Research
Questions I study
My research broadly asks: how do people understand who they are, and how does that understanding change? I approach this through the lens of social, cognitive, and personality psychology, drawing on experimental methods to study identity, self-concept, and social cognition.
Self & Identity
Core focus
How do people revise their self-concepts? A central question in my work concerns the mechanisms by which people come to understand themselves differently. My current research examines how identity shifts across significant social transitions — including how self-continuity is perceived and maintained during gender transitions, and the possible benefits of self change for social interaction.
My foundational work demonstrated that mental simulation — imagining oneself in new scenarios — can produce genuine changes in self-concept, but only when prior self-knowledge is activated first. This finding has implications for understanding identity malleability more broadly, highlighting the circumstances that produce self-change.
Relevant publications: Schneider et al. (2024), JEP: General
Prejudice & Social Context
Core focus
How do social identities interact with systems of bias? Advised by Dr. Cheryl Kaiser at UW, my current work examines how generational status shapes self-concept in the transition to college, particularly for first-generation students navigating institutions built around different assumptions.
I'm also interested in sexual and gender identity prejudice, and how multiple group memberships interact.
Relevant publications: Kite, Wagner, & Schneider (2024), Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination
Political Polarization
Core focus
Can religious engagement reduce political animosity? As part of a John Templeton Foundation-funded project, our team investigates whether engaging in religious behavior — attending services, practicing rituals, belonging to a faith community — reduces affective polarization between political partisans.
Using daily diary methods, longitudinal designs, and naturalistic events, this work captures how religious engagement varies in everyday life and whether those fluctuations predict affective polarization.
Relevant publications: Smiley, Schneider, & Kaiser (accepted, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality)
Recent Presentations
Selected Talks & Posters
2026 · Symposium Talk
Tracing self-continuity across gender transitions
Schneider, M.J., Tamir, D., Hershfield, H. · Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Chicago, IL
2025 · Poster
Self-concept and generational status in the transition to college
Schneider, M.J., Kaiser, C. · Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Denver, CO
2024 · Poster
Transformative experiences during COVID-19
Schneider, M. J., Wilkins, L., Crockett, & Tamir, D. · Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Diego, CA
+ 8 additional conference presentations (2020–2023). Full CV →