Wei Ting Ng

Associate Professor Wei Ting Ng

Head, Master of Applied Research in Social Sciences (MRESS), and Behavioural Science Core

School of Humanities and Behavioural Sciences

Educational Qualifications

  • 2007

    PhD (Psychology), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  • 2005

    M.A (Psychology), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  • 2002

    B.S. (Civil Engineering) (Magna Cum Laude), Cornell University

  • 2002

    B.A. (Psychology) With Distinction in All Subjects, Cornell University

Academic and Professional Experience

  • 2005 - 2006

    Instructor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  • 2003 - 2005

    Graduate Research Assistant, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  • 2003

    Associate Tutor, Singapore Institute of Management, Open University Center

  • 2002 - 2003

    Project Officer, Nanyang Technological University

Journal Articles

Ng, W., & Kang, S. (2022) Predictors of well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: The importance of financial satisfaction and neuroticism. Journal of Community Psychology, 50, 2771–2789.

Ng, W., & Diener, E. (2022) Stress’s association with subjective well-being around the globe, and buffering by affluence and prosocial behavior. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 17, 790–801.

Ng, W.& Ong, K. R. (2021) Using positive psychological interventions to improve well-being: Are they effective across cultures, for clinical and non-clinical samples? Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 52, 45–53.

Ng, W., Tov, W., Veenhoven, R., Rothmann, S., Chambel, M. J., Chen, S., … van Zyl, L. E. (2021) In memory of Edward Diener: Reflections on his career, contributions and the science of happiness. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 706447.

Tong, E. M. W., Reddish, P., Oh, V. Y. S., Ng, W., Sasaki, E., Chin, E. D. A., & Diener, E. (2021) Income robustly predicts self-regard emotions. Emotion. 22, 1670–1685.

Tov, W., Ng, W., & Kang, S. (2021) The facets of meaningful experiences: An examination of purpose and coherence in meaningful and meaningless events. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 16, 129–136.

Ng, W., Kua, W., & Kang, S. (2019) The relative importance of personality, financial satisfaction, and autonomy for different subjective well-being facets. The Journal of Psychology, 153, 680–700.

Ng, W., & Diener, E. (2019) Affluence and subjective well-being: Does income inequality moderate their associations? Applied Research in Quality of Life, 14, 155–170.

Ng, W. (2017) Extending traditional psychological disciplines to positive psychology: A view from subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 18, 1553–1571.

Ng, W. (2016) Use of positive interventions: Does neuroticism moderate the sustainability of their effects on happiness? The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11, 51–61.

Ng, W. (2015) Boosting well-being with positive psychology interventions: Moderating role of personality and other factors. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 45, 79–87.

Ng, W. (2015) Processes underlying links to subjective well-being: Material concerns, autonomy, and personality. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16, 1575 – 1591.

Ng, W., & Diener, E. (2014) What matters to the rich and the poor? Subjective well-being, financial satisfaction, and post-materialist needs across the world. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107, 326-338.

Ng, W. (2013) Daily use of reappraisal decreases negative emotions toward daily unpleasant events. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 32, 530-545.

Ng, W. (2013) The duality of wealth: Is material wealth good or bad for well-being? Journal of Social Research and Policy, 4, 7-19.

Ng, W. (2012) Neuroticism and well-being? Let’s work on the positive rather than negative aspects. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7, 416-426.

Diener, E., Ng, W., Harter, J., & Arora, R. (2010) Wealth and happiness across the world: Material prosperity predicts life evaluation, while psychosocial prosperity predicts positive feeling. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 52-61.

Ng, W. (2009) Clarifying the relation between neuroticism and positive emotions. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 69-72.

Ng, W., & Diener, E. (2009) Feeling bad? The “power” of positive thinking may not apply to everyone. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 455-463.

Ng, W., & Diener, E. (2009) Personality Differences in Emotions: Does Emotion Regulation play a role? Journal of Individual Differences, 30, 100-106.

Ng, W., Diener, E., Arora, R., & Harter, J. (2009) Affluence, feelings of stress, and well-being. Social Indicators Research, 94, 257-271.

Diener, E., Ng, W., & Tov, W. (2008) Balance in life and declining marginal utility of diverse resources. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 3, 277-291.

Book Chapters

Ng, W., & Lim, W. L. (2023) Subjective well-being. In S. T. Allison, J. T. Beggan, & G. R., Goethals (Eds.), Encyclopedia of heroism studies. Springer.

Ng, W., & Lim, W. (2022) Affluence, stress, and wellbeing. In F. Maggino (Ed.), Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research. (2nd ed., pp. 114–118). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.

Ng, W., & Ortega, E. (2022) Positive psychology in Southeast Asia. In E. C. Chang, C. Downey, H. Yang, I. Zettler & M. Muyan-Yılık (Eds.), The international handbook of positive psychology: A global perspective on the science of positive human existence (pp. 277–295). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Ng, W., & Lim, W. (2019) Developing positive psychological interventions: Maximizing efficacy for use in eastern cultures. In L. E. Van Zyl, & S. Rothmann Sr. (Eds.), Positive psychological intervention design and protocols for multi-cultural contexts (pp. 277–295). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Ng, W. (2015) Neuroticism. In J. D. Wright (Ed.) International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (2nd ed., Vol. 16, pp. 743–748). Oxford: Elsevier.

Tov, W., Diener, E., Ng, W., Kesebir, P., & Harter, J. (2009) The social and economic context of peace and happiness. In R. S. Wyer, C-y. Chiu, & Y-y. Hong (Eds.), Understanding culture: Theory, research, and application (pp. 239-258). New York: Psychology Press.

Ng, W. (2019, March) Moderating influences of GDP and income inequality on the income-SWB relationships. Symposium “Income and subjective well-being: Existing controversies and new data” presented at International Convention of Psychological Science, Paris, France.

Ng, W. (2016, October) A cultural perspective of well-being. Symposium “Well-being across cultures and languages” presented at the International Conference on Well-Being, Singapore

Ng, W. (2016, June) Development of positive psychology: Contributions from traditional psychological disciplines. Paper presented at the Canadian Conference on Positive Psychology, Ontario, Canada.

Ng, W. (2015, June) Material and Psychological Determinants of Subjective Well-being (SWB): Do Material Concerns Mediate the Links between Personality, Autonomy, and SWB? Paper presented at the World Congress on Positive Psychology, Orlando, FL.

Ng, W. (2014, July) Positive psychotherapy: Use of positive interventions and the moderating role of neuroticism. Paper presented at the European Conference on Positive Psychology, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Ng, W. (2012, September) Does money make you happy? Young Singaporeans Conference, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Institute of Policy Studies.

Ng, W., & Diener, E. (2011, January) Does everyone want to be happy? Neuroticism and positive thinking. Symposium presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.

Cognition, emotion, and traits

Well-being/happiness: Predictors of well-being; comparisons of different forms of well-being; cultural and personality differences in well-being; influence of happiness on important life outcomes

Personality differences in emotion and emotion regulation

Culture and emotion

Society for Personality and Social Psychology

Association for Psychological Science

Reviewer for: Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being; Applied Research in Quality of Life; Asian Journal of Social Psychology; British Journal of Psychology; Clinical Psychological Science; Cognition and Emotion; Economics Letters; Health Economics; International Journal of Well-Being; Journal of Behavioral Decision Making; Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy; Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology; Journal of Happiness Studies; Journal of Personality; Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology; Nature Communications; Personality and Individual Differences; Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin; PLOS One; Quality of Life Research; Social Psychological and Personality Science; The Journal of Positive Psychology

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