Degrees Earned
Ph.D., Personality and Social Psychology, Cornell University, 2001
M.A., Personality and Social Psychology, Cornell University, 1999
M.Sc., Developmental Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, China, 1996
B.Sc., Psychology, HangZhou University, Zhejiang, China, 1993
Undergraduate Courses Taught
General Psychology
Statistics
Personality
Research Seminar
Adolescence
Cultural Psychology
Publications & Editorships
Zhang, F. (2017). Neuroticism. In B. J. Carducci (Editor-in-Chief) & C. S. Nave (Vol. Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell encyclopedia of personality and individual differences: Vol. I. Models and theories. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Colburn, K., & Georges, N. (2015). Fluctuations in female attention to male facial expressions of emotions across the menstrual cycle. In A. Freitas-Magalhães (Ed.), Emotional Expression: The Brain and The Face (Vol. 7) (pp.148-180). Porto: Edições Universidade Fernando Pessoa.
Zhang, F., Parmley, M., Wan, X. A., & Cavanagh, S. (2015). Cultural differences in recognition of subdued facial expressions of emotions. Motivation and Emotion, 39, 309-319.
Zhang, F. & Parmley M. (2015). Emotion Attention and Recognition of Facial Expressions among Close Friends and Casual Acquaintances. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 32, 633-649. DOI: 10.1177/0265407514541073
Parmley, M., & Zhang, F. (co-first author, 2015). Your face says it all: Closeness and the perception of emotional expressions. Journal of Social Psychology, 155, 127-142.
Zhang, F. & Parmley M. (2011). What your best friend sees that I don’t see: Comparing close friend dyads and casual acquaintance dyads on the perception of emotional facial expressions of varying intensities. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 28-39.
Zhang, F. (2009). The Relationship between State Attachment Security and Daily Interpersonal Experience. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 511–515.
Zhang, F., & Labouvie-Vief, G. (in press). Development of adult attachment orientation: A 6-year longitudinal study. Journal of Attachment and Human Development (Special Issue).
Zhang, F., & Hazan, C. (2002). Working models of attachment and person perception processes. Personal Relationships, 9, 227-237.
Conferences and Presentations
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Kelley M *. (2019, February). Inducing serenity: Exploring a new method. Poster presented at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Portland, OR.
Zhang, F., & Parmley, M. (2018, March). Serenity and Global Thinking Style. Poster presented at the 18th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Spillman, C., & Folan, K. (2018, March). Serenity and Stereotypic Thinking. Poster presented at the 18th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., *Gostkowski, R., & *Reynolds, N. (2017, January). The serene mind: Serenity and holistic perception. Poster presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., *doCurral, A., *Visconti, M., & *Nguyen, T. (2017, May). Global vs. Local Processing: A shift in cognitive processing associated with serenity. Poster presented at the 28th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, Boston, MA.
Soysa, C., Zhang, F., Parmley, M., & Lahikainen, K. (2017, August). Novel, Integrative Dimensions of FFM-Mindfulness and Serenity Predict Stress and Well-Being. Poster to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association. DC, Washington.
Zhang, F., Parmley, M. (co-first author), *Gostkowski, R., & *Cavicchi, A. (2017, May). Individual differences in the experience of serenity and regulation of emotions. Poster presented at the annual meeting of at the Annual Association for Psychological Association.
Zhang, F., Parmley, M., *Nguyen, T., & *Visconti, M (2017, January). Who are the serene people? Individual differences in the experience of serenity. Poster presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.
Nguyen, T., Visconti, M., Parmley, M., & Zhang, F. (2015, October). Promotion of well-Being: Effects of Serenity and Emotion Regulation. Presentation at the New England Psychological Association Conference, Fitchburg, MA.
Soysa, C., Lahikainen, K., Zhang, F., Parmley, M., & Kahn, A. (2015). FFM-mindfulness and models of serenity differentially determine stress and well-being. Poster presented at the Annual Association for Psychological Association.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., *Colburn, K. L., Georges, N., & *Lincoln, C. (2015). Attentional bias across the menstrual cycle: Emotional expression matters. Poster at the 27th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, New York, NY.
Soysa, C., Lahikainen, K., Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Lilly, R., Kahn, A., Erickson, D., & Dupont, K. (2015). Models of serenity in college students: Factor structure, stress, and well-being. Poster presented at the 27th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, New York, NY.
Research Projects
My research focuses on three areas:
1) Adult attachment. I am interested in the development of attachment styles across the life span as well as the relationship between attachment style and interpersonal behavior and cognition. Attachment style are distinct patterns people have for viewing and being involved in close relationships. I have collaborated with Dr. Gisela Labouvie-vief from Wayne State University (now in University of Geneva, Sweden), Dr. Itziar Alonso-Arbiol from University of the Basque Country in Spain, and Dr. TongGui Li from Beijing University in China in a number of investigations of individual differences in attachment style.
2) Perception of facial expressions of emotions. Facial expressions reflecting happiness, anger, sadness, fear, surprise, contempt, and disgust are commonly observed in everyday life and are considered primary emotional expressions. Accurately perceiving facial expressions, especially subtle expressions of emotions, can be beneficial to individuals because it allows them to correctly interpret another person’s state of mind and respond accordingly. My research investigates individual, contextual, and cultural differences in the perception of expressions. I have collaborated with Dr. Maria Parmley and Dr. Sarah Cavanagh at Assumption and two Chinese colleagues, Dr. Ping Yao from Beijing University and Dr. XiaoAng Wan from Tsinghua University, on this research.
3) Serenity and Buddhist psychology. The interplay between culture, religion (specifically, Buddhism), and emotion interests me a great deal. Cultures differ in what they consider to be ideal emotions. Western cultures endorse high-arousal positive emotions, such as happiness, excitement, joy, and ecstasy, whereas Eastern cultures value low-arousal positive emotions, such as serenity, calmness, peace, and tranquility, best exemplified by the serene smile of the Buddha. Serenity has been described as a transcendent emotional experience that expands consciousness and brings peace, acceptance, and gladness to the individual. My colleague Maria Parmley and I are interested in exploring this transcendent nature of serenity and its relationship to physiological and neurological changes in the body as well as changes in cognition and emotion. We also are collaborating with Dr. Keith Lahikainenm at Assumption and Dr. Soysa Champika from Worcester State University on a project examining links between mindfulness and serenity.