Matthew Leitao

CV

The full record, kept up to date. This page builds from a data file, so each new paper, talk or role shows here as soon as it is added.

Updated October 19, 2026.

At a glance

  1. 2024 to now

    Postdoctoral research fellow

    National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health

    Manage six projects, including an FDA-regulated pharmacology trial. Run a study of how AI review changes trust in genetic risk results, under principal investigator Susan Persky. Teach R and Quarto to colleagues.

  2. 2019 to 2024

    PhD in Psychology and Master of Public Policy

    Georgetown University

    Ran my dissertation, six preregistered studies on trust in medical AI. Managed five research assistants across six or seven concurrent projects. Taught Psychology of Technology as instructor of record and received the 2023 Graduate Student Teaching Award. Coordinated the department research pool, where yield rose 50% over the prior year.

  3. 2017 to 2019

    Master's in Psychology, General Experimental

    California State University, Northridge

    Wrote a preregistered thesis on obedience to computer authority. Worked as a data analyst in Institutional Research on more than 100,000 student records, building dashboards administrators used. Coordinated an applied social psychology lab and trained 14 lab assistants.

  4. 2013 to 2017

    Research assistant and lab manager

    University of California, Riverside

    Managed the schedules and reviews of 15 research assistants as lab manager, and wrote Excel macros and Praat scripts to process speech data.

Academic positions

1 entries

  • Oct 2024 to present

    IRTA postdoctoral researcher

    National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health

    • Social and Behavioral Research Branch

Education

4 entries

  • Graduated Jul 2024

    Ph.D., Psychology

    Psychology Department, Georgetown University

    • Concentration: Human Development and Public Policy
    • Research interest: human-technology interaction and wellbeing
    • Dissertation: trust in medical AI versus trust in doctors

  • Graduated May 2021

    M.P.P., Master of Public Policy

    McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University

    • Policy interest: technology policy

  • Graduated May 2019

    M.A., General Experimental Psychology

    Psychology Department, California State University, Northridge

    • Research interest: human-technology social interaction

  • Graduated Jun 2015

    B.A., Psychology

    University of California, Riverside

Publications

Published

  • Leitao, M. R., Farokhnia, M., Leggio, L., & Persky, S. (2026). Experiences and behavior during a virtual reality buffet simulation: A secondary analysis of a ghrelin-related pharmacology randomized controlled trial in people with alcohol use disorder. Journal of Medical Extended Reality. doi.org/10.1177/29941520261484294

  • Berzenski, S. R., Shulze, J., Leitao, M. R., & Ruvalcaba, O. (2025). Motivations for gaming scale: A comparison of competitive and noncompetitive gamers. Journal of Electronic Gaming and Esports, 3(1). doi.org/10.1123/jege.2024-0026

  • Leitao, M. R., Proulx, J. D. E., & Kushlev, K. (2024). Smartphones undermine social connectedness more in men than women: A mini mega-analysis. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 5(1). doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000125

  • Rarity, E., Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2022). Identification with characters in parasocial relationships predicts sharing their personality traits. Psychology of Popular Media, 11(2), 111–116. doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000389

  • Tibbetts, M., Epstein-Shuman, A., Leitao, M. R., & Kushlev, K. (2021). A week during COVID-19: Online social interactions are associated with greater connection and more stress. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 4, 100133. doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100133

  • Del Cid, D. A., Larranaga, D., Leitao, M., Mosher, R. L., Berzenski, S. R., Gandhi, V., & Drew, S. A. (2021). Exploratory factor analysis and validity of the Virtual Reality Symptom Questionnaire and Computer Use Survey. Ergonomics, 64(1), 69–77. doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2020.1820083

  • Kushlev, K., & Leitao, M. R. (2020). The effects of smartphones on well-being: Theoretical integration and research agenda. Current Opinion in Psychology, 36, 77–82. doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.05.001

Accepted

  • Hertendorf, B. N., Leitao, M. R., Peterson, C., Stoeling, D., & Persky, S. Characterizing genetic determinism about body weight: Predictors and implications.

Under review

  • Logg, J. M.†, Leitao, M. R.†, & Ulu, C. The cost of generative AI collaboration strategies to the psychological experience of work. SSRN working paper. † Co-first authors.

  • Logg, J. M., Tinsley, C. H., & Leitao, M. R. Risk creep: A COVID-19 longitudinal field study.

Dissertation

  • Leitao, M. R. (2024). Artificial intelligence, humanization, and health beliefs [Doctoral dissertation, Georgetown University].

In preparation

  • Leitao, M. R., Montgomery, R. M., Torres-Pantoja, S., & Rutchick, A. M. Inclusion of smartphone in the self: Associations with smartphone-related cognition and behavior.

  • Leitao, M. R., & Parrott, W. G. Anthropomorphism and medical decision making.

  • Leitao, M. R., & Parrott, W. G. Mechanisms of trust in AI medical decision making.

Fellowships and grants

3 entries

  • 2021

    Inside the Grant Panel Grant

    Society for Personality and Social Psychology

  • 2018

    Creative Endeavors Grant

    California State University, Northridge

  • Jun 2014 to Jun 2015

    Chancellor's Research Fellowship

    University of California, Riverside

Honors and awards

12 entries

  • 2023

    Fellow

    Summer Institute in Social and Personality Psychology, Ohio State

  • 2023

    Graduate Student Teaching Award

    Office of Graduate Student Affairs, Georgetown University

  • 2022

    Conference Travel Grant

    Office of Graduate Research and Fellowships, Georgetown University

  • 2020 to 2023

    Psychology Conference Travel Grant

    Psychology Department, Georgetown University

  • 2019

    Donald Butler Quantitative Research Award

    Psychology Department, California State University, Northridge

  • 2018 to 2019

    Graduate Student Travel Grant

    Graduate Studies, California State University, Northridge

  • 2018 to 2019

    Psychology Department Travel Award

    California State University, Northridge

  • 2018 to 2019

    Student Research and Travel Funding

    Associated Students, California State University, Northridge

  • 2018

    Best Reproducible Research

    Data Jam, California State University, Northridge

  • 2017

    Best Use of External Data

    Data Jam, California State University, Northridge

  • 2017

    Judges' Choice

    California State University, Northridge

  • 2015

    Best Poster

    Undergraduate Research Symposium, University of California, Riverside

Research experience

8 entries

  • May 2019 to Jul 2023

    Graduate researcher

    Digital Health and Happiness Lab, Georgetown University

  • Aug 2018 to Aug 2019

    Lab coordinator

    Applied Social Psychology Lab, California State University, Northridge (Dr. Abraham M. Rutchick)

  • Jun 2017 to Aug 2019

    Graduate researcher

    Applied Social Psychology Lab, California State University, Northridge (Dr. Abraham M. Rutchick)

  • Jan 2018 to Aug 2019

    Graduate research assistant

    Psychology Law Research Lab, California State University, Northridge (Dr. Bradley D. McAuliff)

  • May 2018 to Aug 2019

    Graduate research assistant

    VISN Lab, California State University, Northridge (Dr. Stefanie Drew)

  • Jan 2014 to Aug 2017

    Research assistant

    OBSERVE Lab, University of California, Riverside (Dr. Megan Robbins)

  • Jan to Dec 2014

    Lab manager

    OBSERVE Lab, University of California, Riverside (Dr. Megan Robbins)

  • Aug 2013 to Apr 2014

    Research assistant

    African American Experience Lab, University of California, Riverside (Dr. Carolyn Murray)

Professional experience

3 entries

  • Jan to Nov 2021

    Institutional research fellow

    Office of Assessment and Decision Support, Georgetown University

    • Compiled and cleaned longitudinal data on student and faculty outcomes and relationships.
    • Ran initial descriptive and inferential analyses of student scholastic outcomes.
    • Used multilevel modeling to evaluate longitudinal student outcomes and trajectories.

  • May 2018 to Aug 2019

    Data analyst

    Office of Institutional Research, California State University, Northridge

    • Merged, cleaned and analyzed campus-wide data on more than 100,000 students to learn how student traits and choices relate to academic outcomes.
    • Wrote and presented internal reports on the findings to university administration.
    • Built Tableau worksheets and dashboards for the university to use.
    • Prepared manuscripts based on the reports for publication.

  • Jan 2018 to Aug 2019

    Graduate research assistant, AIMS2 assessment team

    California State University, Northridge

    • Prepared, recorded and transcribed interviews for qualitative analysis.
    • Led focus groups on the benefit of a new student summer skills workshop.
    • Created and administered surveys to incoming AIMS2 students to evaluate the workshop.
    • Presented the research at a departmental meeting.

Teaching

4 groups

National Institutes of Health

  • Spring 2025

    Introduction to Quarto

  • Spring 2025

    Introduction to R

Georgetown University

  • Fall 2023

    People Analytics, guest lecturer

  • Fall 2022

    Psychology of Technology, professor of record

  • Spring 2021, Fall 2021

    Psychology Research Methods, recitation instructor

  • Spring 2021

    Learning Analytics, guest lecturer

  • Fall 2020, Fall 2023

    Introduction to Psychology, teaching fellow and guest lecturer

  • Spring 2020

    Health Psychology, teaching fellow and guest lecturer

California State University, Northridge

  • Fall 2017, Fall 2018

    Social Psychology, graduate teaching assistant

  • Fall 2018

    Psychology Research Methods, graduate student tutor

External lectures

  • Fall 2022

    Psychology Research Methods, Kaplan

Student mentorship

2 entries

  • Fall 2022 to Spring 2023

    Honors thesis advisor, Emma Kikuchi

    Georgetown University

  • Fall 2021 to Spring 2023

    Graduate student mentor

    Society for Personality and Social Psychology

Invited talks and chaired sessions

3 entries

  • Leitao, M. R. (2024). Mechanisms driving aversion and appreciation of AI in the digital age [Chaired session]. Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Diego, CA.

  • University of Virginia, Department of Psychology. October 2023.

  • Alexandria Film Festival, speaking on happiness. June 2023. Event coverage.

Conference presentations

8 entries

  • Leitao, M. R. (2025). Factors driving differences in VR food behavior and experience during a novel pharmacological trial [Symposium presentation]. Virtual Medicine, Los Angeles, CA.

  • Leitao, M. R. (2024). Artificial intelligence, humanization, and health beliefs [Symposium presentation]. Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Diego, CA.

  • Leitao, M. R., Logg, J., & Ulu, C. (2023). The impact of choice on the utilization of AI in decision-making [Symposium presentation]. INFORMS, Phoenix, AZ.

  • Leitao, M. R. (2022). Information, behavior, and digital belief [Symposium presentation]. Inside the Grant Panel, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Francisco, CA.

  • Leitao, M. R., Proulx, J., & Kushlev, K. (2021). Phone interference, well-being, and gender: A mega-analysis on the impact of phone use as moderated by gender [Data blitz]. Psychology of Technology Institute, Santa Barbara, CA.

  • Leitao, M. R., Proulx, J., & Kushlev, K. (2021). Phone interference, well-being, and gender: A mega-analysis on the impact of phone use as moderated by gender [Symposium presentation]. American Psychological Association Technology, Mind, and Society Conference, online.

  • Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2019). Obedience to computerized authority [Symposium presentation]. Western Psychological Association, Pasadena, CA.

  • Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2018). The effect of personalization on connection with a robot [Symposium presentation]. Western Psychological Association, Portland, OR.

Poster presentations

23 entries

  • Leitao, M. R. (2023). The role of perceived quantitative reasoning and intuition for trust in medical AI. Psychology of Technology Institute Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA.

  • Rabil, K., Leitao, M. R., & Kushlev, K. (2023). Virtual learning is not associated with lower happiness in college students: The role of in-person interactions with close others. Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.

  • Leitao, M. R., Proulx, J., Singh, K., & Kushlev, K. (2022). The negative effects of phones during in-person interactions are larger for men: A mega-analysis of nine studies. Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Francisco, CA.

  • Leitao, M. R., & Kushlev, K. (2022). The effects of humanizing health algorithms on judgements and belief. Psychology and Technology Preconference, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Francisco, CA.

  • Leitao, M. R., & Kushlev, K. (2021). Health algorithms, judgement, and behavior. Association for Psychological Science, online.

  • Leitao, M. R., & Kushlev, K. (2021). Screen time in bed predicts better sleep outcomes in college students. Society for Personality and Social Psychology, online.

  • Slipenkyj, M., Leitao, M. R., Stemile, S., Lyons, I. M., & Moynihan, D. (2020). Beyond performance and blanket recommendations: The influence of autonomy and country-level development on science attitudes and outcomes. Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, online.

  • Leitao, M. R., & Kushlev, K. (2020). Those on the other side of the tech divide. Society for Personality and Social Psychology, New Orleans, LA.

  • Levin, J., Leitao, M. R., Katz, G. S., Parker, A. W., Hetzel, S. N., Khan, H., & Rutchick, A. M. (2020). Facial and verbal reactions to killing. Society for Personality and Social Psychology, New Orleans, LA.

  • Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2019). All hail our robot overlords: Compliance and computerized authority. Psychology of Technology Institute, Washington, DC.

  • Montgomery, R., Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2019). The inclusion of smartphone in the self (ISS) scale: Closeness with personal mobile devices is associated with poorer well-being. Psychology of Technology Institute, Washington, DC.

  • Leitao, M. R., Larranaga, D., Awad, M. F., Armendariz, J. A., McGinnis, C. A., Drew, S. A., & Hinkel-Lipsker, J. W. (2019). Hitting the virtual mark: An investigation of training effects in virtual reality. Association for Psychological Science, Washington, DC.

  • Sanders, K., Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2019). The effect of technological sophistication and instruction on obedience. Western Psychological Association, Pasadena, CA.

  • Valencia, L., Coronado, M., Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2019). The hex games: Does personalization of machines lead to positivity or polarization. Western Psychological Association, Pasadena, CA.

  • Montgomery, R., Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2019). Why tap that app? Smartphone application usage predicted by personality, well-being, and attitudes towards technology. Technology and Media Preconference, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Portland, OR.

  • Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2019). All hail our robot overlords: Compliance and computerized authority. Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Portland, OR.

  • Hetzel, S., Montgomery, R., Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2019). Function and effects of technology in the natural environments. Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Portland, OR.

  • Coronado, M., Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2019). The effect of personalization on liking of and connection to robotic toys. Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Portland, OR.

  • Feldman, N., Saravia, D., Leitao, M. R., Costleigh, C., Ceroni, D., Hawley, N., & McAuliff, B. D. (2019). The effects of refreshing recollections on children's accuracy for different question types across repeated interviews [Symposium presentation]. American Psychology-Law Society, Portland, OR.

  • Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2018). Effects of personalization of robotic bugs on connection and liking. Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco, CA.

  • Kaur, B., McManus, R. M., Esquenazi, R., Leitao, M. R., Melchor, Y., Parker, A. W., Ross, B., & Rutchick, A. M. (2018). Dark triad traits, religiosity, political conservatism, and guilt about killing. Western Psychological Association, Portland, OR.

  • Coronado, M., Rutchick, A. M., Leitao, M. R., & Lugo, Y. (2018). Personalization increases connection to and liking of machines. Western Psychological Association, Portland, OR.

  • Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2018). Thin-slice perception of autonomous machines. Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.

Intramural presentations

6 entries

  • Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2019). Obedience to computerized authority. CSUN Symposium, Northridge, CA.

  • Leitao, M. R., Larranaga, D., Reyna, K., & Manavi, R. (2018). Dear Los Angeles, get well soon. CSUN Data Jam, Northridge, CA.

  • Leitao, M. R., & Rutchick, A. M. (2018). Hexbugs and the effects of personalization on connection and liking. CSUN Symposium, Northridge, CA.

  • Leitao, M. R. (2018). Homo ex machina [Colloquium talk]. Technology, Cognition, and Behavior Colloquium, California State University, Northridge.

  • Leitao, M. R., Larranaga, D., Reyna, K., Manavi, R., & Awad, J. (2017). Saving our future through observing our past: A predictive model for positive youth development and outcomes. CSUN Data Jam, Northridge, CA.

  • Leitao, M. R., Karan, A., & Robbins, M. (2015). It's not what you say but how you say it: Vocal tone and emotion among women coping with breast cancer. Undergraduate Research Symposium, University of California, Riverside.

Skills

See the Skills page for how I know each one.

7 groups

Research methods

Experimental design; human-subjects research; survey design; behavioral interventions; vignette studies; mixed-methods research; preregistration

Analysis

Statistical modeling; causal inference; longitudinal analysis; multilevel modeling; data cleaning; data management; behavioral data analysis; data visualization; dashboard development

Research platforms

SONA, Qualtrics, Mechanical Turk, CloudResearch, Prolific, FDA clinical trial administration

Data visualization

Tableau, ggplot

Statistics software

SPSS, R and RStudio, Stata, Mplus, Jamovi, JASP, Python

Languages

R, Python, HTML5, JavaScript, SQL

Productivity

Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Keynote, WordPress, Canva, Quarto, LaTeX

Workshops attended

9 entries

  • 2026

    Management course

    Office of Intramural Training and Education, National Institutes of Health

  • 2025

    Team science workshop

    Colorado State University

  • 2023

    Latent profile analysis

    Pitt Methods (Dr. Sara K. Johnson)

  • 2023

    Harnessing social psychology to understand and improve health

    Summer Institute in Social and Personality Psychology (Dr. Lisa Jaremka and Dr. John Updegraff)

  • 2023

    Text analytics: Uncovering psychological insights via natural language

    Summer Institute in Social and Personality Psychology (Dr. Matthew Rocklage and Dr. Tessa Charlesworth)

  • 2021

    Longitudinal multilevel modeling

    Pitt Methods (Dr. Aidan Wright)

  • 2021

    Ambulatory assessment

    Pitt Methods (Dr. Aidan Wright)

  • 2021

    Summer Psychology Forum

    Society for Personality and Social Psychology

  • 2020, 2021

    BrainHack Global DC

    Georgetown University

Workshops I have led

3 entries

  • Nov 2023

    Power analysis: How to construct a study to find an expected effect

  • Apr 2023

    R from scratch: An introduction to R

  • Dec 2022

    An introduction to open science

Service and open science

9 entries

  • Spring 2022 to Summer 2024

    Cofounder and administrator, Georgetown Initiative for Open Science

    Georgetown University

  • Spring 2022 to Summer 2024

    Cofounder and administrator, Current Topics in Psychological Science journal club

    Georgetown University

  • Fall 2022 to Spring 2024

    Campus representative

    Association for Psychological Science Student Caucus

  • Fall 2022 to Spring 2023

    Graduate student representative to the faculty

    Psychology Department, Georgetown University

  • Fall 2021 to Spring 2023

    SONA coordinator

    Psychology Department, Georgetown University

  • Fall 2021 to Spring 2022

    Member, Gender Identity and Pronoun Task Force

    Data Governance Task Force, Georgetown University

  • Fall 2020 to Spring 2021

    Graduate student liaison to visiting faculty

    Psychology Department, Georgetown University

  • Spring 2020 to 2022

    Graduate student representative

    Inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, Georgetown Psychology

  • Member, initiative that made the GRE optional

    Georgetown University

Memberships and honor societies

2 groups

Professional

American Psychological Association; Association for Psychological Science; International Society for Developmental Psychology; Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science; Society for Personality and Social Psychology; Western Psychological Association

Honor societies

Psi Chi (member since Jan 2014; secretary and treasurer, Aug 2014 to Jun 2015); Delta Epsilon Iota (member since Jan 2014; vice president, Aug 2014 to Jun 2015); Tau Sigma (member since Jan 2014)

Recent changes

  • October 15, 2026 Rebuilt as a data-driven page from the 2026 CV, with citation fixes: published buffet paper and DOI, published smartphone DOI, Ergonomics 2021, Persky S., Tibbetts, Parrott, and Society for Personality and Social Psychology.