I study the developmental psychology of self

Yi Lu/ 芦 旖

Yi Lu/ 芦 旖

PhD Candidate of Developmental Psychology

Cornell University

Hello! My name is Yi.

Yi is pronounced as /ee/.

Looking for both postdoc positions and assistant professorships starting summer 2026!

I am currently a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Healthy Aging Lab at Cornell University, U.S. Before that, I received my Bachelor’s degree at Peking University in China. My research centers on lifespan development in self-concepts and decision-making processes, with their implications for well-being. These topics address fundamental questions of everyday life: how we view ourselves across the past, present, and future, and how we make decisions that shape our future.

To do so, I adopt quantitative methodologies, including behavioral experiments and large-scale surveys, supplemented with qualitative evidence such as text responses.

Interests
  • Lifespan Development
  • Self-Continuity
  • Decision-Making
Education

  • PhD candidate in Developmental Psychology, Expected 2026

    Cornell University

  • BSc in Psychology, 2020

    Peking University

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Projects

Changes in Family and Employment Status and Temporal Self-continuity
Recent findings revealed systematic temporal variations of past and future self-continuity (Lu et al., 2023) that differ meaningfully across individuals and appear to be susceptible to major life changes (Lu & Löckenhoff, 2024).
Examining the Past-Future Asymmetry in Time Perception
Extant research finds that individuals are biased in their temporal perceptions, perceiving an equidistant future moment as temporally closer to the present compared to a moment in the past. In the present research, including four studies (Studies 1a-1d) serving as direct replications and extensions of the original work (Caruso et al.
Modeling the Temporal Extension of Self-Continuity
Explorations were hampered on the association between the decrease in self-continuity (i.e., feeling less connected with one’s more distant past and future selves) and temporal discounting (i.e., the tendency to devalue delayed outcomes) due to methodological limitations.
Age Differences in Social Discounting
Social discounting describes the tendency to show less generosity to the more socially distant recipient. With respect to age differences, prior studies (Pornpattananangkul et al., 2019; Lin & Zhang, 2020) found that older adults showed more generosity to distant others (i.
Longitudinal Precursors of Self-Continuity
Recent findings revealed systematic temporal patterns of past and future self-continuity (Lu et al., 2023) that differ meaningfully across individuals and appear to be susceptible to major life changes. To date, however, the association between structural aspects of temporal self-continuity and longitudinal health trajectories remains unexplored.
Temporal Self-Continuity in response to COVID-19
The present study examined whether the average levels and the temporal extension of self-continuity varied over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Three demographically matched adult life-span samples (n = 223 each) were gathered in the U.
Temporal Self-Continuity across Age and Countries
This study examined the robustness of previously reported age differences in self-continuity in two adult life-span samples collected in Germany and the U.S. Consistent with the prior literature (for a review see Löckenhoff & Rutt, 2016) average self-continuity was positively associated with chronological age (H1).

Presentations & Talks

[APS 2025] Cultural Values and Social Discounting: Higher Collectivism is Associated with More Generosity toward Socially Distant Others
We examined the association between individualism/collectivism and social discounting in a U.S. lifespan sample (N=510, Mage =51.44, …
May 22, 2025 2:00 PM — May 25, 2025 4:00 AM Washington, DC
[EPA 2025] Agreeableness is Associated with Increased Generosity in Social Discounting and Charitable Giving
Personality is associated with altruism (Oda et al., 2014), but associations to social discounting—declining generosity with increasing …
Mar 6, 2025 12:00 PM — Mar 8, 2025 5:00 AM New York City, NY
Wenyu Yu, Yi Lu, Corinna E. Löckenhoff
[DACC 2025] Risk Decision-Making Under Age-Related Stereotypes: A Computational Perspective
Older adults are more risk-averse than younger adults especially under age-related stereotypes (Barber, 2017), yet the underlying …
Feb 20, 2025 11:44 PM — Feb 22, 2025 11:44 PM Dallas, TX
Shuyao Liao*, Yi Lu, Gu Ma, Zheng Guo, Xin Zhang
[SPSP 2025] Personality Traits and Self-Continuity: Lower Neuroticism is Associated with Greater Connectedness with Past and Future Selves
Self-continuity, the perceived connectedness with past and future selves, has been linked to lower neuroticism (Sedikides et al., …
Feb 20, 2025 11:40 PM — Feb 22, 2025 5:00 AM Denver, CO
Yi Lu, Corinna E. Löckenhoff
[GSA 2024] Age Differences in the Temporal Patterns of Self-Continuity and Temporal Discounting
Self-continuity, the perceived connectedness with past and future selves, varies across the life span. Previous research found that …
Nov 16, 2024 — Seattle, WA
Yi Lu, Corinna E. Löckenhoff
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Publications

Lu, Rutt, Thomas, & Löckenhoff (2025). Modeling temporal self-continuity and its association with temporal discounting. Personality and Individual Differences.

DOI

Lu & Löckenhoff (2024). Differences in the temporal extension of self-continuity over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Self and Identity.

DOI

Lu, Gerstorf, & Löckenhoff (2023). Age differences in self-continuity in Germany and the United States: The role of temporal direction, temporal distance, and demographics. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences.

DOI

Lu, Chen, Yin, Xu, & Zhang (2020). Viewing time and facial trustworthiness perception: Give it a second thought may not work for older adults . PsyCh Journal.

DOI

Chang, Lu, & Zhang (2019). Subjective Well-being. In D. Gu and M. E. Dupre (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer-Nature..

DOI

Research Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Research Assistant
Bronfenbrenner Center, Cornell University
Aug 2023 – Dec 2023 NY, US
  • Projects on Resident-to-Resident Elder Mistreatment (R-REM) in nursing homes and assisted living facilities
  • Project on estrangement among family members
 
 
 
 
 
Research Assistant
Lifespan Developmental Lab, Peking University
Sep 2017 – Jul 2020 Beijing, China
  • Undergraduate research on the impact of aging stereotypes on older people’s risky decisions
  • Honor thesis on a cross-cultural comparison study of Chinese and Americans’ self-continuity across age
 
 
 
 
 
Research Assistant
Perception, Action & Cognition Lab, Brown University
Jun 2019 – Sep 2019 RI, US
  • Designed and conducted action experiments using SketchUp, MATLAB Psychtoolbox, and movement tracking pads.
  • Analyzed data on hand movement trajectory and reaction performance using MATLAB.
 
 
 
 
 
Research Assistant
Affective Science and Culture Lab, Yale University
Jul 2019 – Oct 2019 CT, US
Conducted natural language meaning analysis using Meaning Extraction Helper and ZhToken.