Michael McCullough is a professor of psychology and the director of the Evolution and Human Behavior Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego. McCullough is an experimental psychologist who is concerned primarily with the evolutionary and cognitive underpinnings of human sociality. He was one of the first scientists to take an interest in interpersonal forgiveness and to develop tools for studying it experimentally. He has also innovated experimental approaches to studying gratitude, revenge, prosocial behavior, religious cognition, and intertemporal choice. Additionally, McCullough has worked in recent years to help clear up scientific puzzles about self-control and about the social effects of a hormone known as oxytocin.
New Book Out Now
An inspiring and engrossing new look at human goodness.
–Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now
This is a controversial book, but McCullough’s arguments are smart, clear, and ultimately persuasive.
–Paul Bloom, author of Against Empathy
Enlightened by evocative anecdotes and well-explained theory, The Kindness of Strangers is as original as it is persuasive.
–Richard Wrangham, author of The Goodness Paradox