Michael Bernstein, Ph.D, is an experimental psychologist. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Rhode Island and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University. He is an Assistant Professor at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in the Department of Diagnostic Imaging. He has received grant funding as Principal Investigator from the National Institutes of Health and private organizations.

Dr. Bernstein’s research is focused on the overlap of cognitive science and medicine. In one line of work, he studies the placebo effect and expectancies. For instance, he is currently conducting clinical trials to evaluate whether honest placebos can reduce pain and prescription opioid use. Dr. Bernstein serves as Director of the Brown Medical Expectations Laboratory. In another line of work, he examines human factors psychology as applied to the radiology setting. This research is part of the Brown Radiology Human Factors Laboratory, where Dr. Bernstein is the Associate Director and Dr. Grayson Baird is the Director.

Finally, Dr. Bernstein is interested in political psychology. He has been involved in studies on myside bias (a term originated by Keith Stanovich), political tribalism, and the perception of gender equity.