This month, we are delighted to introduce Dr. Xiaopan Ding (she/hers; psydx@nus.edu.sg), an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the National University of Singapore.
Can you write a couple sentences on some aspect of your career development?
I began this journey because I was fascinated by Piaget’s conservation tasks during a Developmental Psychology course in my undergraduate years in Zhejiang University. I obtained both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Zhejiang University and later completed my PhD training in East China Normal University. I have very fortunate to have three great mentors who inspired and supported me along the way: Professor Fu Genyue, Professor Xu Qinmei and Professor Chen Guopeng.
During the third year of my PhD study, I joined Dr Kang Lee’s lab at the University of Toronto as a visiting PhD student and later as postdoctoral researcher. This experience naturally led me to think about the differences between Western and Eastern cultures, especially after I became a parent myself. In 2016, I returned to Asia and began establishing my own lab in Singapore, where I am fascinated by the question about how culture and language jointly influence on child development, especially their theory-of-mind development. I am excited to work with talented students to further explore this topic.
Please provide a short paragraph describing a particular recent finding, current study, or recent publication and what makes you excited about it.
I study children’s lying and theory-of-mind, and more recently, I have begun examining the role of parenting in children’s lying. Together with my PhD student, Liwen Yu, and a group of colleagues, we explored the developmental pathways of harsh parenting and children’s cheating. Through two longitudinal studies, we discovered that children’s self-criticism mediates the relation between parenting and children’s cheating. Our findings suggest that harsh parenting leads to increased self-criticism in children, which may, in turn, drive them to cheat more to meet high expectations. This research has prompted me to reflect our parenting style and the values we should impart to our children. We are currently drafting the manuscripts, and we hope to share this work soon
Reflections on your interactions with the Asian Caucus
I truly appreciated the networking sessions organized by Asian Caucus at SRCD, where I had the opportunities to meet many peers. I look forward to collaborating with these amazing people in the future!
Any upcoming talks or presentations we should know about?
My colleagues and I will be hosting a paper symposium at ISSBD this June, during which I will present a study on the effect of theory-of-mind training on children’s selective trust in a real-life scenario. Additionally, my lab will be presenting three posters at ISSBD. I hope we can connect and catch up there!
Ding, X. P., Zhai, Y., & Li, Q. (2024, June). Theory-of-mind training improves children’s resistance to being lured away by strangers. 10:30 to 12:00 on June 18th, 2024 (symposium session 3, SY-074)
Tan, S. K., Ding, X. P., & Evans, A. D. (2024, June). Young children’s moral judgments of lying in the digital era: Evaluating privacy lies in online and offline interactions. 16:00 to 16:30 on June 18th, 2024 (Poster session 4, PO-09)
Yu, L., Tay, C., Broekman, B., Daniel, L. M., Gluckman, P., Cai, S., Law, E., Cheon, B., Rifkin-Graboi, A., Setoh, P., Tiemeier, H., Chong, Y. S., & Ding, X. P. (2024, June). Authoritarian parenting and children’s cheating behavior: A mediating role of self-criticism. 10:00 to 10:30 on June 18th, 2024 (Poster session 3, PO-59)
Bi, Y., Tan, B. J. Y., Padbidri, A. N. & Ding, X. P. (2024, June). The link between parenting and children’s disclosure to parents: A meta-analysis. 10:00 to 10:30 on June 18th, 2024 (Poster session 3, PO-28
What is your preferred contact email?
psydx@nus.edu.sg
A weblink you prefer to share?
My lab website: www.nuschildlab.com
Our lab facebook page (please follow us! 😊): https://www.facebook.com/nuscdl/