The Research Salon Series aims to promote inter-college and interdisciplinary research in the Department. These seminars are designed as intellectual discussions moderated by a faculty member. They begin with a faculty member’s presentation of a specific research topic, but are then extended to cover broader interdisciplinary concerns and challenges.
The Department involves all MPhil and PhD students in seminars to present and enhance understanding of their research topics through the steps of presentation, immediate feedback on the presentation and a deliberative review of the seminar. The seminars must be inspiring and facilitative of discussion and learning, both of which are further supported by the presence of the students’ supervisors and other faculty members.
| Speaker | Title | Abstract |
|---|---|---|
| HO Wing Chung | Culture vs. the State? The “Save-my-mother-tongue” Protests in Guangzhou | In July and August 2010, a series of spontaneous “Save-my-mother-tongue” protests took place in Guangzhou. At its climax, thousands of protestors took to the streets to oppose a government proposal to switch local television broadcasts from Cantonese to Mandarin. Unlike other recent mass incidents in China, the “Save-Cantonese” protests mainly involved a place-based identity politics through which participants purported to support maintenance of Cantonese culture without explicit political and material demands. Based on the testimonies of dozens of participants and witnesses, the authors identify three sets of schematic dichotomies that framed the protests: namely, south-vs-north, local differences-vs-national uniformity, and conserving traditional Guangzhou-vs-development. It is argued that underpinning the language movement’s cultural outlook was the participants’ discontent with current politics and distribution of resources. The cultural packaging constitutes a specific tactic through which the actors resisted the authoritarian regime without triggering violent suppression. |
| FUNG Sai Fu Simon | Mixed Methods and Archival Research in Social Sciences | The use of mixed methods is popular among students and scholars in the field of social sciences. This talk provides an overview of the latest development of combing both quantitative and qualitative methods based on my recent research project in deviant autocracies, i.e. countries that have a high level of economic development but are still governed by non-democratic regimes. In addition to the quantitative analysis commonly used by proponents of Lipset’s thesis, the archival documents can provide an important additional source of insider information from the de-classified government documents to address the fundamental puzzle in structural explanations of democracy and democratisation theories. This example has suggested that a systematic and scientific application of mixed methods is potentially useful for other research areas in social sciences. |
| CHOI Wai Man Anna | Hostility Intertwines: Women's Use of Force in Intimate Relationship | Women’s use of force in intimate relationship is believed to be different from men’s. Previous studies on domestic violence have paid relatively little attention to women’s use of force in the family, especially in patriarchal families under the influence of traditional Chinese culture. It is found that women’s use of force on men is because not only of self-defense or self-protection from their male partners’ violence against them; but also of the women’s tense relationship with the in-laws. Such interactions among women, their male partner and in-laws in relation to domestic violence have reflected particular Chinese traditional gender role expectations and family norms. Understanding women’s use of force in intimate relationship is thus essential for social workers and/or counselors who endeavor to practice effective gender-and cultural-specific interventions. |
| Nancy Xiaonan Yu | The Beauty of Dyadic Studies in Social Sciences | Dyadic studies in social sciences involve two paired members in couples (e.g., husband–wife), family relationships (e.g., mother–child), and other relationships (e.g., student–teacher, patient–doctor, client–counselor, leader–follower). By treating the dyad as the unit of analysis, the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM; Cook & Kenny, 2005) is helpful to depict bidirectional relations from conceptual and statistical perspectives. This talk describes the investigation of dyadic effects of resilience on well-being within elderly husband–wife pairs and the mediating role of spousal support, using the APIM approach. This example suggests that dyadic studies, using the APIM, are promising to examine reciprocal influences in dyadic relationships. |
| KWAN Chi Kin Ricky | What Affect Social Workers’ Judgment?: Personal Experience, Professional Training and Practice Environment | The issue of professional accountability in social work has become an important concern. Against this backdrop, it should be imperative to examine the basis of the professional judgment social workers make. A new framework is proposed to study the complex mechanisms involved in social work practice which takes into account three P’s: personal experience, professional training and practice environment. Using a qualitative case study analysis, the three ‘P’s’ framework is used to examine the experiences of twenty Chinese social workers based in Hong Kong. The cases selected show that social work practice is shaped by the three P’s, rather than a single P. The complex interplays among two or three P’s have been shown in the three cases. In line with the notion of reflective practice, the analysis enhances the understanding of the forces behind social work practice and highlights the interplays among three P’s. |
| WONG Wing Kuen Andus | Using ERPs in Psycholinguistic Research: An Introduction | The event-related potential (ERP) technique, one of the most well established methodologies in cognitive neuroscience, is a powerful and useful research tool for the exploration of human mind and brain. This talk will provide a general background of this technique, including the physiological basis of this approach, the nature of the signals acquired, and how ERP data can be used to reveal cognitive processes and address issues about human mind and brain functioning. The possibilities, as well as limitations, of this technique will be discussed along with examples of how this method can be used to address questions about human language processing. |
| Wong Rebecca Wing Yee | The Illegal Consumption of Protected Wildlife in China | Why would a consumer trust that his/her supplier would honor their agreement in illegal transactions? What mechanisms do consumers rely on to enhance the credibility of their agreements? In this talk, these questions are examined in the light of illegal transactions of protected wildlife in China for consumption as delicacy. Based on interviews with actors involved in this illegal market and open sources, this talk will show that consumers rely on the supplier’s reputation to access protected wildlife, along with their reputation of having the culinary skills necessary to cook the wildlife in order to enhance the credibility of their agreements. |
| Tae Yeun KIM | Ethnic-Racial Socialization and Developmental Outcomes among Asian American Youths: Examining the Mediating Role of Ethnic Identity | Ethnic-racial socialization and ethnic identity have been found to be related with youth outcomes, however, there is little research that examined both parent-reported and youth-reported ethnic-racial socialization. This talk presents a study examining how ethnic-racial socialization influences ethnic identity among Asian American youths, and how this ethnic identity in turn predicts depressive symptoms and school performance among youth. These relationships were examined separately for parent-reported and youth-reported ethnic-racial socialization. Findings from this study can be used to inform practice and interventions with immigrant Asian American families. |
| Speaker | Title | Abstract |
|---|---|---|
| CHOW Wing Yin Bonnie | Anxiety in Learning English as a Foreign Language among Chinese Children: The Roles of Parental Literacy Beliefs and Practices | As foreign language learners are acquiring a language that they rarely use in daily conversation, they often perform less competently in it than in their native language, which can cause foreign language anxiety (FLA). FLA hinders foreign language acquisition in adolescents and adults; however, to date, little is known about FLA in children. This study examines parents’ literacy beliefs/practices and children’s FLA with two mutually informative studies. First, we analyze 200 children’s and their parents’ surveys about parental literacy beliefs/practices, children’s FLA and their relations. Second, a controlled experiment tests whether (a) parent-child reading reduces children’s FLA, and (b) dialogic reading (an interactive reading method) reduces children’s FLA more than typical parent-child reading or a control group. These are the first research studies to investigate (a) parental literacy beliefs/practices and Chinese children’s FLA while learning EFL and (b) the effects of parent-child reading on children’s FLA, comparing dialogic reading and typical parent-child reading. Understanding these relationships is essential in helping to identify beginning learners who are prone to FLA, clarifying developmental trajectories of FLA, and informing early interventions to reduce FLA. |
| TAM Hau Lin Cherry | Perceived Loneliness and Clandestine Up-Skirt Photography among Young Adults in Hong Kong: Implications for Early Education, Prevention, and Intervention | This is a presentation on the research ideas of a newly granted GRF project on “perceived loneliness and clandestine up-skirt photography among young adults in Hong Kong”. Clandestine up-skirt photography usually refers to a behavior done by a person who uses covert camera to photograph /videotape a female directing up-skirt/down-blouse in a public or private place without their knowledge or consent. Different from other intrusive sexual offences, such as rape, incest, or child molestation, it is less intrusive with no physical contact with the victims. This leads the perpetrators create a false hope of not being caught easily and disregard the possible harms created for the victims. Until this moment, specific literature and empirical research on the behavior across the world is rare. Against this background, this study aims at examining the relationships of young male adults’ (who are between 18 and 34) everyday life routine and sense of loneliness with their sexual offence of clandestine up-skirt photography, in comparison with other paraphilic sexual offences, non-sexual offences, and a community control group. The risk and protective factors which differentiate them onto the pathways of offending and non-offending will also be explored. |
| LO Tit Wing | Ghost Marriage: Commodification of Chinese Folklore and Organised Crime | In China, the study of organized crime has been underdeveloped. According to recent media reports, it seems that organised crime associated with posthumous marriage in China is on the rise. The custom of the posthumous marriage has been passed down from ancient times in China. This tradition of marriage for the deceased belongs to rural Chinese society. According to folklore, males or females who reached adult age and died before marriage could not be buried with their ancestors. Families did not want to leave bodies outside, as they believed that the spirits would become lonely. Instead, they wished to find husbands/wives for their dead relatives to continue the family tree. After marriage, the deceased could be buried with their ancestors instead of being buried in the woods and becoming wandering ghosts. After burial with their ancestors, the spirits could accept the offerings and worships of their offspring. This folkloric practice became deeply rooted in the consciousness of China’s indigenous rural people, and was not easily erased, even after China became a communist country. Posthumous marriage continues today in rural areas, but only corpses are used, with no living partners. The custom has spawned a large posthumous marriage market, resulting in the trading of corpses. This industry and its profits have driven criminals to murder, raid tombs and morgues and traffic and trade corpses. In China, the eighth and ninth articles of a regulation on the transportation and disposal of dead bodies state that the buying and selling of corpses are prohibited. Dead bodies can only be used for medical research, not for commercial activities. No units or individuals can receive donations for corpses. The prohibition on trading corpses is intended to prevent murder, the theft of corpses and other criminal activities. The changing economic environment and affluence in rural areas has reshaped criminal activities. However, no academic criminological research has been conducted on this specific topic. To fill this research gap, the proposed study will go beyond folklore to investigate the operation of organised crime linked with posthumous marriage. The study will test whether the ‘social network’ and ‘entrepreneurial’ perspectives can be integrated to obtain a more complete picture of organized crime in rural China. The findings will contribute to the literature and strengthen theoretical understanding of how organised crime has developed and continues to operate in the emerging rural market economy. |
| LAI Chuk Ling Julian | Social Network Cultivation, Diurnal Cortisol, and Telomere Length: Testing the Rejuvenation Hypothesis | The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis plays an important role in homeostatic and allostatic adjustments to environmental challenges. However, how stress and aging affect the level of cortisol, the end product of this neuroendocrine axis, is not completely understood (Chahal & Drake, 2007). In a pioneering study of the factors integral to the relationship between successful aging and cortisol, the PI and his associates (Lai et al., 2012; Lai, Evans, & Chong, 2017) found that Chinese elders who spent more time and effort cultivating their social relationships with family, relatives, friends, and neighbors exhibited lower levels of diurnal cortisol in the saliva and a steeper diurnal decline. This specific diurnal rhythm of cortisol, characterized by lower diurnal levels and more effective deactivation of the HPA axis, has also been observed in younger age groups in prior studies (e.g., Ice, 2005; Kumari et al., 2010) and a recent study by the PI and his associates (Lai, Leung, Lee, Lam & Berning., 2018). An earlier study of 2,120 Chinese elders in Hong Kong showed that the cultivation of social ties predicted successful aging (Chong et al., 2012). Thus, the findings reported by Lai et al. (2017) can be taken to imply that those who grow old more successfully may be biologically younger than their peers. This idea has been coined the “rejuvenation hypothesis” (Lai & Lee, in press). Despite the significance of these findings, the psychological mechanisms that translate positive social motivation into a younger diurnal cortisol profile have not been identified. Moreover, the potential effect of a younger cortisol profile on health has not been adequately addressed. The proposed study will aim to bridge these knowledge gaps by testing the rejuvenation hypothesis. We predict that a stronger motivation to cultivate social ties will serve to enhance social embeddedness. We expect that this in turn will rejuvenate the diurnal cortisol profiles of older individuals and increase their telomere length, an index of cellular aging (Tomiyama et al., 2012). As cortisol (Fried & Walston, 1999; Sapolsky, Krey, & McEwen, 1986; Spiegel & Sephton, 2001) and telomere length (e.g., Njajou et al., 2009) are crucial biomarkers of health and aging, the findings of the proposed study will inform the composition of effective intervention programs and social policies for promoting health and successful aging in the elderly. |
| HO Man Yee | What It Takes to Forgive: When and Why Self-Regulation Facilitates Forgiveness in Close Relationships? | Background. Close relationships are vital to our physical and mental well-being. The presence and quality of close relationships are among the most reliable and robust predictors of health and longevity (Holt-Lunstad, Robles, & Sbarra, 2017). Forgiveness and self-regulation play important roles in building and maintaining close relationships (Fincham & Beach, 2002; Baumeister, 2005). However, the investigation of the association between self-regulation and forgiveness in close relationships is scant. Forgiveness is crucial for interpersonal relationships, and possibly involves self-regulation processes (Burnette et al., 2014). For instance, forgiveness requires regulation of one’s emotions and motivations towards the transgressor (McCullough, Worthington, & Rachal, 1997). Nevertheless, the causal relationship between self-regulation and forgiveness in close relationships has not been thoroughly examined in previous literature. Purpose. To fill the gap in the literature, this research aims to understand the associations between self-regulation and forgiveness in close relationships. In particular, this research aims to examine the stability of the self-regulatory model of forgiveness among individuals who are involved in romantic relationships over time (Study 1), and the causal connection between self-regulation and forgiveness in experimental vignettes (Study 2). Methodology. Two studies will be conducted to test the link between self-regulation and forgiveness. Study 1 is a longitudinal design study where participants who are involved in romantic relationships will complete online survey concerns with regarding self-regulation, forgiveness and relationship outcomes at two-time points. Study 2 is an experimental design study, a priming procedure will be used to manipulate self-regulatory strength and assess participants’ levels of forgiveness in hypothetical transgression scenarios, and relationship outcomes. Contributions. Close relationships and of the continual social interactions involved ultimately influence a person’s health in a multitude of ways. The findings from this research program will shed light on the theoretical and practical implications of relationship flourishing. Particularly, this research provides a unique theoretical contribution to understanding the causal effect of self-regulation on forgiveness by proposing the self-regulatory model of forgiveness. On the practical side, this research might provide important implications to relationship building and maintenance through developing self-regulatory strength that facilitates forgiveness. |
| WONG Wing Kuen Andus | Phonological Encoding In Cantonese-English Bilingual Speech Production: An Event-Related Brain Potential Study | When one speaks, one needs to retrieve the phonological content of the utterance prior to articulation and this process has been termed phonological encoding. There is sizable evidence showing that the primary (or first retrievable) planning unit for phonological encoding is different across languages. Dissimilar to many Indo-European languages such as Dutch and English where phonemes have been found to be the primary phonological encoding units, the primary planning units are syllables in Cantonese and Mandarin. This marked contrast between Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages has posed an interesting and important question regarding how bilinguals possessing these two types of language plan for their speech. Bilingual studies have repeatedly shown that one’s first language (L1) would affect one’s acquisition of a second language (L2) (i.e., forward transfer). Likewise, one’s L2 would in turn affect one’s L1 processing (i.e., backward transfer). However, very little is known about how language transfers are realized in the mechanism of phonological encoding. Specifically, when the two languages a bilingual possesses rely on different phonological planning units (e.g., phoneme vs. syllable), how the encoding system adapts to the different demands of L1 and L2 is an issue largely open. Therefore, two picture naming experiments using the form-preparation paradigm are proposed to investigate the role of phoneme and syllable in English (Experiment 1) and Cantonese (Experiment 2) speech production among Cantonese-English bilinguals with various L2 (English) background. Meanwhile, the participants’ event related brain potentials (ERPs) will be recorded during the production task. If forward transfer exists in bilingual phonological encoding, one would expect to see a robust effect of syllable in L2 (phoneme-based English) production at least among the bilinguals with a lesser degree of L2 exposure, a pattern similar to their L1 (syllable-based Cantonese) production. If not, a robust effect of phoneme in L2 production would be expected irrespective of the bilinguals’ L2 background. Experiment 2 investigates the possibility of backward transfer in bilingual phonological encoding. If backward transfer exists, one would expect to see a robust effect of phoneme even in L1 (syllable-based Cantonese) production at least among the bilinguals with a higher degree of L2 (phoneme-based English) exposure. Otherwise, one would expect to see a robust effect of syllable only in L1 production irrespective of the bilinguals’ L2 background. Furthermore, a number of factors regarding the bilinguals’ L2 background will be measured to investigate the possible causes for language transfer in speech production. |