Li-Jun Ji
Professor
Department of Psychology
B.S., Peking University
M.S., Peking University
Ph.D., University of Michigan
Research Interests
I am interested in understanding the relationships between culture and cognition. Specifically, I have been studying how culture (East Asian vs. American) shapes the way people think and behave. Research (including some of my own) has shown that the culture in which we grew up affects the way we perceive, interpret and respond to the world. I am particularly interested in cultural impacts on thinking and reasoning (as broadly defined), and the implications for social cognition. In my research, I have examined cultural differences in attention/perception, categorization, prediction, and judgment and decision making.
Selected Publications
Ji, L.J., Vaughen-Johnson, Zhang, Z., Jacobson, J., Zhang, N., & Huang, X. (in press). Context and cultural differences in optimism. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.
Yang, Z., Ji, L.J., Yang, Y., Wang, Y., Zhu, L., & Cai, H. (2021). Meaning making helps cope with covid-19: A longitudinal study. Personality and Individual Difference, 174, 110670.
Ji, L.J., Khei, M., Yap, S., Wang, X., Zhang, Z., & Hou, Y. (in press). Cultural differences in the construal of suffering and the COVID-19 pandemic. Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Imtiaz, F., Ji, L.J. & Vaughen-Johnson, T. (2021). Exploring preference for present- and future-focused job opportunities across seniors and young adults. Current Psychology.
Chen, Q., Wang, X.Q., He, X.X., Ji, L.J. Liu, M., & Ye, B. (2021). The relationship between search for meaning in life and symptoms of depression and anxiety: Key roles of the presence of meaning in life and life events among Chinese adolescents. Journal of Affective Disorders, 282, 545-553.
Imtiaz, F. & Ji, L.J., (2021). Then and Now: Examining the impact of temporal focus on persuasive messages across seniors and young adults, Experimental Aging Research, 47(1), 57-78.
Spina, R., Ji, L.J., Li, Y., & Zhang, Z. (2020). Cultural differences in the tendency to seek practical versus theoretical information. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 51(7-8), 636-653.
Lee, A., Ji, L.J., Li, Y., & Zhang, Z. (2020). Fear David or Goliath? Inferring competence from demeanor across cultures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 46 (7), 1074-89.
Ji, L.J. & An, S. (2020). Cultural differences in people’s responses to accidents. Journal of Loss and Trauma.
Imtiaz, F., Ji, L. J., & Vaughan-Johnston, T. (2019). Exploring the influence of a low-dose mindfulness induction on performance and persistence in a challenging cognitive task. Journal of Theoretical Social Psychology, 2, 107-118.
Ji, L.J., Yap, S., Best, M., & McGeorge, K. (2019) Global processing makes people happier than local processing. Frontiers in Psychology.
Ji, L.J, Hong, E., Guo, T., Zhang, Z., Su, Y., & Li, Y. (2019). Culture, psychological proximity to the past and future, and self-continuity. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49 (4), 735-747.
Yap, S., Ji, L.J., & Hong, E. (2018). Culture and cognition. In Sharon Tompson-Schill (ed.) The Stevens’ Handbook of Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New Jersey.
Imtiaz, F., Khei, M., & Ji, L. J. (2018). Resilience through Suffering: A Potential Military Application. In A. MacIntyre, D. Legace-Roy, & D.R. Lindsay (Eds.) Global Views on Military Stress and Resilience. Canadian Defence Academy Press, 37-53.
Zhang, N., Ji., L.J., Bai, B., & Li, Y. (2018). Culturally Divergent Consequences of Receiving Thanks in Close Relationships. Emotion, 18(1), 46-57.
Zhang, N., Ji. L.J., & Guo, T. (2018) Culture and lay theories of change, in Julie Spencer-Rogers and Kaiping Peng (Eds.) The Psychological and Cultural Foundations of East Asian Thinking, Oxford University Press, 81-104.
Ji. L.J., & Chan, E. (2017) Chinese thinking styles and religion, in Justin Barrett and Ryan Hornbeck (eds.) Religious cognition in China, Springer International, 35-54.
Ji, L.J., Zhang, N., Li, Y., Zhang, Z., Harper, G, Khei, M., & Li, J. (2017). Cultural variations in reasons for advice-seeking. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 30:708-718.
An, S., Ji, L.J., Marks, M., & Zhang, Z. (2017). Two Sides of Emotion: Exploring positivity and negativity in six basic emotions across cultures. Frontiers in Psychology. 8: 610
Zhang, N., Ji, L.J., & Li, Y. (2017). Cultural differences in opportunity cost consideration. Frontiers in Psychology. 8: 45.
Ji, L.J., & Yap, S. (2016). Culture and cognition. Current Opinion in Psychology. 8: 105-111. DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.10.004
Zhang, N., & Ji, L.J. (2015). Beyond whom and when: a revisit of the influences of social norms on behavior. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 46: 1319-1323.
Ji, L.J., McGeorge, K., Li, Y., Lee, A., & Zhang, Z. (2015). Culture and gambling fallacies. Springerplus, 4 (1):510.
Lee, A., & Ji, L.J. (2014). Moving away from a bad past and towards a good future: feelings influence the metaphorical understanding of time. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 143(1), 21-26.
Miyamoto, Y., Knoepfler, C.A., Ishii, K., & Ji, L.J. (2013). Cultural variation in the focus on goals versus processes of actions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(6), 707-719
Ji, L.J., & Kaulius, M. (2013). Judgment and decision making across cultures. Advances in Psychological Science, 21(3), 381-388.
Guo, T., Ji, L.J, Spina, R., & Zhang, Z. (2012). Culture, temporal focus, and values of the past and the future. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(8), 1030 – 1040. (correspondence author)
Jacobson, J., Ji, L.J., Ditto, P.H., Zhang, Z., Reiss, S.K., Legnini, V., Sorkin, D., Roper-Coleman, S., Ebel-Lam, A. (2012). The Effects of Culture and Self-Construal on Responses to Threatening Health Information. Psychology and Health.
Rounding, K., Lee, A., Jacobson, J., & Ji, L.J. (2012). Religion Replenishes Self-Control. Psychological Science. 23(6), 635-642.
Miyamoto, Y., & Ji, L.J. (2011). Power fosters context-independent, analytic cognition. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(11), 1449-1458.
Hsieh, A.Y., Tripp, D., Ji, L.J. (2011). The influence of ethnic concordance and discordance on verbal reports and nonverbal behaviors of pain. Pain. 152(9),2016-22
Ji, L.J. (2010). Is Confucian culture forgiving? Learning and Individual Difference, 20(6), 569-570.
Hsieh, A.Y., Tripp, D.,Ji, L.J. & Sullivan, M.J.L. (2010) Comparisons of catastrophizing, pain attitudes, and cold pressor pain experience between Chinese and European Canadian young adults. Journal of Pain. 11(11), 1187-94.
Spina, R., Ji, L.J., Guo, T., Zhang, Z, Li, Y., & Fabrigar, L. (2010) Cultural Differences in the Representativeness Heuristic: Expecting a Correspondence in Magnitude between Cause and Effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 36(5), 583-597.
Spina, R., Ji, L.J., Ross, M., Li, Y., & Zhang, Z. (2010) Why best can’t last: Cultural differences in anticipating regression toward the mean. Asian Journal of Social Psychology. 13, 153-162.
Ji. L.J., Lee, A., & Guo, T. (2010) The thinking styles of Chinese people, in Michael Bond (ed.) The handbook of Chinese Psychology (2nd edition), Oxford University Press, p155-167.
Yates, F.J.,Ji, L.J., Oka, T, Lee, J.W., Shinotsuka, H., & Sieck, W. (2010) Indecisiveness and culture: Incidence, values, and thoroughness. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 41(3), 428-444.
Ji, L.J., Guo, T., Zhang, Z.,& Messervey, D. (2009) Looking into the past: Cultural differences in perception and representation of past information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(4), 761-769.
Ji, L.J. (2008) The leopard cannot change his spots, or can he: Culture and the development of lay theories of change. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(5), 613-622.
Ji, L.J., Zhang, Z., & Guo, T. (2008) To buy or to sell: Cultural differences in stock market decisions based on stock price trends. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 21(4), 399-413.
Ji, L.J. (2005). Culture and lay theories of change. In Culture and Social Behavior: The Tenth Ontario Symposium. Edited by Richard M. Sorrentino, Dov Cohen, Jim Olson, Mark Zanna. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 117 -135.
Messervey, D., Ji, L.J., & Uchida, Y. (2004). Cognition and Culture. In Charles Spielberger (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology. San Diego, CA: Elsevier Ltd., 357-364.
Ji, L.J., Zhang, Z., & Nisbett, R.E. (2004) Is it Culture, or is it language? Examination of language effects in cross-cultural research on categorization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(1), 57-65.
Ji, L.J., Zhang, Z., Usborne, E., & Guan, Y. (2004). Optimism across cultures: In response to the SARS outbreak. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 7(1), 25-34.
Haberstroh, S., Oyserman, D., Schwarz, N., Kuhnen, U., & Ji, L.J. (2002) Is the interdependent self more sensitive to question context than the independent self? Self-construal and the observation of conversational norms. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 323-329.
Hedden, T., Park, D., Nisbett, R.E.,Ji, L.J., Jing, Q., & Jiao, S. (2002) Cultural variation in verbal versus spatial neuropsychological function across the lifespan. Neuropsychology, 16, 65-73.
Ji, L.J., Nisbett, R.E., & Su, Y. (2001) Culture, change, and prediction. Psychological Science. 12 (6), 450-456.
Ji, L.J., Peng, K., & Nisbett, R.E. (2000) Culture, control and perception of relationships in the environment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 78 (5), 943-955.
Ji, L.J., Schwarz, N., & Nisbett, R. E. (2000) Culture, autobiographical memory, and social comparison: Measurement issues in cross-cultural studies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 26 (5), 586-594.