Headshot of Dr.Brandon Ng

Dr. Brandon Ng

Visiting Assistant Professor
  • Profile

    Dr. Ng completed his Ph.D. in social psychology at the University of Virginia, and he earned his undergraduate degree in psychology and English literature, with a minor in economics, at Northwestern University. His research implements a social and cultural psychological approach to understand the psychosocial mechanisms that engender pain disparities, as well as disparities in empathy and well-being. Specifically, he is interested in how racial bias, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination influence how others’ pain is perceived, as well as how contending with these factors exacerbates the pain experience for members of underserved and stigmatized groups.

    Dr. Ng’s work has received a number of awards. In 2019, he was one of 30 pain scholar trainees selected to attend (with funding) the Connaught Summer Institute in Pain at the University of Toronto. He has also received the Presidential Fellowship in Data Science (Big Data), National Science Foundation East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) award to Singapore, and an honorable mention from the National Science Foundation GRFP. Dr. Ng also has a passion for teaching and mentoring.  During his graduate career, he received the Becky Boone Memorial Award, awarded to only one graduate student annually across all areas in the UVA psychology department for teaching excellence.

  • Selected Publications
    Journal Articles

    Boring, B. L., Walsh, K. T., Ng, B. W., Schlegel, R. J., & Mathur, V. A. (2023). Experiencing Pain Invalidation is Associated with Under-Reporting of Pain: A Social Psychological Perspective on Acute Pain Communication. The Journal of Pain.

    Boring, B. L., Ng, B. W., Nanavaty, N., & Mathur, V. A. (2022). Over-Rating Pain is Overrated: A Fundamental Self-Other Bias in Pain Reporting Behavior. The Journal of Pain.

    Boring, B.L., Walsh, K.T., Nanavaty, N., Ng, B.W., & Mathur, V.A. (2021). How and why do patient concerns influence pain reporting?: A qualitative analysis of personal accounts and perceptions of others’ use of numerical pain scales. Frontiers in Psychology.

    Mendu, S., Baglione, A., Baee, S., Wu, C., Ng, B., Shaked, A., ... & Barnes, L. (2020). A Framework for Understanding the Relationship between Social Media Discourse and Mental Health. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 4(CSCW2), 1-23.

    Oishi, S., Choi, H., Galinha, I. Ishii, K.,….Ng, B.W., Kurtz, J.& Besser, L.L. (2020). Happiness, meaning, and psychological richness. Affective Science, 1, 107-115.

    Ng, B.W., Nanavaty, N., & Mathur, V.A. (2019). The Influence of Latinx American Identity on Pain Perception and Treatment Seeking. Journal of Pain Research, 12, 3025-3035.

    Oishi, S., Choi, H., Heintzelman, S.J., Kushlev, K., Westgate, E.C., Buttrick, N.R., Tucker, J., Ebersole, C.R., Axt, J., Gilbert, E., Ng, B.W., & Besser, L.L. (2019). The Psychologically Rich Life Scale, Journal of Research in Personality, 81, 257-270.

    Ng, B.W., & Oishi, S. (2016). Bringing Socioecological Psychology to the Forefront: Dynamic Variation in the Relationship between Environmental Shock and Impulsivity as a Function of Subsistence Regime. Current Anthropology, 57, 647-648.

    Ng, B.W., Morris, J.P., & Oishi, S. (2013). Cultural Neuroscience: The Current State of Affairs. Psychological Inquiry, 24, 53-57.