Kathryn Kincaid is an assistant professor of psychology in the Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences at Claremont Graduate University. Her research examines the psychological processes underlying political polarization, democratic and anti-democratic attitudes, and leadership preferences.
Using the lens of social identity theory and uncertainty-identity theory, Kincaid’s research examines how people respond to uncertainty and navigate multiple, sometimes competing, social identities in political and intergroup contexts. Her work has examined why uncertainty can increase support for strong and non-democratic leadership, how political identities shape responses to norm-violating leaders, and the psychological processes contributing to intergroup bias and affective political polarization. Her current work investigates factors that may buffer against these processes, including social identity complexity and challenge-versus-threat appraisals of uncertainty. Kincaid uses experimental, longitudinal, and large-scale survey methods to study these questions across both lab and real-world political contexts.
Her research has been funded by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada, and her work has been recognized with the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Outstanding Research Award.
Kincaid received her BA from Butler University and her MS and PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Alberta.
Anjewierden, B., Kincaid, K., Gaffney, A. M., & Rast, D. E. III (2026). “Uncertainty and social identity”. In K. Vail, D. Van Tongeren, B. Schlegel, J. Greenberg, L. King, & R. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of the Science of Existential Psychology.
Kincaid, K., Ma, A., Rast, D. E. III, Gaffney, A. (2025). “One of us: Autocratic leadership undermines leader support less when leader and follower are politically aligned”. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.70024
Kincaid, K. M., Ma, A. C., Rast III, D. E., & Hogg, M. A. (2024). “That’s my autocrat: Self-uncertainty elevates support for autocratic leadership during Canada’s Freedom Convoy”. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy. https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12414
Ouyang, Y., Kincaid, K. M., Rast, D. E. III, Gaffney, A. M., & Hogg, M. A. (2024). “Incumbency and uncertainty: When prototypical leaders lose their advantage”. Journal of Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2024.2325420.
Kincaid, K. & Rast, D. E. III (2023). “Social identity theory”. In G. R. Goethals, S. T. Allison, & G. J. Sorenson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Leadership Studies (2nd ed.) SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071840801
Overview of Social Psychology
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations