Qi Wang
Prof Assoc
2007
HD

Web Bio Page

Current Activities

Current Research Activities

My research interests are at the intersection of cognitive and social development, focusing on the development of autobiographical memory. Specifically, my research encompasses developmental, cognitive, and sociocultural perspectives to explore the mechanisms for the offset of infantile amnesia and the development of autobiographical memory. I am particularly interested in the relationship between autobiographical memory and the self as they develop across the lifecourse and in the context of culture. Together with my collaborators, I have conducted studies to examine how cultural self-constructs sustain autobiographical remembering by affecting information processing at the level of the individual and by shaping social practices of remembering between individuals (e.g., sharing memory narratives between parents and children). These studies illustrate that constructs of the self differ across cultures as a function of the social orientations, cultural values, and narrative environments in which children are raised. In turn, such differences in self-construct have powerful effects on the structure, content, and long-term accessibility of autobiographical memories.

We have recently completed a 4-year longitudinal study (funded by NIH, award# 1 R01 MH64661-01A1) that tested my new theory of autobiographical memory development. I propose that children's emotional understanding comprises an important mechanism for the development of autobiographical memory, both of which are shaped by early family socialization practices. One hundred and eighty-nine European American, Chinese immigrant, and native Chinese children and their mothers participated in this study. Maternal interaction styles and children's developing emotion knowledge and autobiographical memory were assessed three times at home, from 36 to 60 months of age. The results have provided support for the hypotheses.

Current research examines cultural effects on the perceptual, retention, and retrieval processes of remembering; and social-cognitive factors in the development of autobiographical memory in middle childhood (funded by NSF award# BCS-0721171).



Biography

Education

Ph.D. 2000 - Harvard University

M.A. 1998 - Harvard University

B.Sc. 1989 - Peking University, China



Administrative Responsibilities
Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD):
Ethnic and Racial Affairs Committee           
    Spring 2005 - Spring 2009

Cornell University:
Core faculty member of the Cornell East Asian Program
          2000 - present
Human Ecology Diversity Committee                   
          2005 - present
HD Undergraduate Studies Committee                     
          2007 - present

Courses, Websites, Pubs

Courses Taught
HD 120     HD Freshman seminar
HD 230     Cognitive Development
HD 435     Mind, Self, and Emotion: Research Seminar
HD 452     Culture and Human Development
HD 631a    Proseminar on Cognitive Development
HD 631b    Seminar on Autobiographical Memory

Related Websites

Social Cognition Development Lab



Publications
Wang, Q. (2007). “Remember when you got the big, big bulldozer?” Mother-child reminiscing over time and across cultures. Social Cognition, 25, 4, 455-471.

Wang, Q. & Ross, M. (2007). Culture and memory. In H. Kitayama & D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of Cultural Psychology. New York, NY: Guilford Publications. 

Wang, Q. (2006). Relations of maternal style and child self-concept to autobiographical memories in Chinese, Chinese immigrant, and European American 3-year-olds. Child Development, 77, 6, 1799-1814.

Wang, Q. (2006). Culture and the development of self-knowledge. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 4, 182-187.

Wang, Q. (2006). Earliest recollections of self and others in European American and Taiwanese young adults. Psychological Science, 17, 8, 708-714.

Wang, Q. & Ross, M. (2005). What we remember and what we tell: The effects of culture and self-priming on memory representations and narratives. Memory, 13, 6, 594-606. 

Wang, Q. (2004). The emergence of cultural self-construct: Autobiographical memory and self-description in American and Chinese children. Developmental Psychology, 40, 1, 3-15.

Wang, Q. (2003). Infantile amnesia reconsidered: A cross-cultural analysis. Memory, 11, 1, 65-80.

Wang, Q. & Brockmeier, J. (2002). Autobiographical remembering as cultural practice: Understanding the interplay between memory, self and culture. Culture & Psychology, 8, 45-64.

Wang, Q. (2001). Cultural effects on adults' earliest childhood recollection and self-description: Implications for the relation between memory and the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(2), 220-233.

Wang, Q. & Leichtman, M. D. (2000). Same beginnings, different stories: A comparison of American and Chinese children's narratives. Child Development, 71(5), 1329-1346.