I am a sixth-year graduate student at the Conceptual Development and Social Cognition Lab (PI: Dr. Marjorie Rhodes) at New York University, studying the developmental processes that shape gender disparities in STEM, as well as other topics related to social categorization and cognitive development.

Before coming to NYU, I worked as a lab manager at the Social Concepts Lab at Stanford University for two years, working on projects related to children’s and adults’ normative reasoning, concepts of race, and experience of inequality. I received my bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College in 2017, with a major in Psychology and a minor in Mathematics.

I have previously also worked at the Culture, Family, & Development Lab at Wellesley, the Early Childhood Cognition Lab at MIT, and the Social Learning Lab at Stanford.

You can find a recent CV here.

 

Current Research Projects

The Development of Gender Disparities Among Those at the Very Top 

In this line of research, I study the social mechanisms underlying gender disparities among those who are recognized as the most exceptional. Along with Drs. Marjorie Rhodes and Sarah-Jane Leslie, I research girls' and women's early-developing tendency to avoid public recognition for their top achievements in science, as well as whether such a concern for public recognition leads girls and women to avoid opportunities for advancement that would result in public acknowledgement. We research these social processes among elementary-age children, adolescents, and adults.

How Linguistic Input Shapes Early Science Interest and Engagement

In this line of research, I study how action-focused science language ("Let’s do science!”) versus identity-focused science language (“Let’s be scientists!”) shape preschool-aged children’s early interest, engagement, and beliefs about science. Along with Amanda Cardarelli and Drs. Marjorie Rhodes and Sarah-Jane Leslie, I examine the science language children encounter in their daily environments (e.g., classrooms, parents, media), as well as the experimental effects of manipulating such language on their own science interest, engagement, and stereotype beliefs about science.

Publications

Xu, Y.*, Wang, M.*, Moty, K., & Rhodes, M. (in press). How culture shapes the early development of essentialist beliefs. Developmental Science.

Wang, M., Gleason, T. R., & Chen, S. H. (in press). Effortful control is associated with ethnic minority children’s pro-wealth biases and explanations across social domains. Developmental Psychology.

Wang, M., & Roberts, S. O. (2023). Children from highly resourced contexts believe most people are highly resourced: An early developing worldview that stymies resource sharing. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 230, 105624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105624

Wang, M., Cardarelli, A., Leslie, S. J., & Rhodes, M. (2022). How children’s media and teachers communicate exclusive and essentialist views of science and scientists. Developmental Psychology, 58(8), 1455–1471. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/dev0001364

Bareket-Shavit, C., Wang, M., & Roberts, S. O. (2021). Harnessing the power of group norms to improve children’s intergroup relationships. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 28(3), 302–309. https://doi.org/10.1037/pac0000592

Roberts, S. O., Bareket-Shavit, C., & Wang, M. (2021). The souls of Black folk (and the weight of Black ancestry) in U.S. Black Americans’ racial categorization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 121(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000228

Van Wye, E., Wang, M., & Roberts, S. O. (2021). Explanations for norm violations affect preschoolers’ judgments of norm violators. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 150(8), 1688–1694. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000942

Rhodes, M., Rizzo, M., Foster-Hanson, E., Moty, K., Leshin, R., Wang, M., Benitez, J., & Ocampo, J. D. (2020). Advancing developmental science via unmoderated remote research with children. Journal of Cognition and Development, 21(4), 477-493. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2020.1797751

Roberts, S. O., Weisman, K., Lane, J. D., Williams, A., Camp, N., Wang, M., Robison, M., Sanchez, K., & Griffiths, C. (2020). Conceptualizing God as a White man: A psychological barrier to conceptualizing Black people and women as leadership worthy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119(6), 1290–1315. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000233

Chen, S. H., Gleason, T. R., Wang, M., Liu, C. H., & Wang, L. (2019). Subjective social status in Chinese American children: Associations with social cognitions and socioemotional well-being. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 10(4), 362-372. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000161

Carciofo, R., Song, N., Du, F., Wang, M., & Zhang, K. (2017). Metacognitive beliefs mediate the relationship between mind wandering and negative affect. Personality and Individual Differences, 107(1), 78-87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.11.033

Manuscripts Under Review

Wang, M., Leslie, S. J., & Rhodes, M. (under revision). Public acknowledgement as a double-edged sword: Gender differences in how publicity motivates children and youths to achieve top performance. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/vgtc3

Wang, M., Cardarelli, A., Brenner, J., Leslie, S. J., & Rhodes, M. (under revision). Maladaptive but malleable: Gender-science stereotypes emerge early but are modifiable by language.

Conference Proceedings

Wang, M., Xu, Y., Moty, K., & Rhodes, M. (2024). The cognitive precursors of early developing essentialist beliefs. Proceedings of the 46th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 3873-3881). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/qanh6

Contact

michelle.wang@nyu.edu

6 Washington Pl, Room 301
New York, NY 10003