Tomiko (Tiko) Yoneda, PhD

About

Dr. Yoneda is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology specializing in personality and developmental psychology. She received her MSc and PhD in Lifespan Health and Developmental Psychology from the University of Victoria, Canada. Dr. Yoneda completed a postdoc at Northwestern University in the department of Medical Social Sciences and is currently serving as an editorial board member at Neuropsychology. She is deeply committed to recognizing, acknowledging, and celebrating diversity, equity, and inclusiveness.

Dr. Yoneda and The Healthspan Lab will not be recruiting graduate students in the 2027 or 2028 cycles.

Research Focus

Dr. Yoneda's research emphasizes interpersonal processes and individual differences, focusing on social connection and personality traits as key determinants of health and cognition. She examines how these psychological factors interact with physiology, and how their effects vary across individuals, couples, time, contexts, and (sub)populations. She is passionate about elucidating factors that contribute to cognitive healthspan and optimal development in older adulthood; specifically, under which circumstances, for whom, and how do psychological factors influence physiological and cognitive processes, and vice versa.

Recurring themes throughout her research are advanced methodologies effective for modelling repeated assessments at various timescales, large conceptual replications across countries and cultures, and use of multi-method data, including self-report, objective data (e.g., accelerometer), neuropathology indicators, and physiological biomarkers (e.g., blood pressure).

Selected Publications

Yoneda, T., Jackson, K.L., Noyer, E., Beam, C., Pfund, G., Antonoplis, S., Beck, E.D., Bedjeti, K., Qin, P., Garner, K.M.,  Luo, J., Vanbogart, K., Pieramici, L., Hauner, K.,  Turiano, N.A., Ó’Súilleabháin, P., Beam, C., Barnes, L., Bennett, D.A., Muniz Terrera, G.M., Mroczek, D., James, B.D., Steptoe, A., Ong, A.D., Graham, E.K.(Registered Report, 2026). Is My Loneliness Killing Me? Effects of Loneliness and Social Isolation on Transitions Between Cognitive Status Categories and Death. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Yoneda, T. & Atherton, O.E. (In Press). Personality Development in Older Adulthood. Invited chapter for The Handbook of Psychology of Aging (10th ed.). San Diego, CA: Elsevier

Yoneda, T. (In Press). Personality Development in Adulthood: Insights from Coordinated Data Analysis. Invited chapter for the Handbook of Personality Processes: Momentary, Daily, Developmental, and Generational Perspectives. U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/7b8ex_v1

Yoneda, T., Lewis, N., Pauly, T., Kolodziejczak-Krupp, K., Drewelies, J., Ram, N., Ashe, M.C., Madden, K., Gerstorf, D., Haase, C. & Hoppmann, C. (2025). Better Together: Co-Experienced Positive Emotions and Cortisol Secretion in the Daily Lives of Older Couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 129(6), 1240–1256. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000564

Yoneda, T., Pauly, T., Ram, N., Kolodziejczak-Krupp, K., Ashe, M. C., Madden, K., ... & Hoppmann, C. A. (2024). “What’s yours is mine”: Partners’ everyday emotional experiences and cortisol in older adult couples. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 167, 107118. [EDITOR'S CHOICE]

Yoneda, T., Lozinski, T., Turiano, N., Booth, T., Graham, E. K. & Mroczek, D. (2023). The Big Five Personality Traits and Allostatic Load in Middle to Older Adulthood: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 105145.

Yoneda, T., Graham, E.K., Lozinski, T., Bennett, D.A., Mroczek, D., Piccinin, A.M., Hofer, S.M. and Muniz-Terrera, G. (2022). Personality Traits, Cognitive States, and Mortality in Older Adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 125 (2), 381, https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000418, [EDITOR'S CHOICE]

Yoneda, T., Marroig, A., Graham, E. K., Willroth, E. C., Watermeyer, T., Beck, E. D., Zelinski, E. M., Reynolds, C. A., Pedersen, N. L., Hofer, S. M., Mroczek., D. K., Muniz-Terrera, G. (2022). Personality Predictors of Cognitive Dispersion: A Coordinated Analysis of Data from Seven International Studies of Older Adults. Neuropsychology, 36(2). https://doi.org/10.1037/neu0000782

Yoneda, T., Lewis, N. A., Knight, J. E., Rush, J., Vendittelli, R., Kleineidam, L., Hyun, J., Piccinin, A.M., Hofer, S., Hoogendijk, E., Derby, C., Scherer, M., Riedel-Heller, S., Wagner, M., van den Hout, A., Wang, W., Bennett, D. & Terrera, G. M. (2021). The Importance of Engaging In Physical Activity In Older Adulthood For Transitions Between Cognitive States: A Coordinated Analysis Of 14 Longitudinal Studies. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 76(9), 1661-1667. doi:10.1093/gerona/glaa268

Yoneda, T., Rush, J., Berg, A. I., Johansson, B. & Piccinin, A. (2017). Trajectories of Personality Traits Preceding Dementia Diagnosis. The Journal of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 72(6), 922-931, https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbw006 [EDITOR'S CHOICE]

Teaching

During the 2023/24 academic year, Dr. Yoneda taught Psychology of Aging (Fall, PSC 190, undergraduate-level), Coordinated Data Analysis (Winter, PSC 290, graduate level), and a Research Seminar (spring, PSC 182, undergraduate-level). In the 2024/2025 academic year, Dr. Yoneda will be teaching Personality Psychology (fall, PSC 162, undergraduate-level), The Psychology of Diversity in Aging (winter, PSC 190, undergraduate-level), and a Research Seminar (winter, PSC 182, undergraduate-level). Across all teaching and learning activities, Dr. Yoneda strives to promote curiosity, engagement, and inclusivity.

Awards

Association for Psychological Science (APS) Rising Star Award (2026)
Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (declined), 2023-2025
Governor General of Canada Gold Medal for Outstanding Dissertation, 2022
Canadian Psychological Association: Academic Excellence, 2022
Alzheimer Society Research Program Doctoral Fellowship, 2018-2021
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship, 2018-2021 
President's Research Scholarship, University of Victoria, 2018
~plus 14 additional awards and recognitions from the University of Victoria and the Institute of Healthy Lifelong Aging~