A Department of Homeland Security Emeritus Center of Excellence led by the University of Maryland

Michele Gelfand

Michele Gelfand

Former Investigator

Lead Investigator on START Research Projects

Counter Radicalization of Scientists in CBRN-relevant Technical Fields

September 2013 to April 2015

Countering Jihadist Ideology among Detainees: The Effects and Effectiveness of De-Radicalization Programs

June 2009 to December 2011

Deradicalization of Extremists

July 2012 to December 2017

Mapping and Evaluating Online Salafi-Jihadism

July 2012 to December 2014

Selected Publications

Cultural Evolutionary Mismatches in Response to Collective Threat (Journal Article)

Masters of Both: Balancing the Extremes of Innovation Through Tight–Loose Ambidexterity (Book Chapter)

Conflict Changes How People View God (Journal Article)

The Role of Entitativity in Perpetuating Cycles of Violence (Journal Article)

Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World (Book)

Deradicalizing Detained Terrorists (Journal Article)

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)

Significance Quest Theory as the Driver of Radicalization towards Terrorism (Book Chapter)

The Psychology of Radicalization and Deradicalization: How Significance Quest Impacts Violent Extremism (Journal Article)

Terrorism—A (self) love story: Redirecting the significance quest can end violence (Journal Article)

The psychological structure of aggression across cultures (Journal Article)

Explaining and Predicting Cultural Differences in Negotiation (Book Chapter)

Detainee Deradicalization (Journal Article)

News References

Foreign Affairs: The threat reflex: Why some societies respond to danger better than others (START in the News)

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. (START in the News)

The Conversation: As states reopen, tensions flare between the rule followers and rule breakers (START in the News)

NPR: Playing Tight And Loose: How Rules Shape Our Lives (START in the News)

The Guardian: Authoritarian leaders thrive on fear. We need to help people feel safe (START in the News)

Science: Explaining the puzzle of human diversity (START in the News)

The Conversation: Could climate change fuel the rise of right-wing nationalism? (START in the News)

The National Interest: Who Was behind Sri Lanka’s Easter Terrorist Attacks? (START in the News)

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 (START in the News)

The Guardian: Here’s the science behind the Brexit vote and Trump’s rise (START in the News)

Scientific American: A Powerful Force That Shapes All of our Decisions (START in the News)

Quartz: Islamic terrorism and domestic mass shootings may be caused by the exact same psychological phenomenon (START in the News)

The Stanford Daily: Q&A with Sarah Lyons-Padilla (START in the News)

The Conversation UK: Another mass shooting – what the experts say (START in the News)

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 (START in the News)

Terrorism: A Self-Love Story (News)

The National Interest: Learning from Sri Lanka (START in the News)

Haaretz: Is it possible to 'de-radicalize' terrorists? (START in the News)

The Australian: A Radical Case For Treatment (START in the News)

Media Corp Radio: Singapore Needs to Develop More Systematic Evaluation for Terrorist Rehab (START in the News)