Celeste Kidd


Celeste Kidd is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. She was amongst the Silence Breakers who were named Time Person of the Year in 2017.

Early life and education

Kidd studied print journalism and linguistics at the University of Southern California, where she earned a dual honours degree in 2007. She moved to the University of Rochester for her graduate studies, where she worked in brain and cognitive studies and earned her PhD in 2013. She worked with Richard Aslin, an expert on infant learning. She held visiting positions at the Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Research and career

Kidd works on curiosity and exploration throughout early development. She was hired as Assistant Professor at the University of Rochester in 2012. She has studied the willpower of children, challenging the Stanford marshmallow experiment. She demonstrated that children's willpower is influenced by their superior's reliability and trust.
Kidd was made Director of the Rochester Baby Lab at the University of Rochester in 2014. She moved to the University of California, Berkeley in June 2018. She has studied why it is so difficult to shake a false belief, such as believing in flat earth or climate change denial. Kidd is interested in the neuroscience of curiosity. She demonstrated that uncertainty can lead to the most curiosity.

#MeToo advocacy

After years of "unbearable and unrelenting sexual harassment" from fellow University of Rochester psychology academic Florian Jaeger, Kidd submitted complaints to the University of Rochester Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Jaeger was accused of having sexual relationships with students, using sexual innuendo that made people uncomfortable and holding retreats off-site that included hot tubs and recreational drug use. The first complaint was made against Jaeger in 2013, but the University decided to award him tenure. There were protests from students on campus, which eventually led to the resignation of University of Rochester President, Joel Seligman. Despite receiving complaints from seven current and former professors, the University cleared Jaeger of all violations of harassment and discrimination. During the investigation, the University promoted Jaeger to full Professor. Kidd was one of nine faculty members who sued the University over their mishandling of the case. In 2018, Kidd left the University of Rochester due to its inability to handle the sexual harassment allegations against Jaeger. As of 2019, six faculty members, including Richard Aslin, have left the University, taking $10 million of grant funding. Aslin had worked for the University for 32 years.
Kidd has since become a campaigner to end sexual harassment in academia. Kidd was made a leader in the Me Too movement in academia, and one of several advocates selected as TIME Magazine Person of the Year. She has criticised how universities are expected to "investigate themselves" when it comes to complaints about sexual harassment. She believes that public pressure and increased transparency will help to transform academia.
In March 2020, Dr. Kidd and the other plaintiffs settled with the University or Rochester, through their attorney Dr. Ann Olivarius, for $9.4 million. After the settlement, Dr. Kidd said "It sends a very important message to women in academia around the world that things are very different and times are changing and universities take this seriously in a way that they haven’t historically."

Awards and honours

Kidd has been selected as one of the American Psychological Association's Rising Stars.

Personal life

Kidd is married to Steven Piantadosi, a computational psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley.