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Lin is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago. Before moving to Chicago, she was the Evalyn Edwards Milman Assistant Professor at Cornell University. Lin obtained her B.S. in Psychology at Zhejiang University (2011) and her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2017). Then she was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University (2017-2018). Lin’s research has been published in top journals such as Science, PNAS, Psychological Science, American Psychologist, and featured in major media outlets including BBC, NBC, NYTimes, NPR, The Atlantic, and Xinhua Net. Her work has been recognized by the NSF CAREER Award, the Boyd McCandless Award, the Association for Psychological Science Rising Star, and Forbes 30 Scientists under 30.

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Ruohan graduated in 2024 from UC San Diego with a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Psychology and a minor in Biology. During her time at UC San Diego, she worked on her honors thesis in the Language and Development Lab led by Dr. David Barner, investigating children’s understanding of fairness in collaborative contexts and focusing on the contribution of labor and owned objects. Her research interests primarily lie in gender differences in thinking and behavior patterns, the gender pay gap and how it relates to fairness intuitions, and essentialist ideologies and their impact on stereotypes. In her free time, Ruohan enjoys music, literature, jogging, and being in nature.

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Rongzhi is a Postdoctoral Scholar working with Dr. Lin Bian at the University of Chicago. She received her B.A. in Psychology at Swarthmore College (2018), and her Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley (2023). Her research investigates how children use statistical information to form and update their beliefs. For example, she studies how children use statistical counterevidence to change their most fundamental beliefs about objects, agents, and social groups. She is also interested in exploring the role of statistical evidence in the transmission of social stereotypes and essentialism. Besides research, Rongzhi enjoys bouldering, skiing, surfing, and traveling.

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Molly is a fourth-year PhD student working with Dr. Lin Bian at the University of Chicago. Molly got her Bachelor’s degree from NYU with a major in Psychology and a minor in Chemistry. While at NYU, Molly worked in Dr. Andrei Cimpian’s lab where she studied development of gender stereotypes and their influence on academic achievement and aspirations in young children. After graduating, she worked as the lab manager in Dr. Cimpian’s lab where she continued her research on gender stereotypes. In her doctoral work, Molly plans to expand her research to look into the development of stereotypes about gender in non-binary contexts and how children use gender presentation to make inferences about things like ability and leadership potential.

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Vanessa is a third-year PhD student working with Dr. Lin Bian at the University of Chicago. She graduated from Cornell University and received her Bachelor’s in Psychology and Sociology with a minor in Inequality Studies. After graduating, she worked as the lab manager for the Emerging Minds Lab at Arizona State University, where she conducted research on curiosity in infants and young children. Vanessa’s research interests can be found at the intersections of social and developmental psychology and early education. Specifically, she plans to use an interdisciplinary framework to investigate how children’s social biases about power, privilege, and inequality are influenced by their beliefs about social groups.

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Grace is a second-year PhD student working with Dr. Lin Bian at the University of Chicago. Grace received her Bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University with a major in Psychology and a minor in Business Administration. During her studies at NU, Grace worked in Dr. John Coley’s lab where she studied “cognitive consturals”, such as essentialism, and how they affect people’s understanding and reasoning about the world. After graduating from NU, Grace obtained a Master’s degree in Education from Boston University. Grace is interested in questions related to gender stereotypes and social biases in educational settings. In her free time, Grace enjoys pour-over coffee, yoga, and traveling.

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Üli is a second-year PhD student working with Dr. Lin Bian and Dr. Susan Goldin-Meadow at the University of Chicago. She received her BS in Neuroscience and a minor in Philosophy from UIC, where she researched gender and age differences in facial emotion perception. After graduating, Üli worked as an early education teacher and a post-baccalaureate research assistant at Chicago Booth, studying the impact of childhood socioeconomic status on social evaluations in old age. Broadly, she is interested in children’s development of social biases, nonverbal communication, and person perception. In her doctoral work, Üli plans to study how children may acquire, endorse and respond to gender stereotypes through gesture and face nonverbal modalities.

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Yihan is a first-year doctoral student working with Drs. Lin Bian and Susan Goldin-Meadow at the University of Chicago. Before moving to Chicago, she lived in Canada and got her Bachelor’s degree from McMaster University with a major in Psychology and a specialization in Mental Health. During college, she worked at the McMaster Baby Lab and investigated how the racial composition of children’s living community impacted their interracial attitudes. Broadly, she is interested in children’s reasoning and attitudes about social categories, and how they make inferences about social hierarchies and abilities. Specifically, she plans to study how verbal and nonverbal modalities can play a role in these processes.

Liz is a MAPSS student at the University of Chicago, studying psychology. She previously  worked as a research assistant at Emory University in the Emory Mental Health & Development  Program and at Yonsei University in the Social and Cultural Psychology Lab. Her current  research interests include exploring stereotypes and biases stemming from social identity, as well  as interventions in intergroup relations that address these issues. She is excited to explore these  topics in the EArly Social Thinkers Lab at the University of Chicago. Outside of academia, Liz  enjoys working out, trying new foods, and spending time with friends!

Ruochen is a MAPSS-Psychology student at the Univeristy of Chicago. She earned a Bachelor degree at the Beijing Normal University in China. During her undergraduate years, she gained research experience in various topics, such as childhood maltreatment, gender objectification, feminism discussion on social media, and so on. These experiences solidified her interest in gender-related issues, leading her to join the EAST Lab. Her current research interests focus on the development of gender stereotypes, including their formation, effects, and ways to challenge them. Additionally, she is a dog person and has a lovely dog in her family, and she enjoys traveling in her spare time.

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Kyong-sun is an associate professor at Sungshin Women’s University, South Korea. She is visiting the EAST Lab from 2024 to 2025 as a Fulbright Scholar. Kyong-sun’s research focuses on infants’ and children’s social cognition. She earned her B.A. and M.A. at Yonsei University, South Korea, where she was supervised by Dr. Hyun-joo Song for her master’s degree, and her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, working with Drs. Renee Baillargeon and Cynthia Fisher. She is delighted to be back in the Midwest and to this wonderful lab for her sabbatical.

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Karson is an Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He was a visiting scholar in 2024 hosted by Dr. Lin Bian at the University of Chicago when he was on sabbatical leave. He received his bachelor’s degree from University College London and his PhD from the University of Cambridge. Employing interdisciplinary frameworks and diverse methods, Karson’s research examines gender and psychosexual issues in human development. His major research projects tackle topics such as how “nature” and “nurture” act together to shape differences between boys and girls, long-term implications of childhood gender (non)conformity, as well as the intersection of gender and sexual diversity, neurodiversity, and well-being.

Now doctoral student in Psychology, University of Virginia

Now doctoral student in Human Development, University of Maryland