Psychology: Choice, Health, and Creativity
One of the most exciting directions in complex systems theory is the relationship between people's behaviours and the emergence of complex adaptive patterns at the level of whole social groups. In this context psychology is the pivot-point between an individual's internal states and the emergence of complex socio-economic patterns and collective dynamics.
Psychology of Social Networks
One of the most influential factors in the success of humans has been our ability to build and maintain complex social structures. In this regard we're more capable than any other species but it does with a psychological cost and so I've explored the psychological underpinnings of networks.
Publications
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J Ruiz-Serra, MS Harré (2023) Inverse Reinforcement Learning as the Algorithmic Basis for Theory of Mind: Current Methods and Open Problems, Algorithms 16 (2), 68
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MS Harré (2022) What Can Game Theory Tell Us about an AI ‘Theory of Mind’? Games 13 (3), 46
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MS Harré, A Eremenko, K Glavatskiy, M Hopmere, L Pinheiro, S Watson, ..., (2021) Complexity Economics in a Time of Crisis: Heterogeneous Agents, Interconnections, and Contagion, Systems 9 (4), 73
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Harré, M. and Prokopenko, M. (2016) The social brain: scale-invariant layering of Eröds–Rényi networks in small-scale human societies. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2016.0044.
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Kasthuriratne, D., Harré, M., Piraveen, M. (2016) Optimizing influence in social networks using bounded rationality models, Social Network Analysis and Mining
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Kasthuriratne, D., Piraveen, M., Harré, M. (2014) Influence of topology in the evolution of coordination in complex networks under information diffusion constraints. Eur. Phys. J. B: Condensed Matter and Complex System, 87:3
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Harré, M. (2013) The Neural Circuitry of Expertise: Social Cognition and Perceptual Learning. Frontiers in Neurosciences: Neural Implementations of Expertise, 7:852.
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Harré, M. (2013). A social network model for the development of a ‘Theory of Mind’, Journal of Physics: Conference Series.
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Harré, M. (2012). Social Network Size Linked to Brain Size, Scientific American, August 7th 2012.
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Mental Health and Social Networks
An influential model of disease propagation has been the social network model of social contagion, for example the role of social networks in the obesity epidemic. There is also a mental health cost associated with the failure of social networks and over a number of years I collaborated with Professor Andrew Wilson, Director of the Menzies Centre for Health Policy at Sydney University, and my PhD student Andrew Levula on this subject.
Publications
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Levula, A., Wilson, A. and Harré, M. (2018) The association between social network factors, depression and anxiety at different life stages, Community Mental Health Journal.
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Levula, A., Wilson, A. and Harré, M. (2017) Social Network Factors as Mediators of Mental Health and Psychological Distress. International Journal of Social Psychiatry.
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Levula, A., Wilson, A., Harré, M. (2016). The association between social network factors and mental health at different life stages, Quality of Life Research. pp.1-9
Levula, A., Harré, M. (2016). Social Networks and Mental Health: An Egocentric Perspective, Mental Health Review.
Designing better brains and creativity
A tantalising question that has been around for a very long time is "Can our brains be better than they already are?" This is a difficult question to approach but a few years ago I worked with an interdisciplinary team to try and answer some aspects of this question.
Publications
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Bossomaier, T., Barnett, L., Jelinek, H., Harré, M. (2014) Dynamic suppression of sensory detail saves energy, International Journal on Advances in Intelligent Systems vol. 7, no. 1&2
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Harré, M. (2013). A social network model for the development of a ‘Theory of Mind’, Journal of Physics: Conference Series.
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Bossomaier, T., Barnett, L., Harré, M., Jelinek, H. (2013). Energy Saving Accounts for the Suppression of Sensory Detail, International Journal on Advances in Intelligent Systems.
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Bossomaier, T., Harré, M., Knittel, A. & Snyder, A. (2009). A Semantic Network Approach to the Creativity Quotient (CQ). Creativity Research Journal, vol. 21, issue 1, p. 64-71.
