In Memoriam: Stephen Madigan

The Department of Psychology was shocked and

saddened this past week to learn of the sudden passing

of one of their own. Associate Professor of Psychology,

Stephen Madigan, died on October 13th in Los Angeles,

California, after suffering a stroke. Madigan was the

longest tenured faculty in Psychology, having joined the

Department in 1969. Yet, at only 73 years old, we have

lost him too soon.

During his 46 years at USC, Madigan made sig-

nificant contributions to the areas of cognition and

memory as it related to human intelligence. He had an

integral role in helping modernize the field of cognitive

psychology and his recent research on deficits in visual

memory storage in individuals who later developed Alz-

heimer’s disease, reported in Proceedings of the Nation-

al Academy of Science, could lead to diagnostic tests to

indicate who is at risk and in need of preventive treat-

ment. “Stephen was one of the most knowledgeable and

serious scholars on human memory in America,” ac-

cording to Associate Professor David Walsh, who

worked with Madigan for more than 40 years.

Professor Walsh is not alone in his admiration

for Madigan’s accomplishments. One of Madigan’s for-

mer graduate students, Bill Corwin, now an aerospace

engineer, shared that, “during the infancy of personal

computing, Madigan was developing software for statis-

tical analyses that was on par with the premier, main-

frame-based statistical software packages.” Professor of

Psychology, Gerald Davison added that Madigan was

“thoughtful, opinionated, passionate, and above all

curious about all sorts of things. Some of the most

stimulating collegial conversations I have ever had

since coming to USC in 1979 were with him. He

always had a novel take on psychological matters

and on academe in general. He will be missed.”

Indeed, Professor Madigan will be missed.

Even Madigan’s family wanted us to know that

“USC was his life.” Aside from his research, Madi-

gan twice served as Associate Chair of the Depart-

ment of Psychology, from 1979–81 and again in

1989. He also served in several administrative ca-

pacities: as Area Head of Cognitive and Behavioral

Neuroscience from 1993–96 and of Brain and Cog-

nitive Science from 2008–10. He was acting Chair

of the University Park Institutional Review Board in

Spring 2005 and its Vice Chair from Fall 2005 to

Spring 2006. Still, the thing Madigan valued most

about his tenure at USC was his teaching and men-

toring of students.

Professor of Psychology, Michael Dawson

noted that Madigan taught an exceptionally wide

variety of undergraduate and graduate courses. He

taught everything from research methods and statis-

tics to developing his own course on creativity,

which was immensely popular among undergradu-

ate students. Dawson noted that, “Most importantly,

Steve’s door was always open for generous, insight-

ful, and honest advice to students.” “Steve delighted

in their passion for learning, celebrated their

achievements and strove to instill in them curiosity,

intellectual honesty and clear-eyed critical think-

ing,” Madigan’s family wrote in a tribute. Finally,

Professor of Psychology Ernest Greene added, “His

love of teaching was only surpassed by his affection

and care for his wife and children.”

Madigan is survived by his wife of 48 years,

Sarah (Sally) Madigan; his daughter, Catherine

(Kate) Madigan; sons John and Christopher Madi-

gan; his son-in-law Jason Cole; his daughters-in-law

Diane Sigman and Amber Madigan; and four grand-

children, Phoebe, Sean and Neil Cole, and Saoirse

Madigan. Plans for a memorial service at USC are

currently underway. Please contact the Department

Chair, Jo Ann Farver <farver@usc.edu> for deails.

SPRING 2015 FALL 2015

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(2015). Investigating within-day and longitudinal effects of maternal stress on children’s physical activity, dietary intake, and

body composition: Protocol for the MATCH study. Journal of Contemporary Clinical Trials, 43.

Evans, A. D., Stolzenberg, S., Lee, K., & Lyon, T. D. (2014). Young children's difficulty with indirect speech acts: Implications

for questioning child witnesses. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 32, 775-788.

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brain: Implications for aging women. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 55, 36-52. http://www.sciencedirect.com/

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If you have submissions for the Department of Psychology Newsletter, please email Daniel Paris <dparis@usc.edu>.

Remember to check the calendar on the front page of the department website for all upcoming events!

Dr. Adam Leventhal, Professor of Psychology, was elected a fellow of the American Psychological

Association

Leslie Berntsen (BCS) was named a Provost's Mentored Teaching Fellow for 2015-2016 and will de-

velop her own course (The Frontal Lobe: From Function to Philosophy) for undergraduate students to be

offered next spring. She will also serve as Chair of the Center for Excellence in Teaching TA Fellows for

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Faculty Meeting

October 21, 2015 at 12:00pm-2:00pm in SGM 414

Social Psychology Brown Bag

October 26, 2015 at 12:00pm-1:00pm in SGM 414

Pete Meindl, Ph.D. Student of Social Psychology at USC

Morality: Foundations to Applications

Research Spotlight: Values, Ideology, and Morals (VIM) Lab

The VIM Lab, directed by Dr. Jesse Graham

(captured above, as he leads a lab meeting), aims to find

empirical answers to questions regarding people's deepest

core beliefs and worldviews, such as, “Why do we care so

passionately about what is morally right and wrong, and

why do we so often disagree about this?” The lab also

looks at questions like, “How do shared ideological narra-

tives influence our sense of right and wrong, and how do

our moral convictions influence our political choices?”

The VIM Lab is currently working on several pro-

jects, including studying moral persuasion and trying to

chart how it differs from persuasion in non-moralized do-

mains. They have also begun mapping, with the goal of

ultimately reducing, moral hypocrisy -- that is, holding

others to a higher moral standard than one holds oneself.

Also, keep an eye out for several publications currently in

press, ranging from topics on “when values and behavior

conflict” to “ideological differences in the expanse of em-

pathy.” You can find more about these projects, publica-

tions, and other details about the VIM Lab, on their web-

site: <http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~jessegra/index.html>.

The VIM Lab (as seen below) is one of the most

active labs in the Department of Psychology. There are two

lab managers, two post-docs, more than a dozen graduate

students, and a dozen more undergraduate students who

are actively contributing to the lab at any given time. The

lab is also known for its collaboration with other profes-

sors in the Social Psychology area, such as Dr. John Mon-

terosso and Dr. Morteza Dehghani (both seen in the image

below), as well as Dr. Wendy Wood.

"The VIM lab has a dedicated group of people

who are not only very committed to their projects, but also

very concerned about the learning experience that the re-

search assistants get,” explains Kian Siong, a senior under-

graduate psychology student who has been working with

the VIMLab for the past two years. “The experience thus

far has been a really meaningful one. I have learned to exe-

cute many different studies and have been involved in dis-

cussions about novel research ideas.” Kian Siong is also

completing a senior honors thesis investigating the mecha-

nism behind the effects of guilt-proneness on perceived

task effort under the mentorship of Dr. Graham.

Graduate Program: Welcome to the Incoming Class of 2015

Graduate Student

Minwoo Ahn

Matthew Betz

Anna Blanken

Vanessa Calderon

Joseph Hoover

Carol Iskiwitch

Mona Khaled

Ying Lin

Elissa McIntosh

Skye Parral

Hannah Rasmussen

Mariam Rubenson

Xiaobei Zhang

Jessica Mengtian Zhao

Area of Study

Social Psychology

Quantitative Psychology

Clinical Science

Clinical Science

Social Psychology

Social Psychology

Clinical Science

Social Psychology

Clinical Science

Quantitative Psychology

Clinical Science

Clinical Science

Brain and Cognitive Science

Quantitative Psychology

Faculty Advisor

Dr. Steven Read

Dr. Richard John

Dr. Dan Nation

Dr. Steven Lopez

Dr. Morteza Dehghani

Dr. Jesse Graham

Dr. Darby Saxbe

Dr. Daphna Oyserman

Dr. Dan Nation

Dr. John McArdle

Dr. Gayla Margolin

Dr. Stan Huey

Dr. John Monterosso

Dr. John McArdle

Matthew Betz

Quantitative Psychology

Dr. Richard John

Judgement & decision making, lo-

cus of control, risk analysis, cooper-

ative and adversary decision making

Ying Lin

Social Psychology

Dr. Daphna Oyserman

Cultural mindsets, social context,

embodiment

Mona Khaled

Clinical Science

Dr. Darby Saxbe

Dyadic coping with health-related

adversity, positive adjustment and

physiological health

Jessica Mengtian Zhao

Brian and Cognitive Science

Dr. John Monterosso

Neuroimaging and behavioral tech-

niques, emotion & decision-making

Undergraduate Program: Fall 2015 Events

2015 Annual Fall Undergraduate Research Opportunities Faire

- Professors from around the Department of Psychology, with

posters and graduate students by there side, come to promote

their research labs to prospective undergraduate volunteers.

2015 Fall Incoming Student Mixer - Welcome event

for new freshman and transfer students full of ice

breakers, food, and old-fashioned social networking.

2015 Fall Graduate School Information Panel - A panel of ex-

perienced psychology faculty, staff, and graduate students,

speak with undergraduates about pursuing graduate programs.

2015 Fall Resume Workshop - Psychology students get

to work one-on-one with trained peer mentors and a

department advisor to refine their resumes.

Remaining Fall Events

Graduate Applications Workshop 10-14-15

6:00pm in VKC 159

Movie Night 10-28-15

6:00pm in SGM 514

Nature Hike 11-08-15

10:00am in Griffith Park

Study Break 12-02-15

6:00pm in SGM 501

2015 Fall Alumni Panel - Alumni from the Department of

Psychology came to campus to discuss their career path

and how they arrived at where they are today.