Dr. Steve Chang

Biography

Steve Chang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Yale University, where he co-directs both the Undergraduate Studies for Neuroscience Major and the Graduate Studies for the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program. He received his Ph.D. in 2009 from Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on social behaviors and their underlying neural mechanisms. Specifically, he investigates how the brain computes social preferences and mediates both prosocial and antisocial decisions. His work aims to understand the dynamics of social interactions and to elucidate the neural mechanisms that underlie social behavior. This research is crucial for addressing social deficits in various psychiatric disorders. His laboratory employs a multi-pronged approach, focusing on the prefrontal cortex and amygdala to understand how social decisions are made. By applying neurophysiological and neuropharmacological techniques alongside functional neuroimaging, his team studies real-life social interactions and complex decision-making processes in humans.

Research Interests