Michele Gelfand

Former Investigator

Selected Publications

Al-Qaeda's Propaganda Decoded: A Psycholinguistic System for Detecting Variations in Terrorism Ideology (Journal Article)
Belonging Nowhere: Marginalization & Radicalization Risk among Muslim Immigrants (Journal Article)
Conflict Changes How People View God (Journal Article)
Cultural Evolutionary Mismatches in Response to Collective Threat (Journal Article)
Deradicalizing Detained Terrorists (Journal Article)
Detainee Deradicalization (Journal Article)
Explaining and Predicting Cultural Differences in Negotiation (Book Chapter)
Masters of Both: Balancing the Extremes of Innovation Through Tight–Loose Ambidexterity (Book Chapter)
Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World (Book)
Significance Quest Theory as the Driver of Radicalization towards Terrorism (Book Chapter)
Terrorism—A (self) love story: Redirecting the significance quest can end violence (Journal Article)
The psychological structure of aggression across cultures (Journal Article)
The Psychology of Radicalization and Deradicalization: How Significance Quest Impacts Violent Extremism (Journal Article)
The Role of Entitativity in Perpetuating Cycles of Violence (Journal Article)

News References

Foreign Affairs: The threat reflex: Why some societies respond to danger better than others
Michele Gelfand elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences (News)
National Geographic: Why do humans embrace rituals? Disease and danger may be at the root of the behaviors.
The Conversation: As states reopen, tensions flare between the rule followers and rule breakers
NPR: Playing Tight And Loose: How Rules Shape Our Lives
The Guardian: Authoritarian leaders thrive on fear. We need to help people feel safe
Science: Explaining the puzzle of human diversity
The Conversation: Could climate change fuel the rise of right-wing nationalism?
The National Interest: Who Was behind Sri Lanka’s Easter Terrorist Attacks?
START researcher Michele Gelfand to be inducted to American Academy of Arts and Sciences (News)
The Economist: Culture as the menacing force behind today’s crazy politics
The Guardian: Here’s the science behind the Brexit vote and Trump’s rise
Scientific American: A Powerful Force That Shapes All of our Decisions
Quartz: Islamic terrorism and domestic mass shootings may be caused by the exact same psychological phenomenon
The Stanford Daily: Q&A with Sarah Lyons-Padilla
The Conversation UK: Another mass shooting – what the experts say
Marginalization, discrimination create greater risk of radicalization for immigrants (Featured Research)
START researcher Michele Gelfand and former TRA Sarah Lyons-Padilla present on Capitol Hill (News)
Singaporean delegation discusses countering extremist propaganda with START (News)
Rigid cultural values related to greater number of terrorist attacks (News)
Researcher Spotlight: Michele Gelfand (People Spotlight)
Terp Magazine: Terp Magazine distinguishes START research and researchers
Terrorism: A Self-Love Story (News)
The National Interest: Learning from Sri Lanka
Haaretz: Is it possible to 'de-radicalize' terrorists?
The Australian: A Radical Case For Treatment
Media Corp Radio: Singapore Needs to Develop More Systematic Evaluation for Terrorist Rehab