A desire for cognitive consistency plays a central role in people’s thinking. Several researchers, including my colleagues Dan Simon and Lynn Miller, have argued that cognitive consistency can be understood as being based in constraint satisfaction processes that are a fundamental aspect of brain-based processing(coherence-based processing). Over the last 20 years Dan Simon and I have collaborated on a series of studies testing a coherence-based model of decision making based on these parallel constraint satisfaction processes in neural networks. We have investigated decision-making and judgment in both legal and everyday contexts. In our earlier work we focused on cold cognition. More recently we have worked on a series of studies examining the impact of emotion and motivation on coherence-based decision-making (Hot Cognition or Motivated Cognition).
Motivated Cognition and Dissonance
Simon and I have also written several papers arguing that constraint satisfaction processes provide a computational implementation of cognitive consistency processes, such as Motivated Cognition and Cognitive Dissonance.
Cognitive Biases: Coherence-based Account
Recently, Dan Simon and I have published a paper in Perspectives in Psychological Science that argues that Coherence-based reasoning provides a theoretical framework that explains a large set of the numerous cognitive biases that have been identified over the years.
Neural Network Models
In addition to my work with Simon, my student Brian Monroe, my collaborator Lynn Miller and I have also published several different papers presenting a neural network model of the constraint satisfaction processes involved in Cognitive Dissonance and Balance Theory.
Social Perception
Other work, discovered in more detail under the Social Perception project, has applied coherence-based reasoning and constraint satisfaction processes to various aspects of Social Perception.
Beliefs and Attitudes
We are also interested in extending the work on Coherence to understanding the nature of people’s belief systems about such things as climate change and vaccination.
Articles
Simon, D., & Read, S. J. (2023). Towards a General Framework of Biased Reasoning: Coherence-Based Reasoning. Perspectives in Psychological Science.
Simon, D., Ahn, M., Stenstrom, D., & Read, S. J. (2020). The Adversarial Mindset. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. 26(3), 353–377. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000226
Simon, D., & Read, S. J. (2018). Neither Cognitive nor Consistency: A Comment on “Cognitive Consistency Theory in Social Psychology: A Paradigm Reconsidered”, Psychological Inquiry, 29:2, 97-108, DOI: 10.1080/1047840X.2018.1480683
Simon, D., Stenstrom, D., & Read, S. J. (2015). The Coherence Effect: Blending Cold and Hot Cognitions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109(3), 369-394.
Simon, D., Snow, C. & Read, S. J. (2004). The Redux of Cognitive Consistency Theories: Evidence Judgments by Constraint Satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 86, 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. 30, 891-904.
Chapters
Read, S. J., & Monroe, B. M. (2019). Modeling cognitive dissonance as a parallel constraint satisfaction network with learning. In E. Harmon-Jones (Ed.), Cognitive dissonance: Reexamining a pivotal theory in psychology (p. 197–226). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000135-010
Read, S. J., & Simon, D. (2012). Parallel Constraint Satisfaction as a Mechanism for Cognitive Consistency. In B. Gawronski & F. Strack (Eds.), Cognitive Consistency: A Unifying Concept in Social Psychology. Guilford Press.
Read, S. J., & Miller, L. C. (1994). Dissonance and Balance in belief systems: The promise of parallel constraint satisfaction processes and connectionist modeling approaches. In R. C. Schank & E. J. Langer (Eds.), Beliefs, reasoning, and decision making: Psycho-logic in honor of Bob Abelson (pp. 209-235). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.