Early Life and Educational Background
Serena Chen was born on July 16, 1970, in New York City, New York. She spent most of her childhood in northern New Jersey, graduating from Tenafly High School in 1988. She received her B.A. in 1992 from Cornell University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude as a psychology major, with a focus on social psychology. Her main undergraduate mentor was Dr. Tom Gilovich, who supervised her honors thesis on cognitive dissonance and the psychology of regret. Chen then went to New York University (NYU) to obtain her Ph.D. in experimental social psychology. Her primary mentors were Drs. Shelly Chaiken and Susan Andersen, but she also worked with Dr. John Bargh at NYU and Dr. Alice Eagly at Northwestern University. Her dissertation research focused on the nature and activation of mental representations of significant others and the implications for the social-cognitive phenomenon of transference. Her Ph.D. was completed in 1997 under the supervision of Dr....
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Selected Bibliography
Andersen, S. M., & Chen, S. (2002). The relational self: An interpersonal social-cognitive theory. Psychological Review, 109, 619–645.
Breines, J., & Chen, S. (2012). Self-compassion increases self-improvement motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 1133–1143.
Chen, S. (in press). Authenticity in context: Being true to working selves. Review of General Psychology.
Chen, S., & Andersen, S. M. (1999). Relationships from the past in the present: Significant-other representations and transference in interpersonal life. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 31, pp. 123–190). San Diego: Academic.
Chen, S., Lee-Chai, A. Y., & Bargh, J. A. (2001). Relationship orientation as a moderator of the effects of social power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 173–187.
Chen, S., Boucher, H. C., & Tapias, M. P. (2006). The relational self revealed: Integrative conceptualization and implications for interpersonal life. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 151–179.
Chen, S., Langner, C. A., & Mendoza-Denton, R. (2009). When dispositional and role power fit: Implications for self-expression and self-other congruence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 710–727.
English, T., & Chen, S. (2011). Self-concept consistency and culture: The differential impact of two forms of consistency. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 838–849.
Gan, M., Heller, D., & Chen, S. (2018). The power in being yourself: Feeling authentic enhances the sense of power. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44, 1460–1472.
Gilovich, T., Keltner, D., Chen, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2012). Social Psychology, 3rd Edition. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
Gilovich, T., Keltner, D., Chen, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2015). Social Psychology, 4th Edition. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
Gilovich, T., Keltner, D., Chen, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2018). Social Psychology, 5th Edition. New York: NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
Gordon, A. M., & Chen, S. (2014). The role of sleep in interpersonal conflict: Do sleepless nights mean worse fights? Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5, 168–175.
Gordon, A. M., & Chen, S. (2016). Do you get where I’m coming from?: Perceived understanding buffers against the negative impact of conflict on relationship satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110, 239–260.
Kraus, M. W., & Chen, S. (2009). Striving to be known by significant others: Automatic activation of self-verification goals in relationship contexts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 58–73.
Kraus, M. W., Chen, S., & Keltner, D. (2011). The power to be me: Power elevates self-concept consistency and authenticity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 974–980.
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Chen, S. (2020). Chen, Serena. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_399
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