Oliver Sng

Oliver Sng is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Science at the University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on how environmental factors—such as population density, family structure, and ecological unpredictability—shape human psychology, social behavior, and cultural differences. He explores stereotypes based on others' environments, including how ecological contexts override race or family-based stereotypes.

Dr. Sng earned his Ph.D. in Psychological Science from Arizona State University. His work has been published in top journals like the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Key topics include life history strategies, cross-cultural variations in psychology, and the evolutionary underpinnings of stereotyping.

His lab, the EVOCS Lab (Evolution, Culture, and Stereotyping), investigates fundamental questions about social behavior using evolutionary and cultural frameworks. Current projects explore ecological drivers of stereotypes, cultural psychological variation, and the affordance management approach to social perception. The lab actively recruits undergraduate research assistants and graduate students.