) Introducing Cognitive Dynamics to Social Psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review/Erlbaum. Vol. 1, pp. 26-53.
Other
  • Read, S. J. Vallacher, R. R., Read, S. J., & Nowak, A. (Eds.)(2002). The Dynamical Perspective in Personality and Social Psychology. Special issue of Personality and Social Psychology Review. .
Proceedings
  • Pepe, A. A., Zachary, W., Miller, L., Read, S. J., Miller, D. I., (2008), V. (2008). Motive and affect-based robotic control – MARC. In Proceedings of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Unmanned Systems North America (Ed.), San. pp. Diego. California, USA. Proceedings of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Unmanned Systems North America.
  • Pepe, A. A., Zachary, W., Read, S. J., Miller, L., Iordanov, V., Miller, D., Chopra, G. (2008). Motive and affect-based control for uninhabited vehicles. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society 52nd Annual Meeting (Ed.), USA. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society 52nd Annual Meeting, USA..
  • Zachary, W., LeMentec, J., Miller, L., Read, S. J., Thomas Meyers, G. (2005). Human behavioral representations with realistic personality and cultural characteristics. pp. p. 000-000. proceedings of the Tenth International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, McLean, VA./NA.
  • Zachary, W., LeMentec, J., Read, S. J., Miller, L. (2005). Steps toward a Personality-based Architecture for Cognition. pp. p. 000-000. Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Behavioral Representation in Modeling and Simulation, Los Angeles, CA./NA.
  • Marsella, S., Pynadath, D., Read, S. J. (2004). PsychSim: Agent-based modeling of social interactions and influence. pp. p. 000-000. PsychSim: Agent-based modeling of social interactions and influence./NA.
  • Kim, D., Read, S. J. (2004). Asymmetries in the Bidirectional Associative Strengths Between Events in Cue Competition for Causes and Effects. pp. p. 690-695. In K. Forbus, D. Gentner & T. Regier (Eds). Twenty-Sixth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society August 4-7, 2004 Chicago, Illinois/Erlbaum.
  • Brownstein, A., Read, S. J., Simon, D. (2004). Coherence in Perceptions of a Romantic Relationship. pp. p. 162-167. In K. Forbus, D. Gentner & T. Regier (Eds). Twenty-Sixth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society August 4-7, 2004 Chicago, Illinois./Erlbaum.

Multimedia Scholarship and Creative Works

  • Interactive DVD, Created an Interactive DVD designed to help Men who have sex with Men better learn to negotiate safer sex. Create 3 full versions for each of three different ethnicities: White, Black, and Hispanic/ , 03/31/2003-04/01/2008  
  • Online 3D game, Creating an online 3D game aimed at helping Men who have Sex with Men better learn to negotiate safer sex. , 04/01/2008-03/31/2013  

Honors and Awards

  • Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, 2005-2006  
  • USC Center for Interdisciplinary Faculty Fellowship, 2004-2005  

Service to the Profession

Professional Memberships
  • Cognitive Science Society, 1986-  
  • Association for Psychological Science, 1985-  
  • Society for Experimental Social Psychology, 1985-  
  • Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 1985-  
  • Society for Text and Discourse, 1988-2006  
  • Society for Judgement and Decision Making, 1985-2006  
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