Past President

Sylvia Xiaohua Chen

Chair Professor,
Department of Applied Social Sciences

Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Email: ssxhchen@polyu.edu.hk

Education

Ph.D., Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Background

Sylvia Xiaohua Chen is Chair Professor of Social and Cultural Psychology in the Department of Applied Social Sciences, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Director of the Yan Oi Tong Au Suet Ming Child Development Centre, and Interim Director of the Mental Health Research Centre at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She is a Chartered Psychologist of the British Psychological Society, a Registered Psychologist and Fellow of the Hong Kong Psychological Society, a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities, Association for Psychological Science, and Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (now Advance HE), United Kingdom. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology and General Editor of Cambridge University Press Culture and Psychology Series. She has served as President of the Asian Association of Social Psychology, Associate Editor of the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, and Associate Editor of the Asian Journal of Social Psychology.

Professor Chen’s research areas are in the fields of personality and social psychology, as well as cultural psychology. Specifically, her research interests include the social psychology of bilingualism and biculturalism, globalization and multiculturalism, personality and social behavior in cultural contexts, as well as cultural diversity and mental health. Her work has appeared in leading journals in the field, such as Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, American Psychologist, Psychological Science, and Social Psychological and Personality Science, and PNAS Nexus. She was a recipient of the Jung-heun Park Young Scholar Award (2005) and Michael Harris Bond Award for Early Career Research Contributions (2013) conferred by the Asian Association of Social Psychology, Early Career Award (2016) conferred by the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, and the Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (2018/19) awarded by the Research Grants Council (RGC). She also received several academic awards from the American Psychological Association Division 52 (International Psychology), including the Outstanding International Psychologist Award (2022). She was invited to be a keynote speaker at different international conferences, including the 32nd (ICP2020+) and 33rd (ICP2024) International Congress of Psychology. She is ranked as one of Best Scientists in China in the field of Psychology by Research.com in 2024.

Research Interests

  • The social psychology of bilingualism and biculturalism
  • Globalization and multiculturalism
  • Personality and social behavior in cultural contexts
  • Cultural diversity and mental health

Selected Publications

Chen, S. X., Ye, F. T.-f., Cheng, K. L., Ng, J. C. K., Lam, B. C. P., Hui, B. P. H., Au, A. K. Y., Wu, W. C. H., Gu, D., & Zeng, Y. (2023). Social media trust predicts lower COVID-19 vaccination rates and higher excess mortality over two years. PNAS Nexus, 2 (10): pgad318. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad318

Chen, S. X., Ng, J. C. K., Hui, B. P. H., Au, A. K. Y., Lam, B. C. P., Wu, W. C. H., Pun, N., Beattie, P., Welzel, C., & Liu, J. H. (2023). Global consciousness predicts behavioral responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: Empirical evidence from 35 cultures. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 14, 662-671. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506221124392

Chen, S. X., Mak, W. W. S., & Lam, B. C. P. (2020). Is it cultural context or cultural value? Unpackaging cultural influences on stigma toward mental illness and barrier to help-seeking. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11, 1022-1031. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550619897482

Chen, S. X., Lam, B. C. P., Hui, B. P. H., Ng, J. C. K., Mak, W. W. S., Guan, Y., Buchtel, E. E., Tang, W., & Lau, V. C. Y.  (2016). Conceptualizing psychological processes in response to globalization: Components, antecedents, and consequences of global orientation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 11, 302-331. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039647

Chen, S. X., Lam, B. C. P., Wu, W. C. H., Ng, J. C. K., Buchtel, E. E., Guan, Y., & Deng, H. (2016). Do people’s worldviews matter? The why and how. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110, 743-765. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000061

Chen, S. X., & Bond, M. H. (2010). Two languages, two personalities? Examining language effects on the expression of personality in a bilingual context. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 1514-1528. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167210385360

Oyserman, D., Sorensen, N., Reber, R., & Chen, S. X. (2009). Connecting and separating mindsets: Culture as situated cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 217-235. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015850

Chen, S. X., Benet-Martínez, V., & Bond, M. H. (2008). Bicultural identity, bilingualism, and psychological adjustment in multicultural societies: Immigration-based and globalization-based acculturation. Journal of Personality, 76, 803-838. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00505.x