
Popular Press
Popular press articles by Dr. Michele J. Gelfand
January 6, 2023
How Threatening are Threats
Project Syndicate
While threat-related language naturally becomes more pervasive during wars and natural disasters, it can also spread as a result of misinformation campaigns, “engagement” algorithms, and social contagion effects. Improving our understanding of the threat environment thus has become an urgent imperative.
June 4, 2020
Why some people wear masks but others don’t: A look at the psychology
IDEAS.TED.COM
Reopening the economy has often been framed as a partisan issue in the US. But within households, many families are having their own arguments about how lax or strict they should be about the threat of the virus.
October 25, 2019
Opinion: Can the diaries of ordinary people be used to bridge cultural divides?
Los Angeles Times
Words that carry weight: In a University of Maryland study, Pakistanis and Americans who read diaries from the others’ culture often came away with a more positive and tolerant perspective.
April 2, 2019
Women Don't Just Face a Pay Gap at Work. They're Also Punished Far More Than Men
TIME
On Equal Pay Day, we rightly focus on how a woman would have to work over three months more in order to make what her male counterpart did last year for the same full time work — a gender pay gap that amounts to about $900 billion in annual lost earnings for women holding full-time jobs. But inequities in the workplace go far beyond wage disparity.
January 28, 2019
Tight or Loose: How Culture Impacts Everything, Even Your Job
Glassdoor
According to a new book by cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand, “Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World,” much of the diversity in the way we think and act derives from a key difference—how tightly or loosely we adhere to social norms. Looking a countries, states, cities, workplaces and even families, Gelfand shows how tight and loose cultures shape our entire lives, and play a big role in the decisions we make around where we live, what company we work for and how we approach others.