August 2025 Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Michigan, School for Environment and Sustainability
Exp. 2025 Ph.D., Social Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder
Exp. 2025 Certificate in College Teaching
2024 Certificate in Quantitative Methods
2022 M.A., Social Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder
2019 B.A., Psychology, Summa Cum Laude, University of Colorado, Boulder
2013 B.S., Biology, minor in Religious Studies, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Grant, M. D., Markowitz, D., Sherman, D. K., Flores, A., Dickert, S., Eom, K., Jiga-Boy, G., Kogut, T., Mayorga, M., Oonk, D., Pedersen, E. J., Pereira, B., Rubaltelli, E., Slovic, P., Vastfjall, D., & Van Boven, L. (2024). Ideological diversity of media consumption predicts COVID-19 vaccination. Scientific Reports. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-77408-4
Coverage: PsyPost, CU Boulder Today, Denver7 News(coming soon!)
Grant, M. D., , Flores, A., Pedersen, E. J., & Van Boven, L. (2024). Social Judgment and Decision Making: A tale of diverging and converging literature. In Carlston, D. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Social Cognition. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197763414.013.38
Ramos, J., Grant, M. D., Flores, A., Pedersen, E. J., Dickert, S., Eom, K., Jiga-Boy, G., Kogut, T., Mayorga, M., Pedersen, J., Pereira, B., Rubaltelli, E., Sherman, D., Slovic, P., Västfjäll, D., & Van Boven, L. (2022). Structured reflection increases intentions to reduce other people’s health risks during COVID-19. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) Nexus, pgac218, https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac218
Grant, M. D., Flores, A., Pedersen, E. J., Sherman, D. K., Van Boven, L. (2021) When election expectations fail: Polarized perceptions of election legitimacy increase with accumulating evidence of election outcomes and with polarized media. PLoS ONE. 16(12): e0259473. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259473
Coverage: PsyPost, CU Boulder Today
Grant, M. D., Loria, R., Wadsworth, L. & Pedersen, E. J. (in prep). Friendship formation and maintenance: A longitudinal study examining the function of gratitude.
Grant, M. D., McCullough, M. E., & Pedersen, E. J. (in prep). Tracking opportunities to initiate cooperative partnerships with others in need: A new application of the 'Who Said What' paradigm.
2025 Sheryl R. Young Memorial Fellowship ($4,000)
CU Boulder Graduate School
2025 Grant-in-aid Award
Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues (program website, $1,000)
2025 Jenessa Shapiro Research Award
Society for Personality and Social Psychology (program website, $1,000)
2024 Dosier/Muenzinger Predoctoral Research Fellowship
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, CU Boulder ($5,000)
2024 Graduate School Dissertation Completion Fellowship
CU Boulder Graduate School (program website, $14,500)
2024 Graduate and Professional Student Government Travel Grant
CU Boulder Graduate School ($500)
2024 Dozier/Muenzinger Award for Outstanding Teaching
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, CU Boulder ($3,000)
2024 Future Families Fellowship
CU Boulder Graduate School (program website, $2,500)
2023 Graduate Student Award
Center for Advancing Research and Teaching in the Social Sciences (CARTSS, $1,200)
2023 Co-lead Graduate Student Fellowship
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, CU Boulder (program website, $650)
2023 Graduate School Domestic Travel Grant
CU Boulder Graduate School ($450)
2023 Summer Institute in Social and Personality Psychology (SISPP)
Course: Psychology of Religion, Ohio State University
Society for Personality and Social Psychology (program website)
2019 Women in Affective Science Institute Undergraduate Fellowship
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, CU Boulder (program website)
2019 Professional and Academic Conference Endowment Award
CU Boulder ($500)
2019 Diversity Undergraduate Registration Award
Society for Personality and Social Psychology ($200)
2018 Garner Foundation Scholarship
CU Boulder ($2,000)
2018 Imogene Jacobs Award
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, CU Boulder ($1,000)
2018 Garner Foundation Scholarship in Arts and Sciences ($2,000)
CU Boulder
2017 Graduating Honors Student Award ($500)
Bunker Hill Community College
2017 Rosann Sperduto ’88 Memorial Scholarship ($500)
Bunker Hill Community College
2017 Nominee for Presidential Leadership Award
Bunker Hill Community College
Grant, M. D. & Van Boven, L. (2025, May). Ideologically diverse media consumption predicts COVID-19 and trust in science. Paper to be presented at 2025 Association for Psychology Science (APS) Annual Convention, Washington, District of Columbia.
Grant, M. D. & Van Boven, L. (2025, February) The impact of consuming ideologically diverse media consumption on affective polarization, belief in election legitimacy, and policy support. In M. D. Grant (Co-chair), Social psychology and contemporary policy issues: Reducing partisan division. Symposium to be conducted at the 2025 Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado.
Grant, M. D. (2024, November 6) Political Polarization From the Perspective of Social Psychology. Talk given at Psychology Club, CU Boulder, Boulder, Colorado.
Grant, M. D., Van Boven, L. (2024, August). The effect of consuming ideologically diverse news media on affective polarization and political attitudes. Paper presented at 2024 Compassion Week for Decision Research Lab, Eugene, Oregon.
Grant, M. D.*, Loria, R.*, Forster, D., McCullough, M., Lieberman, D., & Pedersen, E. J. (2024, February). Friendship formation and maintenance: A longitudinal study examining gratitude over time. In M. D. Grant (Chair), Examining the formation and maintenance of friendship through the evolutionary lens. Symposium conducted at 2024 SPSP Annual Convention, San Diego, California.
Grant, M. D., McCullough, M. E., & Pedersen, E. J. (2023, August). Tracking opportunities to develop cooperative relationships with needy others. Paper presented at 2023 Compassion Week for Decision Research Lab, Eugene, Oregon.
Grant, M. D., Loria, R., & Pedersen, E. J. (2023, June). Friendship formation and maintenance: A longitudinal study examining gratitude over time. Paper to be presented at 2023 Human Behavior and Evolutionary Society (HBES) Annual Convention, Palm Springs, California.
Grant, M. D., McCullough, M. E., & Pedersen, E. J. (2022, April). Tracking opportunities to develop cooperative relationships with needy others. Paper presented at 2022 Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society (NEEPS) Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Grant, M. D., McCullough, M. E., & Pedersen, E. J. (2021, August). Tracking opportunities to develop cooperative relationships with needy others. Paper presented at 2021 Compassion Week for Decision Research Lab, virtual.
Grant, M. D., Wadsworth, L., Loria, R., & Pedersen, E. J. (2021, July). Contaminated gratitude: How fear expressed by immigrants decreases host citizen willingness to welcome immigrants into their communities. Paper presented at 2021 NEEPS Conference, virtual.
Grant, M. D., McCullough, M. E., & Pedersen, E. J. (2021, July). Tracking opportunities to develop cooperative relationships with needy others. Paper presented at 2021 HBES Annual Convention, virtual.
Grant, M. D., Van Boven, L., & Pedersen, E. J. (2021, February). Trusting strangers: How attention influences willingness to trust novel others. In M. D. Grant (Chair), The role of attention in judgment and decision-making. Symposium conducted at the 2021 SPSP Annual Convention, virtual.
Grant, M. D., Ramos, J., Flores, A., & Van Boven, L. (2021, February). Introspection decreases risky behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. Paper presented at 2021 SPSP Annual Pre-conference for Judgment and Decision-Making, virtual.
Grant, M. D., Pedersen, E. J., & Van Boven, L. (2020, August). Trusting strangers: How attention influences trust in novel others. Paper presented at Compassion Week for Decision Research Lab, virtual.
Grant, M. D. (2019, April). How attention influences prosocial behavior. Paper presented at Ekstrand Memorial Mini-Convention, Boulder, Colorado.
Grant, M. D. & Van Boven, L. (2025, May). Ideologically diverse media consumption predicts COVID-19 and trust in science. Poster to be presented at 2025 Association for Psychology Science (APS) Annual Convention, Washington, District of Columbia.
*Nicault, P., Grant, M. D., & Van Boven, L. (2025, February). The effect of consuming diverse news media on climate change beliefs. Poster to be presented at 2025 Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Annual Pre-conference for Sustainability Psychology, Denver, Colorado.
*Kim, J., Grant, M. D., & Van Boven, L. (2025, February). The effect of ideologically diverse news media consumption on elite affective polarization. Poster presented at 2025 SPSP Annual Pre-conference for Political Psychology, Denver, Colorado.
*Amarala, H., Grant, M. D., & Van Boven, L. (2025, February). The effect of ideologically diverse news media consumption on COVID-19 vaccination. Poster presented at 2025 SPSP Annual Pre-conference for Health Psychology, Denver, Colorado.
Grant, M. D., & Van Boven, L. (2024, October). Diverse sources depolarize choices: The effect of consuming greater ideological diversity of news media on a variety of politically charged attitudes and behaviors. Poster presented at 2024 APS Annual Convention, virtual.
Grant, M. D., Pedersen, E. J., Ramos, J., & Van Boven, L. (2022, February). Competing adaptive roles of attention in goal assessment and cooperative behavior. Poster presented at SPSP Annual Pre-conference for Evolutionary Psychology, San Francisco, California.
Grant, M. D., Ramos, J., Flores, A., Pedersen, E. J., & Van Boven, L. (2021, May). Introspection decreases risky behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. Poster presented at APS Annual Convention, virtual.
Grant, M. D., Wadsworth, L., Loria, R., & Pedersen, E. J. (2021, February). Contaminated gratitude: How Americans perceive immigrant gratitude as insincere when paired with fear expression. Poster presented at SPSP Annual Pre-conference for Evolutionary Psychology, virtual.
Grant, M. D., Wadsworth, L., Loria, R., & Pedersen, E. J. (2021, February). From stranger to friend: How attention influences trust in strangers. Poster presented at Society for Judgment and Decision-Making (SJDM) Annual Convention, virtual.
Grant, M. D., Wadsworth, L., Forster, D., McCullough, M., Lieberman, D., & Pedersen, E. J. (2020, February). Gratitude and the formation and maintenance of friendships. Poster presented at SPSP Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Grant, M. D., Mrkva, K., & Van Boven, L. (2019, February). Effect of mere exposure on memory-based choice and stimulus-based choice. Poster presented at SPSP Annual Convention, Portland, Oregon.
Grant, M. D., Mrkva, K., & Van Boven, L. (2018, May). Effect of mere exposure on memory-based choice and stimulus-based choice. Poster presented at Undergraduate Research Day, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado.
Grant, M. D., & Dubson, M. (2017, April). Feminism and the bitch: A gender pejorative through time and its influence on female identity. Poster presented at 23rd Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference, Amherst, Massachusetts.
*first authors are undergraduate research assistants mentored by me
The University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, Colorado
Graduate Part-Time Instructor
Fall 2023 Introduction to Social Psychology
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Spring 2025 Introduction to Social Psychology
Spring 2024 Psychological Science I: Statistics
Spring 2023 Introduction to Social Psychology
Fall 2022 Introduction to Behavioral Genetics
Spring 2022 Psychological Science I: Statistics
Fall 2021 Psychological Science I: Statistics
Spring 2021 Introduction to Social Psychology
Fall 2020 Advanced Judgment and Decision-Making Seminar
Spring 2020 Advanced Research Methods
Fall 2019 Introduction to Research Methods
Honors Student Mentor
Jack Colvin, Fall 2020 – Spring 2021
Research Mentor
Tim Barrette (Fall 2024 – Present)
Don Lyle (Fall 2024 – Present)
Harshith Amarala (Fall 2024 – Present)
Jennifer Kim (Fall 2024 – Present)
Jack Levine (Fall 2022 – Spring 2023, MA student at Fairleigh Dickinson University)
Ashlyn Lee (Fall 2022 – Spring 2023, MA student at CU Boulder)
Kylie Cisney (Fall 2022 – Spring 2023)
Kyley Moriarity (Fall 2022 – Spring 2023)
Katlyn Blacksten (Fall 2022)
Morgan Slaski (Fall 2022)
Scott Uhlman (Fall 2020 – Spring 2021, MA from CU Colorado Springs)
Ayurda Pathak (Fall 2020 – Spring 2021, MA from Fordham University)
Graduate Student Peer Mentor
Justy Gluck (Fall 2023 – Spring 2024)
Liza Sprout (Fall 2023 – Spring 2024)
Undergraduate Learning Assistant
Spring 2019 Biological Psychology
Fall 2018 Biological Psychology
Bunker Hill Community College, Boston, Massachusettes
Spring 2017 Undergraduate Teaching Assistant: Introduction to Research Methods
Spring 2017 Senior Achievement, Cultural competency and Engagement (ACE) Mentor
Fall 2016 Senior ACE Mentor
Summer 2016 Course ACE Mentor: Introduction to Computer Science
Spring 2015 Course ACE Mentor: Introduction to Computer Science
Fall 2015 Course ACE Mentor: Introduction to Computer Science
University of Colorado Boulder, Psychology and Neuroscience Department
Fall 2023-Spring 2024 Co-lead Graduate Student for the Social Psychology Area
Human Behavior and Evolutionary Society (HBES)
12/2023-present Graduate student coordinator for Advancing Diversity through Psychological and Anthropological Training (ADAPT) Program
08/2023-present Wiki student moderator for HBES Places to Study and Jobs Opportunities
Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP)
2024-2025 Student Committee Member-At-Large (Mentorship Events Chair)
2024-2025 Conference Planning Committee Member (Student Representative)
2025 Student Poster Award Reviewer, SPSP Convention 2025
2024 Mentor for Student Mentoring Events, SPSP Convention 2024
2023 Student Poster Awards Reviewer, SPSP Convention 2024
2023 Single Presenter Poster Reviewer, SPSP Convention 2024
Association for Psychological Science (APS)
2025 APS Convention Student Research, RISE, and Grant Awards Reviewer
2024 APS Convention Student Research Award Reviewer
Decision Research Institute, Eugene, Oregon
2020–2021 Co-organizer of Compassion Group Monthly Collaborator Meetings
2021 Co-organizer for Compassion Mini-Week Virtual Convention
Ad hoc reviewing: Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing, Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences
2021 Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society
2020 American Association of University Women
2019 Society for Judgment and Decision Making
2019 Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues
2019 Human Behavior and Evolution Society
2018 Association for Psychological Science
2018 Society for Personality and Social Psychology
2018 American Association for Psychological Science
2017 Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology
2017 American Psychology Association-Personality and Social Psychology
2016 Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society