The University of Chicago

Human Nature and Potentials Lab

Fan Yang

Principal Investigator

Dr. Fan Yang is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago. Fan is broadly interested in the psychological tendencies that enable us to grow and transcend ourselves. She completed her PhD in developmental psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Fan was a post-doctoral associate at Yale University and received a master’s degree from Harvard University.

fan.yang@uchicago.edu

Declan Gunn

Lab Manager
Declan is a fourth-year student at the University of Chicago majoring in Cognitive Science and concurrently completing MAPSS with a concentration in Psychology. His interests broadly center around the social implications of cognitive development on morality and self-realization. With Dr. Yang, Declan researches (1) children’s development of moral norms governing how we are permitted to treat ourselves and (2) children’s modal reasoning about their possible future selves. Outside the lab, Declan enjoys beekeeping, cycling, and writing about himself in the third person.
 
declangunn@uchicago.edu

Doctoral Student Collaborators

Yilin Liu

Yilin graduated with an M.A. in Social Sciences – Psychology from the University of Chicago and she was a previous lab manager. Yilin is interested in how early-life social and familial factors influence children’s development. Her future plan is to continue conducting research in this field and to conduct prevention programs for children and their parents/caregivers. Outside of school, Yilin is interested in traveling, playing drums, and designing educational comics.
 

Ishita Singhal

Ishita graduated from the MAPSS program, and is working with Dr Fan Yang to study how the performance of obligatory and supererogatory moral behaviors relates with subjective life experiences such as meaning and happiness. She is interested in the factors that influence and motivate individuals to engage in prosocial and inequality reducing behaviours, and hopes to explore these further in graduate school. Outside the lab, she enjoys cooking, and listening to audiobooks or music while walking around the city.

Qiongwen (Jovie) Cao

Jovie is a PhD student in Dr. Jean Decety’s lab at the University of Chicago. She is collaborating with Dr. Fan Yang to investigate how children value and make decisions about human lives of different ages and genders. Another line of her work combines behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience to examine the effects of moral convictions and metacognition on moral decisions. When not doing research, Jovie enjoys playing badminton, listening to music, and playing with her cat.

Hannah Kim

Hannah is interested in how children think and reason about the social world. In particular, she likes to think about groups and how groups coordinate decision-making using procedures and rules. She previously received her PhD from the University of Chicago in Developmental Psychology and currently a post-doc at Harvard University.

Mengdi Huang

PhD student in Social Psychology at Molden Lab, Northwestern University

Yena Kim

Yena Kim is a PhD Student of Behavioral Science at the Booth School of Business. She graduated with a BA in psychology (honors) from UChicago in 2021. She is also a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Using diverse research methods, both in-lab and out in the field, she studies aspirations to improve oneself across the lifespan and, in particular, whether exercising epistemic humility helps us craft better futures for ourselves and for others.
 

Masters Students

Yuzhen Fu

Yuzhen (Erin) Fu is a graduate student in the University of Chicago’s MA program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS) with a Psychology concentration. She graduated from Wenzhou-Kean University with a B.S. in Psychology (honors) and a minor in Philosophy & Religion in 2023. Her primary research interest is children’s learning motivation, currently focusing on its relationship with emotions and social norms.
 
yuzhenf@uchicago.edu 

Yixin Cao

Yixin Cao, a MAPSS Psychology track graduate student at the University of Chicago, holds a B.A. in Psychology with an Economics minor from UBC. She is passionate about investigating the development of moral values and prosocial behaviors in young children. Her research interests focus on children’s moral development and moral transcendence. She is also a crazy fan of horror films, although she is pretty scared.
 
ycao5@uchicago.edu

Janice Im

Janice recently graduated from the University of Chicago’s Master of Arts program in the Social Sciences (Psychology track). Her master’s thesis examined how children evaluate individuals with different impact mindsets, furthering our understanding of how we develop the ability to appreciate the social impact mindset. She is continuing to work with Dr. Fan Yang to further her study, while also working with the Epley Lab team at UChicago Booth’s Center for Decision Research.
 

Brian Ge

Brian is a graduate student at the University of Chicago’s MA program for the Social Sciences, where he is currently enrolled in the psychology concentration. He graduated from Pepperdine University in the Spring of 2022 with a B.A. in Psychology, a minor in English, and a second minor in Great Books. His research interest is on the pursuit of Meaning in Life, its connections with Eudaimonic Wellbeing, and its variations across cultural values systems.
 

Dylan Morrow

Dylan is a graduate student in the University of Chicago’s M.A. Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS) with a concentration in psychology. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a B.S. in Psychology (honors; neuroscience track) and B.A. in Philosophy in 2022. His primary research interests extend across the breadth of moral psychology, including moral duties and judgments, altruism, and moral blame and punishment. In his free time, he loves listening to music, playing games with friends, and hiking.
 

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Mackenzie Leblanc

Mackenzie is a fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of Chicago majoring in Biology and pursuing a career in clinical psychology, and works as the Project Supervisor here at the Potentials Lab. She is broadly interested in the moral development of children, particularly its relationship with happiness. Outside of class, Mackenzie is captain of the UChicago Swim and Dive team and enjoys painting.
 
mleblanc1@uchicago.edu

Jacob Zhang

Hi! I’m Jacob Zhang, a third-year undergraduate student at UChicago. My main academic interest is happiness and wellbeing studies. I am passionate about psychology, economics and philosophy.
 
jacobz@uchicago.edu

Isabella Sun

Isabella is a fourth-year undergraduate at the University of Chicago who is majoring in psychology and economics. She is interested in how children and adults differ in their sense of morality and justice, as well as how language affects decision making. Outside of the lab, she enjoys cooking food from different cultures and playing badminton.
 
yefeng@uchicago.edu

Sophia Emy

Sophia is a second-year undergraduate double majoring in Comparative Human Development and Psychology. She is interested in the formation of identity, as well as the notion of the “self”. More specifically, Sophia wants to investigate the relationship between language and one’s self-perception. Outside of academics, she enjoys fashion, traveling, and photography.
 
semy@uchicago.edu

Sarah Glenn

Sarah is a second-year undergraduate student studying psychology. She is interested in how children perceive happiness and the development of decision-making skills. Outside of academics, Sarah enjoys running, cooking, and spending time with her friends and family!
 
sglenn3@uchicago.edu

Faculty Collaborators:

Lin Bian, Xinyi Chen, Youjung Choi, Andrei Cimpian, Yarrow Dunham, Douglas Frye, Susan Gelman, Paul Harris, Tamar Kusnir, Susan Levine, Antonia Misch, Howard Nusbaum, Shige Oishi, Kristina Olson, Michael Prinzing, Steven Roberts, Alex Shaw,  Laura Soter, Li Wang, Xijing Wang, Zhen Wu, Hongbo Yu

Lab Alumni

Gabriella Silva, Artemisia O’bi, Jacky Beck, Jenny Chang, Jessica Lee, Margaret Wolfson, Mollie Davies, Sarah Jense, Yanwen Yu, Kevin Wei.

Previous Undergrad RAs

Angelysse Madsen, Audrey Sze, Alice Tay, Cameron Najafi, Efe Dogruoz, Grace Wang, Lucy Li, Matthew Tineo, Nick Madgett, Laura Sandino, Tina Chen, Courtney Leung, Caroline Wang, Meriel Doyle