Michele Gelfand

Michele Gelfand is Professor of Psychology and Affiliate of the RH Smith School of Business and lead a diverse group of scholars within the Social Decision Making and Organizational Science area at the University of Maryland, College Park. Under her direction, this group studies phenomenon relating to the strength of cultural norms and cultural values, negotiation, conflict, revenge, and forgiveness, and and diversity. More recently, she has branched into the study of subjective culture in the Middle East, and founded a growing research program on tightness-looseness. Her philosophy is to incorporate as many disciplinary perspectives as possible into her work, and she and colleagues work with computer scientists, neuroscientists, political scientists, and increasingly biologists to understand all things cultural. Check out the group here, and find out how to get involved here.

Recent Posts

May 5, 2020 in Podcast

Tightening and Loosening Up for the Coronavirus Pandemic with Michele Gelfand

TVOL's first podcast with Michele Gelfand explored an axis of cultural variation from "tight" (strong norms, strongly enforced) to "loose" (tolerant of individual differences).
Read More
October 20, 2019 in Podcast

Michele Gelfand on Tight and Loose Cultures

Listen: Spotify -  Google - Apple -  Stitcher Most people think of cultural differences in terms of race, class, nationality, or religion. Michele Gelfand introduces the concept of 'tight" and "loose", which cuts across all of those other categories.…
Read More