Hi, welcome! I'm Shengjie, an Assistant Professor in Educational Psychology at The University of New Mexico (UNM). Broadly, my research adopts a social-contextual approach to understand the intersection of students' motivation, emotion, and creativity, primarily in STEM learning. 

In my main research line, I have focused on how students’ motivation is shaped by their own characteristics, the cultural context, and the socializers around them (e.g., parents, siblings, teachers, and peers). I also investigate the role of emotion and emotion beliefs in students’ motivation, creativity, and academic achievement. Moreover, I examine the effects of sibling status on students’ motivation and social-emotional-health development, with a particular focus on only children. 

In my research, I have employed a broad range of methodological approaches, including cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys, semi-structured interviews, experience sampling method, and meta-analysis. I have conducted studies with diverse populations, including middle/high school students, college students, and educators in the US and China. 

I completed my Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin (UT). I also received training in Demography at the UT Population Research Center. Before joining UNM, I was a postdoctoral associate at the Center for Emotional Intelligence at Yale University. 

Outside of the office, I enjoy hiking, traveling, tea, and Chinese calligraphy!

Here are some of my recent papers. Please see my Google Scholar or ResearchGate for a full list of my publications. Full texts available upon request.

• Lin, S., & Muenks, K. (2025). How students' perceptions of older siblings' mindsets relate to their math motivation, behavior, and emotion: A person-centered approach. Social Psychology of Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-024-09968-2 

• Saw, G. K., Lin, S., Kunisaki, L., Culbertson, R. & Megyesi-Brem, K. (2025). Adolescents’ perceived opportunities for creative thinking, creative thinking competency belief and career interest in STEM: Joint consideration of situated expectancy-value beliefs and gender. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.22032 

• Lin, S., Ivcevic, Z., Kaufman, S. B., & Kashdan, T. B. (2024). Curious and persistent, but not consistent: Self-regulation and creativity. The Journal of Creative Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.638

• Muenks, K., Lin, S., Rutten, L. D., Hecht, C. A., & Yan, V. X. (2024). Exploring undergraduate students' challenge frameworks: A person-centered approach. Learning and Individual Differences, 116, 102562. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102562 

• Ivcevic, Z., Lin, S., Liu, X., & Brackett, M. (2024). Creativity and affect: A person-centered analysis. Learning and Individual Differences. 113, 102481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102481 

• Ng, Z. J., Lin, S., Niu, L., & Cipriano, C. (2024). Measurement invariance of the Children’s Social Desirability Scale – Short version (CSD-S) across gender, grade level, and race/ethnicity. Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1177/10731911241245789

• Guo, Y., Lin, S., Williams, Z. J., Grantham, T. C., Guo, J., Cole Clark, L. Q., & Zou, W. (2024). Creative potential and creative motivation: Measurement invariance in cross-cultural contexts. The Journal of Creative Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.643

• Lin, S., & Muenks, K. (2023). Family context of mindset matters: Students' perceptions of parent and sibling math mindsets predict their math motivation, behavior, and affect. Applied Developmental Science. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2023.2177163

• Guo, Y., Lin, S., Williams, Z., Zeng, Y., & Cole Clark, L. (2023). Evaluative skills in the creative process: A cross-cultural study. Thinking Skills and Creativity. 47, 101240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2023.101240

• Guo, J., Jiang, Y., Lin, S., & Pang, W. (2023). Individualism and collectivism as predictors of creative potentials and real-life creativity in China and US. Creativity Research Journal, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2023.2217028

• Lin, S., & Muenks, K. (2022). Perfectionism profiles among college students: A person-centered approach to motivation, behavior, and emotion. Contemporary Educational Psychology. 71, 102110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2022.102110

• Lin, S., & Falbo, T. (2022). Sibling absence and body mass index: From adolescence to adulthood. Pediatric Obesity. 17(7), e12899. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.12899

• Lin, S., Falbo, T., Qu, W., Wang, Y., & Feng, X. (2021). Chinese only children and loneliness: Stereotypes and realities. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 91(4), 531-544. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000554

• Guo, Y., Lin, S., Guo, J., Lu, Z., & Shangguan, C. (2021). Cross-cultural measurement invariance of divergent thinking measures. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 41, 100852. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2021.100852