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Madeleine Gross

Assistant Professor of Psychological Science

  • Los Angeles CA UNITED STATES

madeleineegross.com

Contact

Biography

Dr. Madeleine Gross is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where she directs the Character and Human Potential Lab. An emerging leader in the psychology of flourishing, she studies the neurobiological foundations of positive individual differences—and how to cultivate them. Her research has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Hollywood Reporter, and has earned her a Fulbright Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Crossroads Fellowship, and the American Psychological Association Dissertation Award (2021). Dr. Gross aims to help people at every life stage harness curiosity as a lifelong source of richer experience, broader perspective, and lasting resilience.

Education

University of California, Santa Barbara

PhD

Cognitive Neuroscience

2022

Social

Areas of Expertise

Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience
Flourishing
Personality and Individual Differences
Experimental Psychology

Accomplishments

NSF ‘Crossroads’ Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship

2019-01-21

Interdisciplinary fellowship funded by National Science Foundation

MRCI Multidisciplinary Fellowship

2020-06-17

Multidisciplinary Research on COVID-19 and its Impacts (MRCI) Graduate Student Minigrant program

Fulbright Scholar

2021-08-10

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Languages

  • English

Media Appearances

Master the Art of Daydreamining

The New York Times  online

2025-06-04

Creativity Challenge Series

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Diffuse Political Tension in Your Family With One Simple Question

The Washington Post  online

2025-11-15

Article on how curiosity can reduce political polarization

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Researchers May Have Found the Antidote to Social Media Brain Rot: Experimental Film

The Hollywood Reporter  online

2026-04-15

Article on the impact of art on cognition by Steven Zeitchik

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Research Grants

Expanding minds: The cognitive processes promoted by exposure to art

Art Seeking Understanding: Templeton Religious Trust

2022-06-01

Co-I

The development of an open source app for enhancing curiosity and its associated virtues of intellectual humility, learning, discernment, and creativity

Educating Character Initiative: Wake Forest University

2024-06-01

Co-PI

Art-induced openness: Contexts and mechanisms underlying the cognitive effects of art

Art Seeking Understanding: Templeton Religious Trust

2024-06-01

Co-PI

Courses

Cognitive Neuroscience

Upper Div