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Wen Zhou

Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke Kunshan University
DKU Faculty

Overview


Wen Zhou is an assistant professor of Evolutionary Anthropology. She holds a secondary appointment with the department of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke university. Professor Zhou aims to understand what it means to be a human and the moral status a human is believed to deserve. Her current projects focus on dehumanization and its developmental origins. Her work also involves research on social hierarchy, human-animal relations and conservation, deploying an interdisciplinary approach drawn from social and developmental psychology. She joined the faculty of Duke Kunshan University in 2022 after obtaining her Ph.D. in Evolutionary Anthropology from Duke University. 

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke Kunshan University · 2022 - Present DKU Faculty
Research Scholar in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology · 2023 - Present Evolutionary Anthropology, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

In the News


Published November 24, 2022
An academic journey from DKU student to professor
Published November 7, 2021
Student Showcase: Wen Zhou

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Recent Publications


Schadenfreude or empathy? Children's emotional responses to the physical pain and pleasure of prosocial and antisocial others.

Journal Article Journal of experimental child psychology · September 2024 Adults' emotional reactions to the pain and pleasure of others are influenced by the moral character of those individuals. However, it remains unclear whether children's emotional responses also show such selectivity. To investigate this, we compared 4- to ... Full text Cite

Humanizing animals does not reduce blatant dehumanization by children or adults

Journal Article Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology · January 1, 2024 Blatantly likening humans to animals is associated with discrimination and hostility. The power of dehumanizing animal metaphors is thought to lie in the belief that animals are inferior to humans and do not deserve full moral concern. Previous work sugges ... Full text Open Access Cite

Getting it right: Teaching undergraduate biology to undermine racial essentialism.

Journal Article Biology methods & protocols · January 2023 How we teach human genetics matters for social equity. The biology curriculum appears to be a crucial locus of intervention for either reinforcing or undermining students' racial essentialist views. The Mendelian genetic models dominating textbooks, partic ... Full text Cite
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