International Relations, Political Psychology, Security Studies, American Foreign Policy,
Emotion and Decision Making
Ph.D., Stanford University, 1991
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Note: Professor McDermott will be on leave for the academic year 2009-2010 and will not be in residence. Professor McDermott's main area of research revolves around political psychology in international relations. She is the author of Risk Taking in International Relations: Prospect Theory in American Foreign Policy (University of Michigan Press, 1998), Political Psychology in International Relations (University of Michigan Press, 2004), and Presidential Illness, Leadership and Decision Making (Cambridge University Press, 2008).
She is co-editor of Measuring Identity: A Guide for Social Science Research, with R. Abdelal, Y. Herrera, and A. I. Johnson (Cambridge University Press, 2009). She is currently working on a new book project on the impact of pandemic disease on international security issues. She has written numerous articles and book chapters on experimentation, the impact of emotion on decision making, and evolutionary and neuroscientific models of political science.
During the 2008-2009 academic year, Professor McDermott was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. She has also held fellowships at the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies and the Women and Public Policy Program, both at Harvard University.
Courses Taught: | PS 106 PP | Political Psychology | | PS 121 | International Politics | | PS 127 | American Foreign Policy | | PS 225 | International Relations | | PS 275 | War, Diplomacy, and International Security |
Selected Recent Publications:
(Some publications can be downloaded from Professor McDermott's website at the Center for Evolutionary Psychology, UCSB.)
Presidential Illness, Leadership and Decision Making. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Measuring Identity: A Guide for Social Science Research (co-edited with R. Abdelal, Y. Herrera, and A. I. Johnson). Cambridge University Press, 2009.
"On the Evolutionary Origins of Prospect Theory" (with J. Fowler and O. Smirov). Journal of Politics 70 (April 2008: 335-350.
"Change the Analyst and Not the System: A Different Approach to Intelligence Reform" (with U. Bar-Joseph). Foreign Policy Analysis 4 (April 2008): 127-145.
"Medical Decision-Making: Lessons from Psychology." In T. Diebel (special editor) Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations 26 (special issue, November-December 2008): 665-668.
"The Use and Misuse of Medical Intelligence." Intelligence and National Security 22 (2007): 491-520.
"Social Dilemma Experiments in Political Science." In M. Webster and J. Sell (eds.), Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences. Elsevier, 2008.
"Emotions and War: An Evolutionary Model of Motivation." In M Midlarsky (ed.), Handbook of War Studies III. University of Michigan Press, 2009.
"Cognitive Neuroscience and Politics: Next Steps." In R. Neuman, G. Marcus, M. MacKuen, and A. Crigler (eds.), The Affect Effect: Dynamics of Emotion in Political Thinking and Behavior. University of Chicago Press, 2007.
"Testosterone and Aggression in a Simulated Crisis Game" (with D. Johnson, J. Cowden, and S. Rosen). The Annals: Biology and Political Behavior. American Academy of Political and Social Science (November 2007).
"Experiments and Observations: Towards a Unified Framework of Research Design" (with J. Gerring). American Journal of Political Science 51 (July 2007): 688-701.
"The Psychology of Terrorist Alarms" (with P. Zimbardo). In B. Bonger, L. Beutler, J. Breckenridge, and P. G. Zimbardo (eds.), The Psychology of Terrorism. Oxford University Press, 2006.
"Identity as a Variable" (with R. Abdelal, Y. Herrera and I. Johnston). Perspectives on Politics 4 (December 2006): 695-711.
"Overconfidence in Wargames: Experimental Evidence of Expectations, Aggression, Gender and Testosterone" (with D. Johnson, E. Barrett, J. Cowden, R. Wrangham and S. Rosen). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B (Biology) 273 (June 2006): 2513-2520.
"Leader Age, Regime Type, and Violent International Relations" (with M. Horowitz and A. Stam). Journal of Conflict Resolution 4 (December 2005): 661-685.
"The Feeling of Rationality: The Meaning of Neuroscience for Political Science," Perspectives on Politics 2 (December 2004): 691-706.
Political Psychology in International Relations, University of Michigan Press, 2004.
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