Wan-chi Wong received a Dr.Phil. at the Psychological Institute of Universität Heidelberg. She joined the Department of Educational Psychology (CUHK) since 1994. In 2002-2003, she was a visiting scholar at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University. Currently she offers the following courses: Psychological Development of the Child, Child and Adolescent Development, Psychological Development of Teachers, The Developmental Process of Motivation and its Role in Human Development.

Sign and Thought, Conceptual Development and Theories of Mind, Development of Reflective Thinking and Empathy, Creativity Development, Expertise Development, Psychology of Aesthetic Experience, Structure and Content of "Implicit Theories", Lewinian Field Theory and its Application, Cultural-historical Psychology.

Recent and ongoing research activities

As my major research interest lies in higher psychological processes, I was attracted to the cultural-historical approach of Russian psychology early on. Later, I learnt that Wundt’s Völkerpsychologie could also be considered as a variant of cultural-historical psychology. My main focus of recent and ongoing research lies in genealogical studies of fundamental psychological concepts using a refined methodological approach. Alongside the highway of the cultural-historical approach, which is evidently a macro-approach, a byway of my research endeavours in recent years has been the microdevelopmental/microgenetic studies along the implicit-explicit dimension. Investigation into young children’s understanding of the concept of justice is a case in point. In achieving a micro-macro link, I have also conducted a microdevelopmental study from a cultural-historical perspective on the theme of the dialogical self. Creativity, an important aspect of higher psychological processes, constitutes a further byway of my research activities.

1. He, W.-J., & Wong, W.C. (2021). Gender differences in the distribution of creativity scores: Domain-specific patterns in divergent thinking and creative problem solving. Frontier in Psychology (Specialty Section: Educational Psychology). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.626911
2. Hui, A.N.N., He, W.J., & Wong, W.C. (2019). Understanding the development of creativity across the life span. In J.C. Kaufman & R.J. Sternberg (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity, Second Edition (pp. 69-87). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
3. He, W.-J., Wong, W.C., & Hui, A.N.N. (2017). Emotional reactions mediate the effect of music listening on creative thinking: Perspective of the arousal-and-mood hypothesis. Frontiers in Psychology (Specialty Section: Educational Psychology), Volume 8, Article 1680. Front. Psychol. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01680
4. He, W.-J., Wong, W.C., Chan, M.-K. (2017). Overexcitabilities as important psychological attributes of creativity: A Dabrowskian perspective. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 25, 27-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2017.06.006
5. 徐华女、黄蕴智 [Xu, H., & Wong, W.C.] (2016). 從“隱性–顯性”角度理解兒童分配正義概念的發展 [Understanding children’s conceptual development of distributive justice along the implicit-explicit dimension]。教育心理學報 [Bulletin of Educational Psychology] , 48(1), 37-51。
6. 劉源、黄蕴智 [Liu, Y., & Wong, W.C.] (2016). 从“想”到“做” — 卢比孔模型 的解释力和应用 [From wishes to action: The explanatory power of the Rubicon model and its application]。心理科学 [Psychological Science], 39(3), 754-760。 DOI:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20160336
7. He, W.-J., & Wong, W.C. (2015). Creativity slump and school transition stress: A sequential study from the perspective of the cognitive-relational theory of stress. Learning and Individual Differences, 43, 185-190. 2015:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2015.08.034
8. He, W.-J., Wong, W.C., & Hui, A.N.N. (2015). Gender differences in means and variability on creative thinking: Patterns in childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. In A.-G. Tan & C. Perleth (Eds.), Creativity, culture, and development (pp.85-98). Singapore: Springer.
9. 李茵、黄蕴智 [Li, Y., & Wong, W.C.] (2015): “教比学难得多”— 我们该如何理解教学？ [Teaching is more difficult than learning: How could we understand the essence of teaching?]。北京大学教育评论 [Peking University Education Review]，第13卷第2期，181-186。
10. Wong, W.C. (2015). The role of a cultural sign in cultivating the dialogical self: The case of The Ox-Herding Pictures. Anthropology of Consciousness, 26(1), 28-59. DOI: 10.1111/anoc.12026
11. Wong, W.C. (2014). A genealogy of self in Chinese culture. Monumenta Serica. Journal of Oriental Studies, 62, 1-54.
12. Wong, W.C., Xu, H., Li, Y. & He, W.-J. (2014). What can we know about the creative potentials of teachers and students? What can we hope for in terms of the cultivation of creativity? International Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving, 24(2), 23-42.
13. 徐华女、黄蕴智、陳菁、李強 [Xu, H., Wong, W.C., Chen, J., Li, Q.] (2014). 受HIV/AIDS 影响的青少年群体之创造力潜能 [Creative Potentials of HIV/AIDS-Affected Adolescents ]。心理学进展 [Advances in Psychology], 4(4), 552-560。 http://dx/doi.org/10.12677/AP.2014.44075
14. Wong, W.C., Li, Y., Sun, X., & Xu, H. (2014). The control processes and subjective well-being of Chinese teachers: evidence of convergence with and divergence from the key propositions of the motivational theory of life-span development. Frontiers in Psychology (Specialty Section: Personality and Social Psychology), Volume 5, Article 467. Front. Psychol. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00467
15. He, W.-J., & Wong, W.C. (2014). Greater male variability in overexcitabilities: Domain-specific patterns. Personality and Individual Differences, 66, 27-32.
16. 徐华女、黄蕴智 (2014). 团体分配中儿童对程序正义与分配正义概念的掌握 [Children’s mastery of the concepts of procedural and distributive justice reflected in a distribution activity]。心理学进展 [Advances in Psychology], 4(2), 239-251。 http://dx.doi.org/10.12677/ap.2014.42036
17. He, W.-J., Wong, W.C., Li, Y., & Xu, H. (2013). A study of the greater male variability hypothesis in creative thinking in Mainland China: Male superiority exists. Personality and Individual Differences, 55(8), 882-886.
18. Cheung, C.N., & Wong, W.C. (2011). Understanding conceptual development along the implicit-explicit dimension: Looking through the lens of the Representational Redescription model. Child Development, 82(6), 2037-2052.
19. He,W.-J., & Wong, W.C. (2011). Gender differences in creative thinking revisited: Findings from analysis of variability. Personality and Individual Differences, 51(7), 807-811.
20. Wong, W.C. (2009). Retracing the footsteps of Wilhelm Wundt: Explorations in the disciplinary frontiers of psychology and in Völkerpsychologie. History of Psychology, 12(4), 229-265.
21. Wong, W.C., Li, Y., & Shen, J.L. (2006). The Gould versus Heckhausen and Schulz debate in the light of control processes among Chinese students. In A.M. Columbus (Eds.), Advances in Psychology Research. Vol. 46 (pp.129-164). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
22. Wong, W.C. (2006). Understanding dialectical thinking from a cultural-historical perspective. Philosophical Psychology, 19(2), 239-260. (The recipient of the 2007 Otto Klineberg Intercultural and International Relations Award) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09515080500462420
23. 李茵、黄蕴智(2006): 有经验的教师关于教育专长的集体观念 [Social representations of pedagogical expertise among experienced Chinese teachers]。教育研究与实验 [Educational Research and Experiment]， 110，62-68。
24. Ni, Y.J., Li, Q., Wong, W.C., Shiu, L.P., & Cheng, P.W. (2006). Learning to teach: Tracing and understanding changes in pre-service teachers’ pedagogical knowledge. Educational Journal, 34(1), 47-83.
25. 李茵、黄蕴智(2005): 内隐理论的历史视野与当代探索: 概念澄清及方法考虑 [The historical horizon and contemporary exploration on implicit theories: Conceptual clarifications and methodological considerations]。北京大学教育评论 [Peking University Education Review]，第3卷第4期，116-127。
26. Wong, W.C., Wong, K.M., & Chak, A. (2005). Reconceptualizing moral judgement within a reflectivity framework. In A.M. Columbus (Ed.), Advances in Psychology Research. Vol. 35 (pp. 95-119). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
27. 李茵、黄蕴智(2004): 中国教师关于教育专长的内隐理论[Implicit theories of pedagogical expertise among Chinese teachers]。教育研究与实验 [Educational Research and Experiment]，87，51-57。
28. Wong, W.C. (2002). Revitalizing the metaphoric process in commonsense psychology. Philosophical Psychology, 15(4), 473-488. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0951508021000042021
29. Wong, W.C. (2001). Co-constructing the personal space-time totality: Listening to the dialogue of Vygotsky, Lewin, Bronfenbrenner and Stern. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 31(4), 365-382.
30. Wong, W.C. (2001). Visual medium in the service and disservice of education. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 35(2), 25-38.
31. 黄蕴智(1999):<<延迟满足>> ------ 一个值得在我国开展的研究计划 [“Delay of gratification”— A research project that is worthy of our endeavors in China]。发展心理与教育 [Psychological Development and Education]，第15卷第1期，53-56。 (This article was selected and republished by the Centre of Information at the People’s University for a wider dissemination in the country, Psychology (B4), 1999, 6, 59-62.)
32. Wong, W.C.(1999). A reflection upon "Reflective practice" in education: Brief notes on a sidetracked journey. Journal of Thought, 34(1), 39-50.
33. Wong, W.C., & Sun, H.F.(1998). Modes of historical view among young citizens in Hong Kong before the changeover of sovereignty. Psychologia, 41(4), 235-248.
34. Wong, W.C. (1998). The cave metaphor reinterpreted. Journal of Basic Education, 7(2), 107-111. (A Chinese translation of this article [洞喻重释] was published in 北京大学教育评论 [Peking University Education Review] in 2005, 3(1), 111-112.)
35. Wong, W.C. (1996). Subjektive Theorien und soziale Repraesentationen von Erziehungszielen bei deutschen und chinesischen Lehrern [Subjective theories and social representations of educational goals among German and Chinese teachers]. Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland: Peter Lang. Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften (438 Seiten).