I am a Ph.D. student in Developmental Psychology at Pennsylvania State University, working with Dr. Koraly Pérez-Edgar in the Cognition, Affect, and Temperament Lab, and planning to pursue a dual-title degree in Social Data Analytics.

Education

Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, Pennsylvania State University 2025 – Present
Advisor: Dr. Koraly Pérez-Edgar

B.S. in Psychology, Peking University 2020 – 2025    

Research Interest

For Research Questions

My current research focuses on how children internally process social feedback. For example, how children differentiate between different types of social feedback, how they generate expectations of social feedback, and how this feedback updates their internal representations of self and others. I am particularly interested in the role of family in this process.

Another dimension of my research adopts a person-centered perspective. On one hand, I aim to characterize individual differences in cognitive and social processes and examine how these differences relate to temperament, personality traits, and developmental psychopathology. On the other hand, I investigate real-time dynamics of social interactions at the second-by-second level, as well as trial-by-trial changes in personal cognition, with the goal of uncovering the mechanisms underlying social interaction and individual behavior.

For Research Methods

Notes: for preference, 1 = object to using it; 5 = neutral, will use only when necessary; 9 = big fan, will follow anything relevant;
for proficiency, 1 = no knowledge, need to learn from scratch; 5 = basic knowledge, can read but cannot use independently; 7 = fluent, can use comfortably; 9 = mother tongue, ask me and I’ll happily help!

My advisor uses a metaphor to describe research methods as languages: for example, a mother tongue, a fluent language, a language one can read but not speak, or an unfamiliar language. I adopt the same metaphor to introduce my research methodology. As an early-stage researcher, I consider both my preference and proficiency for each method.

Previous Experience

As an undergraduate, I worked with Dr. Ka Ip (University of Minnesota) on neighborhood influences on brain structure; Dr. Zhi Li (Mt. Hope Family Center, University of Rochester) on parent-child relationships and children’s sensory processing sensitivity; Dr. Yujia Peng (Peking University) on cognitive processes in social anxiety; and Dr. Yinyin Zang (Peking University) on adolescent interventions.

Outside of research, I survive on three nutrients: board games, drums, and travel.

You can find my CV here (updated November 2025): Jiayi’s CV