David Schmitt, Ph.D.
Contact Information
Office: BH 492
Email: davidschmitt@ksu.edu
Personality and Culture Laboratory
Research Interests
My research interests include evolutionary and cross-cultural approaches to understanding health and human sexual diversity, especially how variations in gender, sex, and sexual orientation impact psychological wellness and relationships.
I am also interested in the "Big Five" model of personality traits, risk factors for sexual infections and diseases, and predictors of both sexual aggression and intimate partner violence across cultures.
I am Founding Director of the International Sexuality Description Project (ISDP), a cross-cultural survey that included samples from 56 nations representing six continents, 13 islands, and 28 languages. A second wave of the ISDP, the ISDP-2, included more than 200 collaborators and 58 nations.
I will be accepting graduate students in the fall of 2024. Please contact Dr. Schmitt, if interested (davidschmitt@ksu.edu).
Student Involvement
The PaC Lab is directed by Dr. David P. Schmitt, and includes both graduate and undergraduate student-scholars, as well as, affiliate scholars at K-State and around the world. Graduate students are expected to conduct their own individual research projects, to contribute to scholarship related to the International Sexuality Description Project, and to supervise research projects conducted by undergraduates within the PaC Lab. All PaC Lab members are expected to contribute to each other’s projects through collaborative discussion at weekly meetings. Dr. Schmitt will be accepting undergraduate and graduate students into the PaC Lab this fall. Please contact Dr. Schmitt, if interested (davidschmitt@ksu.edu).
Recent Grant Funding
While at Brunel University London, Dr. Schmitt received funding from Dionysus Digital Health for consulting and investigating links between sex/gender diversity and aspects of mental health.
Selected Publications
*Costello, W., *Rolon, V., Thomas, A. G., & Schmitt, D. P. (2024). The mating psychology of incels (involuntary celibates): Misfortunes, misperceptions, and misrepresentations. The Journal of Sex Research, 1-12.
*Gottlieb, L., & Schmitt, D.P. (2023). When staying home is not safe: An investigation of the role of attachment style on stress and intimate partner violence in the time of COVID-19. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 52(2), 639-654.
Schmitt, D.P. (2023). Extensions of Sexual Strategies Theory across peoples, cultures, and ecologies. In D.M. Buss (Ed), The oxford handbook of human mating (pp. 67-118).
Schmitt, D.P. (2017). Sexual dials (not switches) theory: An evolutionary perspective on sex and gender complexity. Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 1, 93-102.
Schmitt, D. P., *Long, A. E., *McPhearson, A., *O'Brien, K., *Remmert, B., & *Shah, S. H. (2017). Personality and gender differences in global perspective. International Journal of Psychology, 52, 45-56.
Schmitt, D. P., Youn, G., *Bond, B., *Brooks, S., *Frye, H., *Johnson, S., ... & *Stoka, C. (2009). When will I feel love? The effects of culture, personality, and gender on the psychological tendency to love. Journal of Research in Personality, 43(5), 830-846.
Schmitt, D. P., & Allik, J. (2005). Simultaneous administration of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in 53 nations: Exploring the universal and culture-specific features of global self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(4), 623-642.
Schmitt, D. P. (2005). Sociosexuality from Argentina to Zimbabwe: A 48-nation study of sex, culture, and strategies of human mating. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28(2), 247-275.
Schmitt, D. P., Alcalay, L., *Allensworth, M., Allik, J., Ault, L., Austers, I., ... & Zupanie, A. (2004). Patterns and universals of adult romantic attachment across 62 cultural regions: Are models of self and of other pancultural constructs? Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35(4), 367-402.
Schmitt, D. P., & Pilcher, J. J. (2004). Evaluating evidence of psychological adaptation: How do we know one when we see one? Psychological Science, 15(10), 643-649.
Schmitt, D. P., & Shackelford, T. K. (2003). Nifty ways to leave your lover: The tactics people use to entice and disguise the process of human mate poaching. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(8), 1018-1035.
Buss, D. M., & Schmitt, D. P. (1993). Sexual Strategies Theory: An evolutionary perspective on human mating. Psychological Review, 100(2), 204-232.
* = student co-author