Social sciences Psychology

A Hiroshima University-led study conducted with Rakuten Securities finds that practical digital skills, positive financial attitudes, and self-protection are more consistently associated with lower old-age anxiety than traditional financial knowledge alone.

Does a depressive mood inevitably lead to more pessimistic thinking or over-analysing? A global meta-analysis, the largest of its kind examining the relationship between a depressive mood and reality judgment, co-conducted by the Department of Psychology at Lingnan University has found that the key lies in the nature of the judgment. Overall, individuals in a depressive mood generally make more accurate judgments when handling self-referent tasks or complex issues requiring deep analysis. However, their accuracy is impaired as regards understanding others and interpreting interpersonal relationships. Researchers noted that the findings clarify a decades-long academic debate in psychology regarding whether a depressive mood allows individuals to perceive reality more objectively, and will aid in designing more targeted intervention strategies. The paper was published in Clinical Psychology Review, a top international academic journal in clinical psychology.

What happens when luxury brands known for exclusivity and prestige communicate with consumers through memes? Research suggests that luxury-branded meme ads are perceived as funnier and generate stronger social media sharing intentions because consumers view the combination of luxury brands and memes as unexpected.

PHABCON 2026, advanced research on human-animal bonds as pathways to healing, care, and connection.

To understand how parenting styles influence adolescent mental health, the Department of Psychology at Lingnan University, collaborating with researchers from the School of Psychology of South China Normal University and the Department of Applied Psychology of Guangdong University of Education, conducted a one-year longitudinal study. The research findings show that when parents use psychological control to manage their children, such as forcing compliance through guilt induction or love withdrawal, a tactic widely regarded as emotional blackmail, this can impair an adolescent’s capacity to regulate their emotions. This then exacerbates depressive symptoms and heightens the risk of self-harm, particularly in girls. Researchers point out that preventing adolescent self-harm requires not only addressing individual emotional issues but also improving family dynamics. The study was published in the international academic journal “Child Psychiatry & Human Development”.

Consumer Decision-Making Varies by Levels of Spatial Processing Perception

The Lingnan University Institute for Advanced Study (LUIAS) held a conferment ceremony today, 21 April, to honour two internationally famous scholars. Prof Arnold B. Bakker, a leading authority in work and organisational psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, was appointed a Lingnan Fellow. Prof M. Jae Moon, an eminent scholar in public management and digital governance from Yonsei University, Korea, received the title of Senior Lingnan Scholar. Both scholars are ranked on the Stanford University World’s Top 2% Scientists list, and this will drive Lingnan University’s endeavours in international research and collaborative exchange.

The Department of Psychology at Lingnan University hosted an academic symposium on campus yesterday, 13 April, titled “Navigating the Work-Family Interface in the Digital Era: Challenges and Strategies”. Around 40 local and international psychology scholars gathered to examine how contemporary work practices in the digital era influence mental health, job performance, and family life, and to present their latest research findings along with practical strategies to build resilience.

To enhance the business acumen and practical experience of students from Hong Kong and Greater Bay Area (GBA) tertiary institutions, the Hong Kong Institute of Business Studies (HKIBS) at Lingnan University organised the third Business Case Competition (LUBCC) 2026. The Final Presentation Day and Award Presentation Ceremony were successfully held yesterday (12 April). This year’s competition expanded for the first time to include five GBA universities: Shenzhen University, Jinan University, Foshan University, Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, and Guangdong University of Technology. The first-prize teams were Lingnan University and Foshan University.

Researchers at The University of Osaka developed an eight-week training program that teaches CBT by encouraging graduate students to apply CBT techniques to their own experiences and reflect on the process. In a preliminary study of 29 trainees, the program showed high satisfaction, low adverse events, and perceived benefits in CBT understanding, self-awareness, and reflective skills. The approach may provide a promising new model for training mental health professionals.

Assessing the toll of elongated working hours in community-dwelling, middle-aged adults

A new study from Hiroshima University showed that, among university students just entering the workforce, those with optimism about the future better manage 'reality shock' through formation of a career-related identity.

How do online and offline narratives—from political speeches to news coverage to social media talk— make and unmake a democracy?

In recent years, marathons and ultradistance endurance events have grown in popularity, and are widely regarded as beneficial to both physical and mental health. A recent study conducted by the Department of Psychology at Lingnan University shows that individual personality traits play an important role in the psychological well-being derived from exercise. Contrary to common belief, individuals with higher levels of extraversion did not show a significant increase in subjective well-being as their participation in ultradistance endurance events increased. In fact, those more open to the experience were also more likely to translate such demanding trials into improved overall well-being. These findings offer new insights to people choosing exercise and activities that best suit their personalities.

Researchers from The University of Osaka compared psychological ratings of various words from humans and large language models (LLMs) along different dimensions in order to compare the ways in which they conceptualize words. Human and LLM ratings aligned closely for some attributes (such as concreteness) but diverged significantly for others (such as iconicity). This work reveals which linguistic features may be reliably estimated using LLMs.

On 11 January 2026, Lingnan University’s Department of Psychology and the Wu Jieh Yee School of Interdisciplinary Studies, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Society of Sport & Exercise Psychology (HKSSEP), hosted a seminar titled "The Importance of Sports and Exercise Psychology in Modern Tertiary Education". The seminar attracted approximately 60 attendees, including students from psychology and sports-related programmes, as well as members of the general public who are interested in the subject of sport and exercise psychology.

Symptoms of depression are common among people with asthma, but growing evidence suggests they may arise from biological mechanisms different from those underlying major depressive disorder.

In many organisations, significant hierarchical gaps exist within work teams, raising the question of how frontline employees can strive for greater opportunities for upward mobility in their careers. A recent study by the Department of Psychology at Lingnan University finds that employees who proactively seek work resources in their jobs, are willing to learn, and at the same time possess higher emotional intelligence, have significantly higher job performance and work engagement. The research team points out that these strategies help employees create more favourable conditions for long-term career development in complex workplace environments. The research findings have been published in top-tier international academic journal Journal of Business and Psychology.

In today’s highly competitive society, many parents insist their children learn more and learn faster in order to “win at the starting line”. A recent study by the Department of Psychology at Lingnan University examining the relationship between stress and creativity has found that different types of stress, such as competition, noise, confined environments, and engaging in challenging tasks, may actually reduce children’s creative performance, but adolescents and adults tend to show more innovative ability under moderate competitive pressure. The research findings have been published in top-tier international academic journal Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, and provide important insights in workplace management strategies, and for the education sector and creative industries.

Why are gourmets seemingly able to detect subtle nuances in taste that others miss? Researchers at Tohoku University have uncovered part of the answer by demonstrating that taste sensitivity can be enhanced through learning.

Researchers from Japan have unveiled a comprehensive dataset detailing the psychological and social responses of Japanese adults to the COVID-19 pandemic. Spanning 30 survey waves from January 2020 to March 2024, the open dataset captures how Japanese adults’ risk perception, preventive behaviors, policy attitudes, views toward foreigners, and psychological distress evolved over more than four years of uncertainty. Published as a data paper in Data in Brief, this resource is now openly accessible to the global community.

Whispers in the gut, "Memory foam" for space 🚀, Potassium power 🔋& Intelligent multitasking. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice

In Hong Kong’s fast-paced lifestyle, many people need to multitask in order to get things done, and whether this ability is innate or can be developed through training has long been a subject of academic debate. A recent study by the Department of Psychology at Lingnan University has found that multitasking is not a singular skill, but rather a composite of various cognitive abilities, and the research team suggests that systematic training has the potential to enhance performance across work and learning contexts. Their findings have been published in the prestigious international Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance and were selected as an editor’s choice article.

With youth mental health commanding increasing attention in recent years, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao University Psychological Counselling Alliance, composed of the Wofoo Joseph Lee Consulting and Counselling Psychology Research Centre in the Department of Psychology at Lingnan University and 16 higher education institutions in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), held a conference at the Lingnan@West Kowloon learning hub today, 16 June. The universities in the Alliance agreed to integrate Lingnan University’s Wellness Ambassador Programme (WAP) training modules into their peer counselling programmes in order to support students’ psychological development and improve mental health on campuses and in communities.

To increase academic exchanges and collaboration between the two psychology institutions, a delegation from the Department of Psychology at Lingnan University visited the School of Psychology at Shenzhen University on 4 June, and was warmly received by Prof Chen Qi, Dean of the School of Psychology of Shenzhen University, and members of the faculty. They discussed new directions for disciplinary development,and decided to begin preparatory work officially for a joint master’s double-degree programme in applied psychology.

Cosmic hide-and-seek, Controlling quantum light, Thinking face robot, Live DNA folding & Menopause-dementia link. Plus latest SciCom Coffee talk. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.

A well-timed “furrowed face”—a subtle expression we instinctively recognize as “thinking”—can make androids appear less creepy and more relatable to humans.

A virtual reality experiment suggests that fear, pain, and expectations shaped by prior experiences can disrupt the mind’s grip on the body.

To encourage the university community to take regular exercise and think positively through physical activities, Lingnan University in Hong Kong held a fundraising film screening of the documentary Four Trails in Yuen Long yesterday, 7 March. A group of runners, along with the film’s production team, attended the post-screening sharing session, where they chatted with students and faculty, sharing behind-the-scenes stories. The event attracted an audience of about a hundred, and all proceeds will be donated to the Outstanding Athletics Awards Fund for students at the University.

The intersection of technology and psychological health has become a critical area of enquiry in interpersonal, workplace and organisational contexts in the digital era. With the support of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao University Alliance, the Department of Psychology at Lingnan University in collaboration with Sun Yat-sen University and Renmin University hosted the inaugural International Conference and Workshop on Health and Well-being in the Digital Era on the Lingnan campus yesterday, 21 February. The conference continues today, 22 February, on Sun Yat-sen University’s Shenzhen campus. It highlights the crucial role of psychological science in shaping AI applications across work, healthcare, and daily life, and attracted about 160 participants on the first day.