Dr. Emma Buchtel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Centre for Psychosocial Health at the Education University of Hong Kong. She received her PhD in cultural psychology (social/personality area; quantitative minor) from the University of British Columbia in 2009, and her BA from Yale University in 1999. In between, she spent four years in Changsha and Beijing, teaching English at the high school and university levels and learning Mandarin Chinese.
Dr. Buchtel’s research explores and deepens our understanding of Chinese cultural influences on psychology, including moral concepts, values, motivation and reasoning styles, and their implications for Western theories. She uses interdisciplinary approaches, multiple/mixed methods with cross-cultural data (e.g. psychophysiological data, qualitative data, quantitative surveys and experiments) and adopts open-science practices.
Watch Dr. Buchtel’s explanation of how bar graphs work to understand why cultural differences shouldn’t make you stereotype individuals:
➤ Selected Publications
Buchtel, E. E., Ng, L. C. Y., Bidwell, A., & Cannon, P. R. (2020). Moral expressions in Hong Kong, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom: Cultural similarities and differences in how affective facial muscle activity predicts judgments. Emotion. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000766
Buchtel, E. E., Ma, P. P. L, & Guan, Y. (2019). Assessing the similarity of injunctive norm profiles across different social roles: The effect of closeness and status in the United States and China. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 50(10), 1140-1160. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0022022119871357
Buchtel, E. E., Ng, L. C. Y., Norenzayan, A., Heine, S. J., Biesanz, J. C., Chen, S. X., Bond, M. H., Peng, Q., & Su, Y. (2018). A sense of obligation: Cultural differences in the experience of obligation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44(11), 1545-1566. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0146167218769610
Buchtel, E. E., Guan, Y., Peng, Q., Su, Y., Sang, B., Chen, S. X., & Bond, M. H. (2015). Immorality East and West: Are immoral behaviors especially harmful, or especially uncivilized? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(10), 1382-1394. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0146167215595606
Buchtel, E. E. (2014). Cultural sensitivity or cultural stereotyping? Positive and negative effects of a cultural psychology class. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 39, 40-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2013.09.003
➤ Contact Information
Department of Psychology
The Education University of Hong Kong
10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2948 8756
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