Welcome to the Personality and Evolutionary Psychology Lab
The Personality and Evolutionary Psychology (PEP) Lab is directed by Associate Professor Melissa McDonald in the Department of Psychology at Oakland University. We apply an interdisciplinary framework that draws on theoretical and empirical work in social, personality, and evolutionary psychology. The lab is currently focused on two broad research areas: (1) developing an understanding of the psychology that underpins women’s fear of rape, including the factors that exacerbate that fear, and how fear drives particular behaviors aimed at mitigating threats of sexual assault, and (2) the causes, consequences, and remedies for intergroup bias. Click below to find out more information about the members of the lab, the research we do, and opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students.
Photographs from the Detroit African Bead Museum, the Spirit of Detroit, the Diego Rivera Murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Detroit Chimera Graffiti Mural by artist Kobie Solomon at the Russell Industrial Center