David P. Schmitt, Ph.D.
@psychoschmitt.bsky.social
Professor of Psychology and Department Head at Kansas State University, USA. Interests include personality, health, gender/sex diversity; Founded International Sexuality Description Project, Culture and Evolution, Dionysus Digital Health.
"unilateral changes in faculty governance, protest rules, research funding, instructional regulations, and legislative policy: these factors interact in degrading the campus ecology, perhaps permanently, in ways that shed light on national trends" utotherescue.blogspot.com/2025/11/anat...
Anatomy of a Fall: The Case of Indiana University (Guest Post)
Indiana University on November 3, 2025 by Johannes Türk Chair of Germanic Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington Indiana Universit...
utotherescue.blogspot.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:06 PM
"unilateral changes in faculty governance, protest rules, research funding, instructional regulations, and legislative policy: these factors interact in degrading the campus ecology, perhaps permanently, in ways that shed light on national trends" utotherescue.blogspot.com/2025/11/anat...
Reposted by David P. Schmitt, Ph.D.
I gave a workshop about using social media to faculty at the UT Austin. Here are some tips:
-Stay in your lane (share what you know)
-Avoid fights
-Use plain language
-Including clear visuals
-Follow quality accounts
-Leverage trends
-Have some fun
-Embrace your natural workflow
-Stay in your lane (share what you know)
-Avoid fights
-Use plain language
-Including clear visuals
-Follow quality accounts
-Leverage trends
-Have some fun
-Embrace your natural workflow
November 22, 2025 at 6:49 PM
I gave a workshop about using social media to faculty at the UT Austin. Here are some tips:
-Stay in your lane (share what you know)
-Avoid fights
-Use plain language
-Including clear visuals
-Follow quality accounts
-Leverage trends
-Have some fun
-Embrace your natural workflow
-Stay in your lane (share what you know)
-Avoid fights
-Use plain language
-Including clear visuals
-Follow quality accounts
-Leverage trends
-Have some fun
-Embrace your natural workflow
in conservative areas, extraverts and agreeable people more conservative...in liberal areas, extraverts and agreeable people more liberal..."highlights the importance of considering geographical context in personality research" www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Context specific personality associations with political ideology are shaped by geographical variation - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Context specific personality associations with political ideology are shaped by geographical variation
www.nature.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:00 PM
in conservative areas, extraverts and agreeable people more conservative...in liberal areas, extraverts and agreeable people more liberal..."highlights the importance of considering geographical context in personality research" www.nature.com/articles/s41...
"Those in power recognized that oppression is best maintained by keeping the masses illiterate...Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so" www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking.
"Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead."
www.huffpost.com
November 20, 2025 at 7:38 PM
"Those in power recognized that oppression is best maintained by keeping the masses illiterate...Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so" www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
Reposted by David P. Schmitt, Ph.D.
Affective science has lost an extraordinary member of our community: Dr. Paul Ekman, who passed peacefully at home at the age of 91 on Monday. Dr. Ekman's pioneering cross-cultural research on the interpretation of facial expressions in emotional terms...(1)
November 20, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Affective science has lost an extraordinary member of our community: Dr. Paul Ekman, who passed peacefully at home at the age of 91 on Monday. Dr. Ekman's pioneering cross-cultural research on the interpretation of facial expressions in emotional terms...(1)
"The best hope we have of improving our scientific understanding of the tangled realities of sex in humans is to look within and across cultures, bodies, and life histories and remember that we, too, are part of the rich breadth of biological sexual diversity on this planet"
Beyond the Binary: The Compounding Complexity of Biological Sex
Sex in nature is far more complex than a simple male–female divide, emerging instead as a diverse, overlapping continuum shaped by biology, development, and culture. www.prosocial.world/posts/beyond...
Sex in nature is far more complex than a simple male–female divide, emerging instead as a diverse, overlapping continuum shaped by biology, development, and culture. www.prosocial.world/posts/beyond...
Beyond the Binary: The Compounding Complexity of Biological Sex
Sex in nature is far more complex than a simple male–female divide, emerging instead as a diverse, overlapping continuum shaped by biology, development, and culture.
www.prosocial.world
November 19, 2025 at 10:24 PM
"The best hope we have of improving our scientific understanding of the tangled realities of sex in humans is to look within and across cultures, bodies, and life histories and remember that we, too, are part of the rich breadth of biological sexual diversity on this planet"
“I wish I hadn’t worked so hard...paradox is that popular culture and neoclassical economics promote materialism and overwork, and few people question them as a way of life...yet they lead to deep and painful regrets at the end of life" papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
'I Wish I Hadn't Worked So Hard.' Greed and Life Satisfaction
<p>“I wish I hadn’t worked so hard” is among the top regrets of the dying. Philosophers, social scientists, and theologians tend to view materialism and greed a
papers.ssrn.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:15 PM
“I wish I hadn’t worked so hard...paradox is that popular culture and neoclassical economics promote materialism and overwork, and few people question them as a way of life...yet they lead to deep and painful regrets at the end of life" papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by David P. Schmitt, Ph.D.
Former UVA president Jim Ryan, who resigned over the summer due to pressure from the Trump Administration, just shared this 12-page letter with the Faculty Senate, detailing his experience with the Board of Visitors and DOJ.
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
November 14, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Former UVA president Jim Ryan, who resigned over the summer due to pressure from the Trump Administration, just shared this 12-page letter with the Faculty Senate, detailing his experience with the Board of Visitors and DOJ.
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
"etic and emic cross-cultural evidence openness/intellect is least cross-culturally portable Big Few trait. We hypothesize that variation in individualism, looseness, and complexity modify its relevance and coherence around a potentially universal core" journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
November 13, 2025 at 6:47 PM
"etic and emic cross-cultural evidence openness/intellect is least cross-culturally portable Big Few trait. We hypothesize that variation in individualism, looseness, and complexity modify its relevance and coherence around a potentially universal core" journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Reposted by David P. Schmitt, Ph.D.
Three preregistered experiments with prolific participants (N = 2,254) found no evidence for experimenter demand effects
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
November 12, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Three preregistered experiments with prolific participants (N = 2,254) found no evidence for experimenter demand effects
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
"study of 92 countries (n = 53,774), trend of languishing mental health across many groups, particularly among younger adults...alarming but perhaps unsurprisingly low level of positive mental health in a substantial number of countries" osf.io/preprints/ps...
November 12, 2025 at 8:38 PM
"study of 92 countries (n = 53,774), trend of languishing mental health across many groups, particularly among younger adults...alarming but perhaps unsurprisingly low level of positive mental health in a substantial number of countries" osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by David P. Schmitt, Ph.D.
1/ The challenges in public health are urgent and constant, so it can be far too easy to miss progress when it happens. But one of the things that's been keeping me sane this year has been to pause and acknowledge that progress. So let's showcase some real signs of what public health can accomplish👇
November 11, 2025 at 7:25 PM
1/ The challenges in public health are urgent and constant, so it can be far too easy to miss progress when it happens. But one of the things that's been keeping me sane this year has been to pause and acknowledge that progress. So let's showcase some real signs of what public health can accomplish👇
"Even though Sweden has reputation for equality...Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability co-occur at relatively higher levels in southern Sweden...municipal-level correlations with health and well-being variables...interpretations remain speculative" pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41204763/
November 11, 2025 at 7:55 PM
"Even though Sweden has reputation for equality...Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability co-occur at relatively higher levels in southern Sweden...municipal-level correlations with health and well-being variables...interpretations remain speculative" pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41204763/
27 nations..."Multilingualism emerged as protective factor (against accelerated aging) in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, monolingualism increased risk...Effects persisted after adjusting for linguistic, physical, social and sociopolitical exposomes" www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Multilingualism protects against accelerated aging in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of 27 European countries - Nature Aging
In cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of 86,149 participants across 27 European countries, Amoruso, Hernandez and colleagues identify multilingualism as a protective factor against accelerated ...
www.nature.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:01 AM
27 nations..."Multilingualism emerged as protective factor (against accelerated aging) in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, monolingualism increased risk...Effects persisted after adjusting for linguistic, physical, social and sociopolitical exposomes" www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Reposted by David P. Schmitt, Ph.D.
We are doing a pilot survey about how prospective PhD students in PSYCHOLOGY make decisions about applying to grad programs. If you are thinking of applying to a program in the future, and have 2-5 minutes to spare, could you take this survey? 🫶
northwestern.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
northwestern.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
November 10, 2025 at 3:29 PM
We are doing a pilot survey about how prospective PhD students in PSYCHOLOGY make decisions about applying to grad programs. If you are thinking of applying to a program in the future, and have 2-5 minutes to spare, could you take this survey? 🫶
northwestern.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
northwestern.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
"higher cognitive ability and education were associated with spending less time on self-help products...people did not differ in personality and well-being change trajectories depending on self-help product use and usage intensity, raising considerations about the effectiveness of such products"
New preprint! 📚📱 osf.io/3kpf9_v1
Did you ever stand in a bookshop and wondered who tends to buy self-help books, and whether people who buy them actually change? Here, we looked at these questions for self-help products more generally (also apps, seminars, etc.), which are a rapidly (1/3)
Did you ever stand in a bookshop and wondered who tends to buy self-help books, and whether people who buy them actually change? Here, we looked at these questions for self-help products more generally (also apps, seminars, etc.), which are a rapidly (1/3)
OSF
osf.io
November 2, 2025 at 5:50 PM
"higher cognitive ability and education were associated with spending less time on self-help products...people did not differ in personality and well-being change trajectories depending on self-help product use and usage intensity, raising considerations about the effectiveness of such products"
"How should we cope with this Trump chaos?...We keep the faith in America’s ideals. We stay as close as we can to our loved ones and dearest friends. And we celebrate small and noble acts of decency, wherever they occur."
The mad would-be king cannot abide even a moment of calm. He thrives on crises, emergencies, chaos, disarray — all of which give him more power, if we let them. How should we cope with this Trump chaos? Some thoughts... https://robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-thought-coping-with-trumps
Sunday thought: Coping with Trump's chaos
Friends,
robertreich.substack.com
November 2, 2025 at 5:41 PM
"How should we cope with this Trump chaos?...We keep the faith in America’s ideals. We stay as close as we can to our loved ones and dearest friends. And we celebrate small and noble acts of decency, wherever they occur."
Reposted by David P. Schmitt, Ph.D.
"only about 5% of the variance in personality can be
predicted from digital footprints, and personality‐tailored messages show negligible effects on behavior... When design and evaluation flaws are controlled, the combined end‐to‐end effectiveness of psychological targeting approaches zero."
predicted from digital footprints, and personality‐tailored messages show negligible effects on behavior... When design and evaluation flaws are controlled, the combined end‐to‐end effectiveness of psychological targeting approaches zero."
The (In)Effectiveness of Psychological Targeting: A Meta‐Analytic Review
The use of psychological targeting—employing machine learning to predict consumer personality from digital footprints and subsequently tailoring persuasive messages—has emerged as a controversial yet...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:55 PM
"only about 5% of the variance in personality can be
predicted from digital footprints, and personality‐tailored messages show negligible effects on behavior... When design and evaluation flaws are controlled, the combined end‐to‐end effectiveness of psychological targeting approaches zero."
predicted from digital footprints, and personality‐tailored messages show negligible effects on behavior... When design and evaluation flaws are controlled, the combined end‐to‐end effectiveness of psychological targeting approaches zero."
Sex and gender differences matter when it comes to improving outcomes for dementia braincanada.ca/clarke-lissa...
Advancing sex and gender research in dementia
Drs. Natasha Clarke and Rikki Lissaman are advancing dementia research by exploring the impact of sex and gender differences on brain health.
braincanada.ca
October 30, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Sex and gender differences matter when it comes to improving outcomes for dementia braincanada.ca/clarke-lissa...
Reposted by David P. Schmitt, Ph.D.
📢 Conference opportunity: The International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) is hosting their 2026 congress in Leuven, Belgium (July 14-18). Registrations and submissions are now open!
Learn more: ow.ly/nHEV50Xj9ZE
Learn more: ow.ly/nHEV50Xj9ZE
October 29, 2025 at 12:26 AM
📢 Conference opportunity: The International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) is hosting their 2026 congress in Leuven, Belgium (July 14-18). Registrations and submissions are now open!
Learn more: ow.ly/nHEV50Xj9ZE
Learn more: ow.ly/nHEV50Xj9ZE
121 nations..."religious/spiritual connection associated positively with subjective well-being in the global sample of religious individuals and, in some countries, nonreligious individuals" journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Religious/Spiritual Connection and Subjective Well-Being Across Religious and Nonreligious Individuals in 121 Countries - Zhuo Job Chen, Telli Davoodi, Pablo Diego-Rosell, Timothy Lomas, Alden Yuanhon...
Prior research suggests a positive association between some religious/spiritual variables and well-being. However, many measures of religious/spiritual construc...
journals.sagepub.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:45 AM
121 nations..."religious/spiritual connection associated positively with subjective well-being in the global sample of religious individuals and, in some countries, nonreligious individuals" journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Masculinity and sexual attraction appear to shape how people respond to infidelity www.psypost.org/masculinity-...
Masculinity and sexual attraction appear to shape how people respond to infidelity
A large study finds that reactions to infidelity vary not only by sex but also by sexual orientation and psychological traits. Traits like masculinity, femininity, and sexual attraction appear to shap...
www.psypost.org
October 26, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Masculinity and sexual attraction appear to shape how people respond to infidelity www.psypost.org/masculinity-...
"cultural values may be more effective than formal institutions in buffering individuals against the psychological consequences of financial scarcity" journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
October 24, 2025 at 5:12 PM
"cultural values may be more effective than formal institutions in buffering individuals against the psychological consequences of financial scarcity" journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
on cultural evolution approaches in evolutionary behavioral sciences..."scholarly work on historical legacies cannot be entirely reduced to individual or inclusive fitness calculus, nor dismissed as epiphenomenal, if we are to make sense of human diversity" www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
A smart challenge but ultimately mistimed and misleading: Commentary on Baumard and André
www.sciencedirect.com
October 23, 2025 at 1:57 PM
on cultural evolution approaches in evolutionary behavioral sciences..."scholarly work on historical legacies cannot be entirely reduced to individual or inclusive fitness calculus, nor dismissed as epiphenomenal, if we are to make sense of human diversity" www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"multiple ways polygyny can be harmful.
Nevertheless, best evidence suggests polygyny is unlikely to be root cause of social unrest...polygyny may not just be a tolerable choice but in some contexts a preferred arrangement with tangible benefits for both genders" theconversation.com/rethinking-p...
Nevertheless, best evidence suggests polygyny is unlikely to be root cause of social unrest...polygyny may not just be a tolerable choice but in some contexts a preferred arrangement with tangible benefits for both genders" theconversation.com/rethinking-p...
October 21, 2025 at 9:32 PM
"multiple ways polygyny can be harmful.
Nevertheless, best evidence suggests polygyny is unlikely to be root cause of social unrest...polygyny may not just be a tolerable choice but in some contexts a preferred arrangement with tangible benefits for both genders" theconversation.com/rethinking-p...
Nevertheless, best evidence suggests polygyny is unlikely to be root cause of social unrest...polygyny may not just be a tolerable choice but in some contexts a preferred arrangement with tangible benefits for both genders" theconversation.com/rethinking-p...