Pasha Dashtgard Ph.D.
Director of Research, Polarization & Extremism Research Innovation Lab, American University
2025
Pasha Dashtgard is the Director of Research for the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL). He has a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the department of Psychological Science at the University of California, Irvine, and was formerly a postdoctoral Fellow at Loyola Marymount University’s Psychology Applied Research Center (PARC). He attended Columbia University, Teacher’s College for his MA in Mental Health Counseling and Ed.M in Education.
Dr. Dashtgard leads PERIL’s research and evaluation team, overseeing national testing of all prevention and intervention tools alongside primary research in the form of nationally-representative surveys, focus groups, and ethnography. Pasha’s research interests include masculinities, online radicalization, PTSD, and large-scale mental health policy/service delivery. Research projects include analysis using his Male Supremacy Scale (MSS) and its intersections with online behavior, PTSD in solitary confinement, and various projects intervening with populations beset by misinformation, conspiratorial thinking, and political polarization.
The inaugural Eradicate Hate Summit was a truly impressive gathering of leaders dedicated to finding lasting and effective solutions to violent extremism. I was particularly moved by the prominence given to survivors and family members of victims of hate and violence throughout the event. Their stories and those of so many others must be at the center of what we do and why we do it.
