Research
My research focuses on children’s social and moral development, with a particular interest in moral judgment and emotions, prosocial behavior, and fairness. I examine how children’s social development is shaped by contextual factors, including culture, social class, and family environment. More broadly, my work seeks to understand how social contexts influence the development of children’s moral and social behavior.
Prof. Zuo-Jun Wang
- E-mail address: wangzuojun_psych(at)163.com (opens your email program)
- Tel: +49 15251619827 (starts a telephone call, if your device allows this)
- Location: Sedanstraße 1, 017
- Important information: Sprechstunde: nach Vereinbarung
Academic career
- since 08/2026: Visiting Scholar, Institut for Psychology, University of Regensburg
- since 07/2024: Professor, School of Education, Anhui Normal University, China
- 09/2013- 09/2014 Visiting Scholar, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Niederlande
Publications
Publications
Wang, Y-M., Zhao, S., Wang, Z-J., * Lyu, S-S., Wang, D., & Chan, K.Q. (2025). Social class and children’s third-party intervention tendency and forms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251352895 (external link, opens in a new window)
Lyu, S-S., Wang, Y-M., Liu, C-J., Wang, Q.H., Ding, D-D., Wang, Z-J., * Wang, D. (2025; January 15). Chinese adolescents’ belief in a just world: Social class and age disparities. Youth & Society, 57(5), 816-829. DOI: 10.1177/0044118X241313189
Wang, Z-J., Wang, Y-M., Wei, Y., Zhang, T-T., Wang, F., Chan, K.Q. (2024; First online March 21). Social class, schadenfreude, and children's prosocial behavior in moral contexts. Emotion, 24(6), 1417–1427. doi.org/10.1037/emo0001363
Wang, Z-J., Liu, C-Y., Wang, Y-M., & Wang, Y. (2024; First online 11 October). Childhood psychological maltreatment and adolescent depressive symptoms: Exploring the role of social anxiety and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Journal of Affective Disorders, 344, 365-372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.10.046 (external link, opens in a new window)
Kuang, Y., Wang, F., & Wang, Z-J.* (2021, First online April 2, 2020). Social class and children’s prosociality: A study in the context of China’s dual urban-rural structure. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12(1), 63-70. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620887698. (external link, opens in a new window)
Gao, C., Wang, D., Miao, X-Y., Wang, Z-J.,* & Chan, K. Q. * (2021). Close-knit ties through thick and thin: Sharing social exclusion and acceptance enhances social bond. European Journal of Social Psychology, 51(1), 197-211. DOI:10.1002/ejsp.2729.
Miao, X-Y., Chan, K. Q., Gao, C., Lv, S-S., Zhu, Y-X., Wang, Z-J.* (2020). Underdogs make an alliance: The co-experience of rejection promotes cooperation. British Journal of Social Psychology, 59(4), 876-899. DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12368.