Michael N. Stagnaro is a postdoctoral researcher at the MIT Department Management Science, and the Department of Psychology at Yale University. His interests involve social cognitive models of how beliefs are formed, defended and lost in religious and political contexts; as well as understanding how people strengthen and weaken their connections to ideologies and ideological communities. His work takes a multidisciplinary approach, utilizing both theoretical and methodological tools from social and cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, and evolutionary theory. In his spare time, he enjoys road trips, rock climbing and consuming a questionable amount of coffee.