Melissa McDonald is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Oakland University.

Melissa McDonald is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Oakland University. She studies the evolved psychology of intergroup conflict, particularly how that function varies between the sexes as a result of an evolutionary history in which men and women faced distinct adaptive challenges in their interactions with outgroups. Her research also investigates the development of practical interventions to reduce bias between groups in real conflict, and large-scale interventions aimed at promoting minority students' persistence and success in STEM fields.

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Authored by Melissa McDonald

November 28, 2023

Extremist Groups Require the Greatest Trust Among Members

Good signals are those which clearly differentiate membership in one group versus another; even stronger are those which are also costly to express, and therefore hard to fake.