Rose McDermott

Rose McDermott is the David and Mariana Fisher University Professor of International Relations at Brown University and a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She works in the areas of political psychology, American foreign and defense policy, and gender. She received her Ph.D.(Political Science) and M.A. (Experimental Social Psychology) from Stanford University and has taught at Cornell and UCSB. She has held fellowships at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies and the Women and Public Policy Program, all at Harvard University. She has been a fellow at the Stanford Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences twice. She is the author of five books, a co-editor of two additional volumes, and author of over two hundred academic articles across a wide variety of disciplines encompassing topics such as gender, experimentation, intelligence, cyber security. emotion and decision making, and the biological and genetic bases of political behavior.

Research

I work on a wide variety of different topics. Current projects include a large series of survey experiments examining attitudes toward gender inequality across multiple countries encompassing multiple topics. I am also currently involved in a series of projects related to ethical considerations in implementing field experiments. I also work on topics including identity, intelligence, cybersecurity, genetic contributions to political attitudes and behaviors, and emotional aspects of decision-making.

Publications

McDermott, R. (K. Monroe, Ed.) (2018). The Evils of Polygyny: The David Easton Lectures by Rose McDermott. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

McDermott, Rose (2019). Political Science’s #metoo moment. Journal of Women, Politics and Policy. Special issue edited by Nadia Brown.

McDermott, Rose. Leader’s Emotional Manipulation of Political Identity: An Evolutionary Perspective. (2019). Leadership Quarterly Special Issue on the Evolution and Biology of Leadership (Guest editors: Mark Van Vugt and Chris von Rueden).

McDermott, Rose. (2019). Psychological Underpinnings of Post-Truth in Political Beliefs. PS

McDermott, Rose.(2018) Coalitional Rivalry May Hurt in Trade, but Help in War: Commentary on Boyer & Petersen. Behavior and Brain Sciences

McDermott, Rose & Hatemi, Peter K.(Guest editors). (2018). Evolutionary Psychology: special issue on Evolution and Politics

McDermott, Rose & Hatemi, Peter K.(2018). To go forward, we must look back: The importance of evolutionary psychology for understanding modern politics.

Evolutionary Psychology special issue (Guest Editors: Rose McDermott and Peter K. Hatemi)

McDermott, R, Lopez, A. & Hatemi, P. (2017). Blunt Not the Heart, Enrage it: The Psychology of Revenge and Deterrence. Texas National Security Review 1(1).

Bar-Joseph, Uri & McDermott, Rose (2017). Intelligence Successes and Failure: The Human Factor. New York: Oxford University Press.

Hatemi, Peter K., Charles Crabtree & McDermott, Rose (January 15, 2017) Sexual Preferences and Political Ideology: Does Performance in the Bedroom Predict Performance in the Ballot Box?” Personality and Individual Differences

McDermott,R. (2017). The Evolutionary Psychology of Coercion. Comparative Strategy

Glowacki L, Isakov A, Wrangham R, McDermott, R., Fowler J & Christakis N. Key individuals and friendship networks facilitate high-risk collective action in inter-group violence (October 10, 2016). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dean, Benjamin & McDermott, Rose (2017). A research agenda to improve decision making in cyber security policy. Penn State Journal of Law and International Affairs 5(1).

McDermott, Rose & Hatemi, Peter K (May 31, 2016). The Relationship Between Physical Aggression, Foreign Policy and Moral Choices: Phenotypic and Genetic Findings. Aggressive Behavior

McDermott, Rose & Bar-Joseph, Uri. (2016) Pearl Harbor and Midway: The Decisive Influence of Two Men on the Outcome. Intelligence and National Security, 1-14.

McDermott, Rose, Lopez, Anthony & Hatemi, Peter K. (2016) An Evolutionary Approach to Political Leadership. Security Studies 25(4), 677-698

McDermott, Rose (2016). Group Behavior in the Military May Present A Unique Case. Commentary on Baumeister et al. Behavior and Brain Sciences, 39

Hatemi, Peter K. & McDermott, Rose (2016). Give Me Attitudes. Annual Review of Political Science, 331-350.

Teaching

News|Recent News

Politicians and pundits used to refrain from publicly attacking kids. Not anymore. (comments by Rose McDermott)

October 16, 2019 The Washington Post

Rose McDermott offers commentary on the rise in prominence of youth advocates around the world.

The Trump Voters Whose ‘Need for Chaos’ Obliterates Everything Else (Rose McDermott cited)

September 5, 2019 The New York Times

In the New York Times, "In a paper that parallels the work of Petersen and his colleagues, Rose McDermott and Peter K. Hatemi, political scientists at Brown and Penn State, argue that Trump and other right-wing populist leaders have tapped into evolutionarily based “tribal sentiments and drives.”

Why are humans so kind, yet so cruel? (comments by Rose McDermott)

March 7, 2019 Christian Science Monitor

Professor Rose McDermott comments on human nature's extremes of kindness and aggression, saying "Over long periods of time among large numbers of people, you end up with a more – slightly more – egalitarian system. We breed a kind of peacefulness, at least for the in-group."

Banishment of an acclaimed UC Irvine professor sparks debate over whether #MeToo can go too far (comments by Rose McDermott)

October 15, 2018 Los Angeles Times

Professor Rose McDermott says younger women are more sensitive to perceived harassment than older ones. “How we draw the line between inappropriate or patronizing behavior and genuine harassment is really challenging because women themselves don’t agree...Those in-between spaces are getting harder to negotiate.”

Explore Watson: Numerous Watson and Political Science Faculty to Present
Cutting-edge Research at National Meeting

August 29, 2018

Backing Up Women With Facts and Figures (Rose McDermott mentioned)

July 17, 2018 Pass Blue

The WomenStats Project links the status of women to the security and behavior of countries, offering insights into women's lives all over the world. The database helped uphold a ban on polygyny in Canada when Professor Rose McDermott submitted empirical research that used WomenStats numbers to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

Research Achievement Awards honor accomplished Brown scholars (Rose McDermott mentioned)

April 20, 2018 News from Brown

Among the winners of the annual award program is Professor Rose McDermott, who "earned a Distinguished Research Achievement Award for her pioneering scholarship, including in the area of political psychology, and her innovative interdisciplinary work across political science, international relations, psychology and behavioral genetics."

People

Biography