David S. March
check Recruiting a graduate student for Fall of 2026
Education
Ph.D., University of Tennessee, 2019
Research Interests
David March investigates how automatic, often unconscious processes shape the way people perceive and respond to their social world, with a particular focus on threat. His Dual Implicit Process Model (DIPM) distinguishes the unique speed and strength with which threatening versus nonthreatening information is processed, offering a framework for understanding how these rapid evaluations guide attitudes and behavior. Drawing on methods ranging from behavioral experiments and computational modeling to virtual reality tools, his work bridges social cognition, affective science, and neuroscience. Beyond theory, he examines how threat processing informs real-world intergroup dynamics, such as police–civilian interactions, authoritarian attitudes, and responses to uncertainty or danger. Together, this program of research provides an integrated view of the social cognitive, affective, and motivational systems that drive human judgment and action.
March, D. S., *Hasty, C., & #Olivett, V. J. (2024). The threat sensitivity scale: A brief self-report measure of dispositional sensitivity toward perceiving threats to physical harm. Scientific Reports, 14, 11304. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-61476-7
Zsido, A. N., Inhof, O., Kiss, B. L., Bali, C., & March, D. S. (2023). Threatening stimuli have differential effects on movement preparation and execution – A study on snake fear. People and Nature, 0, 0. doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10500
March, D., Olson, M., & Gaertner, L. (2023). Automatic threat processing shows evidence of exclusivity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46, 131. doi:10.1017/S0140525X22002928
Olivett, V., Maranges, H. M., & March D. S. (2023). The unique roles of threat perception and misinformation accuracy judgments in the relationship between political orientation and COVID-19 health behaviors. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 53, 508-518. doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12960
March, D. S. (2022). Perceiving a danger within: Black Americans associate Black men with physical threat. Social Psychological and Personality Science. 0, 0. doi.org/10.1177/19485506221142970
Coles, N. A., March, D. S., Marmolejo-Ramos, F. [and 30 others] (2022). A multi-lab test of the facial feedback hypothesis by the many smiles collaboration. Nature Human Behaviour, 6, 1731-1742. doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/cvpuw
March, D. S., & Gaertner, L. (2022). Female advantage in threat avoidance manifests in threat reaction, but not threat detection. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45, 142. doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X22000462
March, D. S., Gaertner, L., & Olson, M. A. (2022). On the automatic nature of threat: Physiological and evaluative responses to survival-threats outside conscious perception. Affective Science, 3, 135-144. doi.org/10.1007/s42761-021-00090-6
March, D. S., Gaertner, L., & Olson, M. A. (2021). Danger or dislike: Distinguishing threat from valence as sources of automatic anti-Black bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 121, 984-1004. doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000288
March, D. S., & Gaertner, L. (2021). A Method for estimating the Time of Initiating Correct Categorization in mouse-tracking. Behavior Research Methods, 53, 2439-2449. doi.org/10.3758/s13428-021-01575-9
Olivett, V. J., & March, D. S. (2021) White civilians’ implicit danger evaluation of police officers underlies explicit perception of police. Current Research: Principles and Implications, 6, 81. doi.org/10.1186/s41235-021-00343-9.
March, D. S., & Gaertner, L. (2021). A Method for estimating the Time of Initiating Correct Categorization in mouse-tracking. Behavior Research Methods, 53, 2439-2449. doi.org/10.3758/s13428-021-01575-9.
March, D., S., Olson, M., A., & Gaertner, L. (2020). Lions, and tigers, and implicit Measures, oh my! Implicit assessment and the valence vs. threat distinction. Social Cognition, 38, 154-164. doi.org/10.1521/soco.2020.38.supp.s154.
Fritzlen, K., Phillips, J., March, D. S, & Olson, M. (2020). I know (what) you are, but what am I? The effect of recategorization threat and perceived immutability on prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 46, 94-108. doi.org/10.1177/0146167219843932.
March, D. S., Olson, M. A, & Fazio, R. H. (2018). The Implicit Misattribution Model of evaluative conditioning. Social Psychological Bulletin, 13, 1-25. doi.org/10.5964/spb.v13i3.27574
March, D. S., Gaertner, L., & Olson, M. A. (2018). On the prioritized processing of threat in a Dual Implicit Process model of evaluation. Psychological Inquiry, 29, 1-13. doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2018.1435680
March, D. S., Gaertner, L., & Olson, M. A. (2017). In harm’s way: On preferential response to threatening stimuli. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43, 1519-1529. doi.org/10.1177/0146167217722558. (Awarded the Student Publication Prize by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology)
March, D. S. & Graham, R. (2015). Exploring implicit ingroup and outgroup bias toward Hispanics. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 18, 89-103. doi.org/10.1177/1368430214542256
Undergraduate Research
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