Joey T. Cheng

Joey T. Cheng is an Associate Professor of Psychology at York University and holds the York Research Chair in Leadership, Collaboration, and Teams. Her work focuses on the psychological mechanisms underlying social hierarchy, overconfidence, and competitive behavior. She investigates how individuals attain influence in groups, communicate status through vocal signals, and navigate the social costs/benefits of competitiveness.

Research Interests:

• Signaling of status and dominance in human interactions
• Interplay between prestige and dominance in social rank dynamics
• Impact of overconfidence on group dynamics and decision-making

Recent publications emphasize leadership strategies in resolving intragroup conflict, cross-cultural analyses of optimism, and neurobiological underpinnings of competition. Media engagement includes a BBC Worklife feature on overconfidence's contagious nature.

No formal student advisee list is provided, but her research lab engages in collaborative projects with international institutions. Current projects explore dominance mechanisms in organizational settings and cross-cultural variations in social hierarchy.