Michele J. Gelfand

Michele J. Gelfand is a cultural psychologist, best known for being an expert on tightness-looseness theory, which explains variations in the strength of social norms and punishments across human groups. She is currently a Professor and Distinguished University Scholar Teacher at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Gelfand studied at Colgate University, where she graduated with a B.A. in psychology in 1989. She graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1996 with a PhD in social psychology and organizational psychology. There, she studied under the mentorship of Harry Triandis, one of the founders of cross-cultural psychology. She was on the faculty of New York University from 1995 to 1996, and she has worked at the University of Maryland, College Park since 1996.

Gelfand is the editor of several academic books and series, including Advances in Culture and Psychology, which she co-founded; Psychology of Conflict and Conflict Management in Organizations; and The Handbook of Negotiation and Culture. She was the president of the International Association for Conflict Management from 2009 to 2010.

Gelfand has conducted research across many cultures, using field, experimental, computational, and neuroscientific methods to understand the evolution of cultural differences and their consequences for individuals, teams, organizations, and nations. Gelfand has also done work on the role of culture in negotiation and conflict and the psychology of revenge and forgiveness.

Cultural tightness-looseness

Gelfand is considered a pioneering researcher on the concept of tightness-looseness. She is credited with defining the tightness-looseness classification system, which assesses how much a culture adheres to social norms and tolerates deviance. Tight cultures are more restrictive, with stricter disciplinary measures for norm violations while loose cultures have weaker social norms and a higher tolerance for deviant behavior. Gelfand found that a history of threats, such as natural disasters, high population density, or vulnerability to infectious diseases, is associated with greater tightness. Her research has shown that tightness allows cultures to coordinate more effectively to survive threats.

• Carol and Ed Diener Award in Social Psychology, Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2015)
• William A. Owens Scholarly Achievement Award, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (2014)
• Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (2012)
• Anneliese Maier Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2011)
• Best Paper Award for New Directions, Academy of Management Conflict Management Division (2009)
• Distinguished University Scholar-Teacher, University of Maryland, College Park (2009)
• Outstanding Article of the Year Award, International Association for Conflict Management (2009, 2004, and 2001)
• Cummings Scholarly Achievement Award, Academy of Management Organizational Behavior Division (2002)
• Distinguished Early Career Contribution Award, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (2002)

• "Diener Award in Social Psychology, Past Recipients". Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Retrieved 2016-06-03. 
• "William A. Owens Scholarly Achievement Award, Past Recipients". American Psychological Association. Retrieved 2016-06-03. 
• "Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize Winners" (PDF). Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Retrieved 2016-06-03. 
• "Gelfand Receives Anneliese Maier Research Award". Association for Psychological Science. 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2016-06-02. 
• "CMD Sponsored Awards". Academy of Management, Conflict Management Division. Retrieved 2016-06-03. 
• "Distinguished Scholar Teacher Recipients". University of Maryland Office of Faculty Affairs. Retrieved 2016-06-03. 
• "IACM Outstanding Article or Book Chapter Award Recipients". International Association of Conflict Management. Retrieved 2016-06-03. 
• "Cummings Scholarly Achievement Award, Past Award Winners". Organizational Behavior Division of the Academy of Management. Retrieved 2016-06-03. 
• "Past SIOP Award Recipients". Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Retrieved 2016-06-03. 

• Gelfand, Michele J.; Raver, Jana L.; Nishii, Lisa; Leslie, Lisa M.; Lun, Janetta; et al. (2011). "Differences Between Tight and Loose Cultures: A 33-Nation Study." Science, 332, 1100-1104. doi: 10.1126/science.1197754
• Harrington, Jesse R.; Gelfand, Michele J. (2014). "Tightness–looseness across the 50 united states." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111, 7990-7995. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1317937111
• Roos, Patrick; Gelfand, Michele J.; Nau, Dana; Lun, Janetta (2015). "Societal threat and cultural variation in the strength of social norms: An evolutionary basis." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,129, 14-23. doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2015.01.003
• Gelfand, Michele J.; Leslie, Lisa M.; Keller, Kirsten; de Dreu, Carsten (2012). "Conflict cultures in organizations: How leaders shape conflict cultures and their organizational-level consequences." Journal of Applied Psychology, 97, 1131-1147. doi: 10.1037/a0029993
• Gelfand, Michele J.; Severance, Laura; Lee, Tiane; Bruss, C. Bayan; Lun, Janetta; Abdel-Latif, Abdel-Hamid; Moustafa Ahmed, Sally (2015). "Culture and getting to yes: The linguistic signature of creative agreements in the United States and Egypt." Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(7), 967-989. doi: 10.1002/job.2026
• Imai, Lynne; Gelfand, Michele J. (2010). "The culturally intelligent negotiator: The impact of cultural intelligence (CQ) on negotiation sequences and outcomes." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,112, 83-98. doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2010.02.001
• Gelfand, Michele J.; Erez, Miriam; Aycan, Zeynep (2007). "Cross-cultural organizational behavior." Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 479-514. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085559
• Triandis, Harry C.; Gelfand, Michele J. (1998). "Converging measurement of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 118-128. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.74.1.118