Benjamin Y. Cheung

University of British Columbia, Psychology, Lecturer

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My research follows three main veins:

1. Genetic Essentialism

Genes have been said to be the “placeholder of one’s essence,” and the belief in genetic effects on certain behaviours and traits has been shown to affect our actions. I am interested in seeing how genetic essentialism influences our cognitions about a variety of behaviours and traits, and how those cognitions affect our subsequent actions (e.g. what decisions we make; how we act based on what we think)

2. Culture and sleep

Sleep is a biological universal – virtually all members of the animal kingdom exhibit some form of sleeping behavior; but what do not appear to be universal are the parameters of sleep (that is, the ways in which sleep occurs). Much anthropological evidence now suggests that parameters of sleep, such as the ways in which people sleep, and how long they sleep, appear to vary greatly across different cultural groups. We are currently obtaining cross-cultural data on this question.

3. Service-learning

There is a movement amongst towards offering students an opportunity to extend their academic education into the world beyond their classrooms. This form of “service-learning” allows students to apply their classroom knowledge in a practical setting (e.g. working with an NGO) that provides benefits for a given community. Students in such programs have the opportunity to help both local and international communities; but there is little quantitative research on the outcomes of such programs. I believe that this will be a big field of future research that can span all disciplines.
Phone: 604-827-4416
Address: Department of Psychology
University of British Columbia
2136 West Mall
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada, V6T 1Z4

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Papers by Benjamin Y. Cheung

Social and Personality Psychology Compass 8/11 (2014): 626–637, 10.1111/spc3.12138Am I My Genes? Perceived Genetic Etiology, Intrapersonal Processes, and Health

With the increasing popularity and affordability of DNA sequencing through direct-to-consumer DNA... more With the increasing popularity and affordability of DNA sequencing through direct-to-consumer DNA sequencing services, it has become apparent that researchers need to understand how the results of sequencing one’s DNA affects consumers psychologically and behaviorally. In this paper, the authors dis-cuss several intrapersonal processes that may impact how learning about our own genetic predispositions affects us. In particular, this paper sets out to identify the interplay between three relevant perspectives: genetic essentialist biases, perceived identity, and need for certainty. These interrelated perspectives and the empirical research that supports relevant underlying predictions provide a useful basis from which researchers can further identify testable hypotheses on these intrapersonal perceived genetics effects. Such research has potential far-reaching implications, not the least of which are in the health domain. Since the Human Genome Project began in the 1990s, scientists ...

Genetic Coefficient of Variance

Am I My Genes? Perceived Genetic Etiology, Intrapersonal Processes, and Health

Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2014

ABSTRACT With the increasing popularity and affordability of DNA sequencing through direct-to-con... more ABSTRACT With the increasing popularity and affordability of DNA sequencing through direct-to-consumer DNA sequencing services, it has become apparent that researchers need to understand how the results of sequencing one&amp;#39;s DNA affects consumers psychologically and behaviorally. In this paper, the authors discuss several intrapersonal processes that may impact how learning about our own genetic predispositions affects us. In particular, this paper sets out to identify the interplay between three relevant perspectives: genetic essentialist biases, perceived identity, and need for certainty. These interrelated perspectives and the empirical research that supports relevant underlying predictions provide a useful basis from which researchers can further identify testable hypotheses on these intrapersonal perceived genetics effects. Such research has potential far-reaching implications, not the least of which are in the health domain.

US Immigrants’ Patterns of Acculturation are Sensitive to Their Age, Language, and Cultural Contact but Show No Evidence of a Sensitive Window for Acculturation

Journal of Cognition and Culture, 2015

Recent research observed a sensitive window, at about 14 years of age, in the acculturation rates... more Recent research observed a sensitive window, at about 14 years of age, in the acculturation rates of Chinese immigrants to Canada. Tapping an online sample of us immigrants (n=569), we tested these relationships in a broader population and explored connections with new potentially causally related variables: formal education, language ability and contact with heritage-culture and mainstream United States individuals, both now and at immigration. While we found that acculturation decreased with age at immigration and increased with years in the us, we did not observe a similar sensitive window (i.e., change in rate with age). We also present an exploratory path analysis, exposing the relationships in our sample between acculturation and the variables above. The novel relationships documented here can improve theorising about this rich and complex empirical phenomenon.

Benjamin Y. Cheung

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