About me | Notion

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I’m currently a psychology student specializing in legal psychology at East China Normal University.

My hometown

I was born and raised in Shandong, a province known as the birthplace of Confucius and once the intellectual heart of ancient China.

Why Legal Psychology?

Even before college, I often found myself asking, “Why this, rather than that?” This question naturally led me to study psychology. While learning law as my second bachelor degree, I realized that legal texts offer a systematic framework for judgment, I soon realized they speak to abstract, generalized persons rather than to real individuals in real contexts. Law, by nature, lags behind social change.

For instance, in recent years, China has repeatedly lowered the minimum age of criminal responsibility. But no statutory reform alone can answer how children actually process events, recall experiences, or respond to adult questioning in investigative settings. The extremely limited use of child testimony in Chinese courts reflects not just legal conservatism, but a fundamental gap in our understanding of how children think, speak, and remember in legal contexts. Legal psychology, for me, is a way to fill that gap—with research grounded in both scientific method and real-world relevance.

People, Not Abstractions

My research focuses on specific people in specific contexts: witnesses, investigators, and decision-makers facing uncertainty, moral conflict, and institutional pressure. For example, the highly publicized Kunshan self-defense case in China revealed how legal outcomes often hinge on subtle contextual factors—intent, perception of threat, and situational pressure—that cannot be captured by legal doctrine alone.

I believe that law must engage with actual human behavior, not idealized norms. That belief also drives my interest in integrating psychological theory with quantitative research methods. Rigorous measurement, simulation, and modeling can help bring empirical clarity to questions that legal texts alone cannot resolve.

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Also see: CV | Research | Publications

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A Quiet Person with Loud Interests

I’m an introvert by nature—I enjoy reading alone, gaming alone, and traveling alone. I especially love short-form science fiction and classic detective fiction, where logic and uncertainty collide in human terms. My favorite games are Outer Wilds and Death Stranding (playing 2!), both of which ask players to confront the unknown with curiosity and care.

I like travelling. I’ve traveled through many cities in China—Harbin, Beijing, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Shanghai—and abroad to Lisbon, Sintra, and Paris.

I enjoy aerobic exercise—mainly running and jump rope. So far, I’ve run over 500 kilometers and completed more than 400,000 jumps. All I need to do is put one foot in front of the other, or clear the rope that’s about to come. That’s it.

Ah oui, j'apprends aussi le français — bientôt 1000 jours !

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And Finally

Grateful for a loving family, a loving girlfriend, and a very good puppy.

Contant me: yongjie.s@nyu.edu

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About me | CV | Publications | Research | Conferences

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