Bloomington, IN
Dr. Zhao (she/her/hers) is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute. She is a social psychologist, and her primary research interests are romantic relationships, including formation, maintenance, and dissolution, sexual wellbeing, and social cognition more broadly. Her current research focuses on partner selection processes in the U.S. and beyond.
Education
- Ph.D., Florida State University
Selected publications
- Zhao, C., & Gesselman, A. M. (2025). Politics in Pursuit: Associations Between Political Affiliation and Gendered Behaviors in Romantic Relationship Initiation. Manuscript under review. Sex Roles.
- Zhao, C., Liu, Q., March, D. S., Hicks, L. L., McNulty, J. K. (2023). Leveraging Impression Management Motives to Increase the Use of Face Masks. Journal of Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2023.2216880
- Zhao, C., McNulty, J. K., Turner, J. A., Hicks, L. L., & Meltzer, A. L. (2022). Evidence of a bidirectional association between daily sexual and relationship satisfaction that is moderated by daily stress. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 51(8), 3791–3806. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02399-0
Research Interests
- Romantic relationships
- Sexual well-being
- Political psychology
- Social cognition
- Cultural psychology