Xin (Alice) Zhao
Xin (Alice) Zhao
Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, ECNU
Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, ECNU
Welcome!
Hi! I am an Associate Professor in Department of Educational Psychology at East China Normal University (华东师范大学), Shanghai, China. I study children's social cognitive development. Specifically, my research program centers around children's developing understanding of choice and constraints across cultures, as well as its implications on children's behavioral regulation and social evaluations.
My research
To successfully navigate the world, human beings must identify the choices they can make as well as the constraints on their choices. These perceptions and beliefs about choice can be influenced by multiple factors, some of which originate from the external world (e.g., physical laws, socio-moral norms) and some of which originate from the internal world (e.g., desires, goals, motivations etc). Large individual and cultural variations exist in adults’ perceptions and beliefs about choices. Importantly, these views about choice often guide actions, both the regulation of one’s own actions and the interpretation of others’ actions. My research program investigates how beliefs about choice develop throughout childhood and across cultures, as well as their implications on children’s developmental outcomes — both the regulation of one’s own actions and the evaluations of others’ actions. These studies speak to children’s self-regulation and goal-pursuit, as well as their social evaluations and moral judgment.
Children's Social Mindfulness
Living in a highly interdependent world, what we do by ourselves can often have an impact on others even if we don’t directly interact with others. For instance, taking away the last chocolate mousse from the dessert plate can leave the next person only fruit tarts to choose from. Do children evaluate people’s self-oriented actions based on the potential impact on others? Are children themselves considerate of others when performing their own actions?
Children's Views about Choice
To successfully navigate the world, we must identify the choices we can make as well as the constraints on our choices. Our views about choice can be influenced by multiple factors, some of which originate from the external world (e.g., physical laws, socio-moral norms) and some of which originate from the internal world (e.g., desires, goals, motivations etc). We study how views about choice develop throughout childhood and across cultures, as well as their implications on children’s own choosing behaviors.
Children's Reasoning about Achievement
When we think about achievement, we often ask not only what someone has accomplished but also how they accomplished it. Did success come easily through natural talent and abundant resources, or was it the result of persistent effort in the face of constraints such as limited ability or social disadvantage? How do children reason about and evaluate achievement may have important consequences for how they respond to challenges and constraints. We study children’s reasoning about achievement, focusing on how they understand the roles of talent, effort, and resources, and how these beliefs shape their persistence and willingness to take on challenges.
