Kathleen Schmidt, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology and Data ScienceBiography
Dr. Kathleen Schmidt is a social psychologist whose expertise spans quantitative methods, statistical modeling, and data analysis. Dr. Schmidt completed her doctorate in psychology at the University of Virginia in 2014. She then held Visiting Assistant Professor positions at Virginia's College at Wise and Wesleyan University. For five years, she served as an Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Program Director of Psychology at Southern Illinois University (SIU). She left this tenure-track appointment to pursue collaborative work in psychological science. As a Research Scientist at Ashland University, she led and managed research projects with the Psychological Science Accelerator (PSA), a globally distributed network of researchers dedicated to increasing the quality, speed, and inclusivity of psychological science. Dr. Schmidt then served as a Senior Quantitative Analyst at Hubbard Decision Research (hubbardresearch.com), where she applied advanced statistical modeling, simulation techniques, and decision analysis to help organizations reduce uncertainty and improve financial outcomes. She continues to consult with the firm on select projects.
Schmidt's primary area of research is social cognition, with an emphasis on quantitative methodology, measurement, and statistical inference. Her work has examined the origins, structure, and consequences of implicit bias, including the stability and change of implicit evaluations, relationships between implicit and explicit measures, and methodological sources of variability. A second line of research focuses on improving the rigor and reproducibility of psychological science. That work includes large-scale collaborative projects focused on best practices in data collection, analysis, and reporting.
Education
Ph.D., Psychology, University of Virginia; Charlottesville, VA, USA.
M.A., Psychology, University of Virginia; Charlottesville, VA, USA.
B.A., Psychology, Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, PA, USA.
Publications
Social Cognition
Schmidt, K., & Drake, R. G.* (2023). Minimal group procedures and outcomes. Collabra: Psychology, 9(1), Article 90187. https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.90187
Schmidt, K. (2023). Attribution impacts implicit (and explicit) evaluations. Social Cognition, 43(1), 1-40. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2023.41.1.1
Schmidt, K., Buchanan, E. M., & Hall, B. F.* (2022). Moderators of the relationship between implicit and explicit measures of evaluation and identification. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 100, Article 104280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2021.104280
Calanchini, J., Schmidt, K., Sherman, J. W., & Klein, S. A. W. (2022). The contributions of positive outgroup and negative ingroup evaluation to implicit bias favoring outgroups. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(40), Article e2116924119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2116924119
Schmidt, K., & Axt, J. R. (2016). Implicit and explicit attitudes towards African Americans and Barack Obama did not substantively change during Obama’s presidency. Social Cognition, 34(6), 559-588. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2016.34.6.559
Pronin, E., & Schmidt, K. (2011). Claims and denials of bias and their implications for policy. In E. Shafir (Ed.), Behavioral Foundations of Policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Schmidt, K., & Nosek, B. A. (2010). Implicit (and explicit) racial attitudes barely changed during Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and early presidency. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(2), 308-314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.12.003
Big Team Science
Schmidt, K., Haeffel, G., Levy, N. L., Moreau, D., Lee, S. T. H., Buchanan, E. M., … Wagge, J. R. (2024). A Response to a Comment on Hall et al. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 7(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459241268249
Hall, B. F.*, Schmidt, K., Wagge, J. R., Lewis, S.C., Weissgerber, S. C., Kiunke, F. … Buchanan, E. M. (2024). A large multilab cross-cultural conceptual replication of Turri, Buckwalter, & Blouw. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 7(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459241267902
Hajdu, N., Schmidt, K., Acs, G., Röer, J. P., Mirisola, A., Giammusso, I., … Szaszi, B. (2022). Contextual factors predicting compliance behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic: A machine learning analysis on survey data from 16 countries. PLOS One, 17(11), Article e0276970. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276970
Beshears, J., Gjoneska, B., Schmidt, K., Pfuhl, G., Saari, T., McAuliffe, W. H. B., Steltenpohl, C. N., Onie, S., Chartier, C. R., & Moshontz, H. (2022). Psychological Science Accelerator: A promising resource for clinical psychological science. In W. O’Donohue, A. Masuda, & S. Lilienfeld (Eds.), Avoiding questionable research practices in applied psychology (pp. 419-437). Springer International Publishing.
Replication and Reproducibility
Tyner, A. H., Abatayo, A. L., Daley, M., Field, S., Fox, N., Haber, N. A., … Schmidt, K., … Errington, T. M. (2026). Investigating the replicability of the social and behavioral sciences. Nature, 652, 143–150. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-10078-y
Miske, O., Abatayo, A. L., Daley, M., Dirzo, M., Fox, N., Haber, N., … Schmidt, K., … Errington, T. M. (2026). Investigating the reproducibility of the social and behavioral sciences. Nature. 652, 126–134. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10203-5
Aczel, B., Szaszi, B., Clelland, H. T., Kovacs, M., Schulz-Kümpel, H. Holzmeister, F., … Schmidt, K., … Nosek, B. A. (2026). Investigating the analytical robustness of the social and behavioural sciences. Nature, 652, 135–142. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09844-9
Nagy, T., Hergert, J., Elsherif, M. M., Wallrich, L., Schmidt, K., Waltzer, T., … Rubínová, E. (2025). Bestiary of Questionable Research Practices in Psychology. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 8(3), 25152459251348431. https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459251348431
Open Science Collaboration. (2015). Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science. Science, 349(6251). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac4716
Student-led Collaborations
Junker, M.*, Schmidt, K., & Habib, R. (2023). First target timing influences the attentional blink under low, but not high working memory load. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 85, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-022-02564-6
Stone, B. M.*, & Schmidt, K. (2022). Comparing structural validity and measurement invariance across measures of grit. International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41042-022-00067-1.
Stone, B. M.*, & Schmidt, K. (2022). Integrating positive psychological interventions into acceptance and commitment therapy. European Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 6(2), 1-9. https://www.nationalwellbeingservice.org/volumes/volume-6-2022/volume-6-article-2/
Stone, B. M.*, & Schmidt, K. (2020). Positive psychological interventions and cognition. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 15(5), 629-632. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2020.1789714
See ORCiD and Google Scholar for additional works.
