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Frankie Fong

Postdoc

Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig

phone: +49 (0) 341 3550 404
e-mail: frankie_fong@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de

Research Interests
Curriculum Vitae
Languages
Other Research Information
Publications

Research Interests

I am generally interested in the following topics, studying factors that influence how children navigate their living environments as they grow:

  • Social learning: (Over)imitation, conformity, selective trust, flexibility & adaptability
  • Cross-cultural comparison
  • Digital media effect
  • Pretend/Imaginative play
  • Parenting style

Curriculum Vitae

Current Position
2022 - present

Postdoctoral Scientist
Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany

2022 - present

Honorary Research Fellow
School of Psychology
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Career
2020 - 2021Postdoctoral Research Fellow
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, USA
2016 - 2019

PhD student (Developmental Psychology)
School of Psychology
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Thesis: Preschool Children’s Normative and Instrumental Learning
Advisors: Mark Nielsen, Kana Imuta

Oct 2018

Visiting Researcher
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Washington University in St Louis, USA

2014 - 2015Research Assistant
Parenting and Family Support Centre
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
2013Research Assistant
Early Cognitive Development Centre
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Languages

  • Chinese: Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka (native)
  • Malaysian Malay (fluent)
  • English (fluent)
  • Japanese (basic)

Other Research Information

Teaching & Mentorship
2016 - 2019

PSYC2030: Developmental Psychology
PSYC3282: Developmental Perspectives on the Origins of Human Culture
Tutor and guest lecturer at University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

2019 - 2021

Honors and PhD thesis
Winter/Summer Research Program                        PSYC2991/2992: Research Experience
Supervisor and co-supervisor at University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Editorial Service
2022-presentAssistant Editor
Infant and Child Development
Memberships
  • Comprehensive Assessment of Family Media Exposure (CAFE) Consortium
  • Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Digital Child
Selected Presentations
2021

A Project that Raises More Questions and Answers
Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development (LFE) Colloquium
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany

2020

Post PhD Pathways and Possibilities
Social Identity and Groups Network
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

2020

Methodological and Ethical Considerations in Cross-Cultural Developmental Research
Centre of Research in Social Psychology
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

2018

Preschool Children’s Normative and Instrumental Learning
Cognition and Development Lab
Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, USA

2018

Preschool Children’s Normative and Instrumental Learning
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Boston University, Massachusetts, USA

Research Awards & Funding 
2020-2022The Issachar Fund and Templeton Religion Trust Subaward (led by University of Texas at Austin; administered by University of Queensland)
2021Texas Global Faculty Research Seed Grant, University of Texas at Austin
2018University of Queensland Graduate School Candidate Travel Award

Publications

2024

Fong, F. T. K., Puebla, G., & Nielsen, M. (2024). The role of conventionality and design in children’s function judgments about malfunctioning artifacts (advance online). Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 240: 105835.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Zhao, M., Fong, F. T. K., Whiten, A., & Nielsen, M. (2024). Do children imitate even when it is costly? New insights from a novel task. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 42(1), 18-35.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2023

Zhao, M., Fong, F. T. K., Whiten, A., & Nielsen, M. (2023). Children's distinct drive to reproduce costly rituals (advance online). Child Development.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Fong, F. T. K., Nielsen, M., & Corriveau, K. H. (2023). I copy you as I believe you know about our culture: Combining imitation and selective trust literatures. Infant and Child Development, e2453.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Rawlings, B. S., Davis, H. E., Anum, A., Burger, O., Chen, L., Morales, J. C. C., Dutra, N., Dzabatou, A., Dzokoto, V., Erut, A., Fong, F. T. K., Ghelardi, S., Goldwater, M., Ingram, G., Messer, E., Kingsford, J., Lew-Levy, S., Mendez, K., Newhouse, M., Nielsen, M., Pamei, G., Pope-Caldwell, S., Ramos, K., Rojas, L. E. E., dos Santos, R. A. C., Silveira, L. G. S., Watzek, J., Wirth, C., & Legare, C. H. (2023). Quantifying quality: The impact of measures of school quality on children's academic achievement across diverse societies (advanced online). Developmental Science, e13434.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Stengelin, R., Bohn, M., Sánchez Amaro, A., Haun, D. B. M., Thiele, M., Daum, M. M., Felsche, E., Fong, F. T. K., Gampe, A., Giner Torréns, M., Grueneisen, S., Hardecker, D. J. K., Horn, L., Neldner, K., Pope-Caldwell, S. M., & Schuhmacher, N. (2023). Responsible research is also concerned with generalizability: Recognizing efforts to reflect upon and increase generalizability in hiring and promotion decisions in psychology. PsyArXiv.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2022

Fong, F. T. K., Nielsen, M., & Legare, C. H. (2022). Revisiting an extant framework: Concerns about culture and task generalization. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45: e257.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Dutra, Natália B., Chen, Lydia, Anum, Adote, Burger, Oskar, Davis, Helen E., Dzokoto, Vivian A., Fong, Frankie T. K., Ghelardi, Sabrina, Mendez, Kimberly, Messer, Emily J. E., Newhouse, Morgan, Nielsen, Mark G., Ramos, Karlos, Rawlings, Bruce, Dos Santos, Renan A. C., Silveira, Lara G. S., Tucker-Drob, Elliot M. and Legare, Cristine H. (2022). Examining relations between performance on non-verbal executive function and verbal self-regulation tasks in demographically-diverse populations. Developmental Science, e13228. doi: 10.1111/desc.13228

2021

Nielsen, Mark, Fong, Frankie T. K. and Whiten, Andrew (2021). Social learning from media: the need for a culturally diachronic developmental psychology. Advances in Child Development and Behavior. (pp. 317-334) San Diego, CA USA: Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2021.04.001

Fong, Frankie T. K., Imuta, Kana, Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2021). The digital social partner: Preschool children display stronger imitative tendency in screen‐based than live learning. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 3(4), 585-594. doi: 10.1002/hbe2.280

Fong, Frankie T. K., Imuta, Kana, Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2021). When efficiency attenuates imitation in preschool children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 39(2), 330-337. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12366

Fong, Frankie T. K., Sommer, Kristyn, Redshaw, Jonathan, Kang, Jemima and Nielsen, Mark (2021). The man and the machine: Do children learn from and transmit tool-use knowledge acquired from a robot in ways that are comparable to a human model? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 208, 105148. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105148

Fong, Frankie T. K., Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2021). A cross-cultural comparison: imitation of inefficient tool use in Australian and Malaysian preschool children. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 5 (1), 37-47. doi: 10.1007/s41809-021-00077-6

2020

Wang, Zhidan, Fong, Frankie T. K. and Meltzoff, Andrew N. (2020). Enhancing same‐gender imitation by highlighting gender norms in Chinese pre‐school children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 39 (1), 133-152. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12356 

Fong, Frankie T. K., Mondloch, Catherine J. and Nelson, Nicole L. (2020). Interactive situations reveal more about children’s emotional knowledge. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 198, 104879. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104879

Xie, Linghao, Wang, Zhidan, Yu, Zhou and Fong, Frankie T. K. (2020). Relationship between SES and preschoolers’ sociality: the mediating effect of household screen media experience. Early Child Development and Care, 1-13. doi: 10.1080/03004430.2020.1838498

Wang, Zhidan, Zhu, Xiaoyu, Fong, Frankie T. K., Meng, Jing and Wang, Haijing (2020). Overimitation of children with cochlear implants or hearing aids in comparison with children with normal hearing. Infants and Young Children, 33 (1), 84-92. doi: 10.1097/IYC.0000000000000157