A common criticism of laboratory-based research studies is their tendency to use artificial experimental set-ups, or their tendency to tap only on convenient undergraduate samples. There is hence enormous value to more naturalistic forms of research that tap on public samples of adult participants, as these would give us relatively more generalizable approaches towards understanding important psychological processes and outcomes. One of the major areas of our research is hence to tap on the wealth of datasets out there that contain valuable information about human behaviors and human functioning, and to perform both exploratory and confirmatory analyses using such datasets to enhance our understanding of important psychological processes.
Sample research questions:
- What might predict well-being across different countries, and what specific characteristics might account for differences in well-being between countries?
- How might various indices of adult functioning and well-being change over time, and what are the key predictors of such changes?
- To what extent might findings obtained in small-scale laboratory-based studies replicate in larger, public samples?
Sample publications:
- Oh, V. Y. S.* (2025). Money matters for future well-being: A latent growth analysis and meta-analytic integration of associations between income, financial satisfaction, and 22 well-being variables across three datasets. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000552
- Hoy, E. Q. W.#, & Oh, V. Y. S.* (2024). The consequences of spousal infidelity for long-term chronic health: A two-wave longitudinal analysis. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075241276713
- Oh, V. Y. S.*, Ismail, I., & Tong, E. M. W. (2022) Income moderates trajectories of personality change. European Journal of Personality. https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070221078479
- Oh, V. Y. S.*, & Tong, E. M. W. (2020). Negative emotion differentiation and long-term physical health—The moderating role of neuroticism. Health Psychology, 39(2), 127–136. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000809
Affect, Ambivalence, and Adjustment Lab 