Melissa Ferguson

Melissa J. Ferguson is a Professor of Psychology at Yale University since 2020, previously affiliated with Cornell University's Psychology Department (2002-2020). Her research focuses on implicit cognitive processes underpinning evaluation, goal-pursuit, self-control, and social behavior. She investigates impression updating, prejudice expression, and behavioral control mechanisms.

• Ph.D., Social Psychology, New York University (2002)

As director of Yale's Implicit Social Cognition Lab, Ferguson explores how implicit evaluations evolve through reinterpretation and new evidence. Her work spans human-robot interaction, moral agency, and political bias dynamics, with funding from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.

Recent publications analyze: (1) Robot competence evaluation mechanisms, (2) Implicit bias correction methods, (3) Legal decision-making patterns, and (4) Prejudice shifts during political events. She contributes to high-impact outlets like Psychological Science and PNAS.

• Best Paper Award, ISCON 2016