Kaitlin Toner Raimi
Title
Assistant Professor of Public Policy
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
University of Michigan
Education
- Ph.D., Social Psychology, Duke University, Durham, NC
- M.A., Social Psychology, Duke University, Durham, NC
- B.A., Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA
Research Interests
I am a social psychologist interested broadly in how social motivations can promote or prevent sustainable behaviors. My current research projects focus on how people explain away harmful behaviors, how people compare their own beliefs and behaviors to those of other people, and how people’s desire to make a good impression can influence them to adopt climate mitigation behaviors.
Research Projects
- Spillover effects among individuals who take pro-environmental actions.
- Collaborators: Michael Vandenbergh, Amanda Carrico, Heather Truelove
- Alternative strategies of communicating climate change.
- Collaborators: Michael Vandenbergh, Jonathan Gilligan
- Collaborators: Michael Vandenbergh, Jonathan Gilligan
- Lay understanding and beliefs about smart energy technologies.
- Collaborators: Amanda Carrico, David Hess
Representative Publications & Talks
Publications
Raimi, K.
T.
& Leary, M. R. (in press). Belief superiority in the environmental domain: Attitude extremity and reactions to fracking. Journal of Environmental Psychology.
Vandenbergh, M. P., Raimi, K.
T.
, & Gilligan, J.(in press).Energy and climate change: A climate prediction market. UCLA Law Review, 61.
Vandenbergh, M. P. & Raimi, K. T.(in press).Climate change: Leveraging legacy. Ecology Law Quarterly.
Leary, M. R. & Toner, K. (in press). Self-processes in the construction and maintenance of personality. In M. Mikulincer & P. R. Shaver, (Eds.), APA handbook of personality and social psychology. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Hopkin, C. R., Hoyle, R. H., & Toner, K. (2014). Intellectual humility and reactions to opinions about religious beliefs. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 42, 50-61.
Toner, K., Gan, M., Leary, M. R. (2014). The impact of individual and group feedback on environmental attitudes and intentions. Environment and Behavior, 46, 24-45. doi: 10.1177/0013916512451902.
Toner, K.,
Leary, M. R., Asher, M. W., & Jongman-Sereno, K. P. (2013).
Feeling superior is a bipartisan issue: Extremity (not direction) of political views predicts perceived belief superiority. Psychological Science, 24, 2454-2462. doi: 10.1177/0956797613494848
Leary, M. R., & Toner, K. (2013). Psychological theories of blushing. In W. Crozier & P. J. de Jong (Eds.), The psychological significance of the blush (pp. 63-76). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Leary, M. R., Toner, K., & Gan, M. (2011). Self, identity, and reactions to distal threats: The case of environmental behavior, Psychological Studies, 56, 159–166.
Isaacowitz, D. M., Toner, K., & Neupert, S.D. (2009). Use of gaze for real-time mood regulation: Effects of age and attentional functioning. Psychology and Aging, 24, 989-994.
Isaacowitz, D. M., Toner,K., Goren, D., & Wilson, H.R. (2008). Looking while unhappy: Mood congruent haze in young adults, positive gaze in older adults. Psychological Science, 19, 848-853.
Manuscripts in preparation
Raimi, K.
T.
, & Leary, M.R., Strategies of accounts: Comparing Excuses, justifications and exceptions.
Raimi, K.
T.,
& Carrico, A. R. Lay understanding and beliefs about smart technology.
Carrico, A. R.*, Truelove, H. B. *, Weber, E.,
Raimi, K.
T.,
& Vandenbergh, M. P.
Positive and negative spillover of pro-environmental behavior.
*Shared first authorship.
Leary, M. R., Raimi, K.
T., Jongman-Sereno, K. & Diebels, K. The importance of distinguishing intrapsychic from interpersonal motives in psychological theory.
Jongman-Sereno, K., P., Raimi, K. T. , Diebels, K. J. & Leary, M. R.Attitude extremity and belief superiority: Feeling superior about trivial attitudes.
Conference proceedings
Toner, K.
, & Leary, M. R. (2014,
May). Belief superiority in the environmental domain: Attitude extremity and reactions to fracking in North Carolina. Symposium presented
at the Energy Research Collaboration Workshop, Duke University, Durham, NC.
Toner, K.
, & Leary, M. R. (2014,
February). Belief superiority in the environmental domain: Attitude extremity and reactions to fracking. Data blitz symposium presented
at the Sustainability Psychology Preconference at the meeting of the
Society for
Personality and Social Psychology, Austin, TX.
Vandenbergh, M. V., Toner, K. & Gilligan, J. (2013, November).
Assessing and communicating climate science: A climate prediction market.
Colloquium presented to the Global Change Forum, SE Climate Science Center, and Applied Ecology and Biological Science Departments, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.
Vandenbergh, M. V., Toner, K. & Gilligan, J. (2013, November).
Energy and climate change: A climate prediction market.
Symposium presented to the UCLA Law Review Symposium, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA.
Vandenbergh, M. V. & Toner, K. (2013, September). Climate change: Leveraging legacy. Paper presented at the Public Policy and the Brain Exploratory Seminar, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Jongman-Sereno, K., Toner, K., & Leary, M. R.(2013, May).People who hold extreme attitudes feel superior in their beliefs even for trivial issues.
Poster presented at the annual meeting of the
Association for Psychological Science
, Washington, DC.
Leary, M. R. & Toner, K. (2012, October). Intellectual arrogance and humility in liberals and conservatives. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Southeastern Social Psychologists, Gainesville, Fl.
Toner, K.
& Leary, M. R. (2012,
June).
The effect of explanations for environmental transgressions on impact ratings.
Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the
Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues, Charlotte, NC.
Toner, K. (2012, March). Talk your way out: Strategies of accounts. Symposium presentation at the Social Psychology UNC-Duke (SPUD) Conference , Social Science Research Institute, Duke University.
Toner, K. & Leary, M. R. (2012, January). Explaining away irresponsible environmental behavior. Poster presented at the meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Diego, CA.
Toner, K. & Leary, M. R. (2011, January). Self-presentation and environmental behavior. Poster presented at the meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.
Toner, K. , Carrig, M., Neal, D. T., & Wood, W. (2010, November). Excessive choice and the buffering effect of habit on pro-environmental behaviors . Poster presented at the Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change Conference, Sacramento, CA.
Toner, K., Carrig, M., Neal, D. T., & Wood, W. (2010, January). It’s not easy being green: Choice overload, habits, and the maintenance of pro-environmental behaviors. Poster presented at the meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Las Vegas, NV.
Selected Popular Press Coverage
2013 Politico. Toner, K. & Leary, M. R. Superiority complex.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/12/extreme-politicians-where-are-moderates-100784.html
2013 Time. Science asks: Who’s more pig-headed, Dems or Republicans?
http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/08/science-asks-whos-more-pig-headed-dems-or-republicans/
2013 CNN. Debt ceiling debate: Preaching to the choir
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/07/politics/debt-ceiling-debate/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
2013 Washington Post, She the People blog.
2013 Huffington Post. So damn superior: Parsing partisan politics.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wray-herbert/so-damn-superior-parsing_b_3442313.html
2013 Discovery News. Washington standoff: Why it’s stuck.
http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/washington-standoff-why-its-stuck-131009.htm
2013 Air Talk. KPCC Southern California Public Radio (NPR Affiliate). New psychology research finds extreme ideologues feel superior in political beliefs.