Professor Zed Zhipeng Gao joined the American University of Paris in 2021. Gao has an interdisciplinary background: he holds a Ph.D. in the historical, theoretical, and critical studies of psychology and has conducted postdoctoral research in sociology and anthropology.
Gao’s research falls into two main clusters. The first examines the history of psychology under Chinese communism, focusing on the normative function of psychological science in shaping the population toward state objectives. The second investigates the impact of global geopolitics on the identities of the Chinese diaspora in racial, national, and cultural terms. More recently, he has turned toward theoretical research that draws on poststructuralism to bring critical inquiry to existing theoretical and methodological frameworks.
Gao has published more than twenty journal articles and book chapters. His work has appeared in venues including Review of General Psychology, Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Social Anthropology, Narrative Inquiry, History of Psychology, and History of Science. He has (co-)edited special issues of Theory & Psychology (SAGE) and Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science (Springer), as well as a book volume on Cultural Politics in Indigenous Psychology (Palgrave). A member of the editorial board of Theory & Psychology, Gao is also a co-organizer of the 2025 Three Societies Meeting (ESHHS, Cheiron, and SHP) in Paris. Gao has received several awards in international psychology, the history of psychology, theoretical psychology, and qualitative inquiry.
Before joining AUP, Gao taught in Toronto and Vancouver, where he enjoyed working with students from diverse backgrounds. At AUP, he uses a roundtable seminar format to foster intellectual dialogue within a supportive classroom environment.
Education/Degrees
- Postdoc in Sociology and Anthropology, Simon Fraser University & The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
- PhD in Psychology, York University, Canada
- MA in Psychology, York University, Canada
Publications
EDITED BOOK VOLUME
- Gao, Z. & Medved, M. (Eds.) (2025). Global Perspectives on Cultural Politics in Indigenous Psychology, Palgrave Macmillan.
EDITED JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUES
- Gao, Z. & Teo, T. (Eds.) (2023). Special Issue “Theorizing the Psychology of Deglobalization”, Theory & Psychology, 33(2), Sage.
- Gao, Z. (Ed.) (2022). Special Issue “Contemporary Innovations in Theory: Contributions from China and the Chinese Diaspora”, Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 56(2), Springer.
REPRESENTATIVE REFEREED ARTICLES
- Gao, Z. (2023). The Politics of Chinese Immigrants’ “Double Unbelonging” and Deglobalization. In Z. Gao & T. Teo (Eds.) special issue “Theorizing the Psychology of Deglobalization”, Theory & Psychology, 33(2), 266-283.
- Gao, Z. (2021). Unsettled belongings: Chinese immigrants’ mental health vulnerability as a symptom of international politics in the Covid-19 pandemic. In Z. Morrill, L. Hoffman & M. Yang (Eds.) special issue “COVID-19 Part II”. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 61(2), 198-218.
- Gao, Z. (2020). From empirical observation to social intervention: The Marxization of psychology in China, 1949–1958. In W. Pickren & T. Teo (Eds.) special issue “Re-envisioning general psychology”. Review of General Psychology, 24(1), 43-59.
- Gao, Z. (2019). Forging Marxist psychology in China’s Cold War geopolitics, 1949–1965. In H. Y. Wu (Ed.) special issue “History of psychology and psychiatry in the global world”. History of Psychology, 22(4), 309-327.
- Gao, Z. & Bischoping, K. (2019). The communist hero and the April Fool’s joke: A case study in the cultural politics of authentication and fakery. In M. Krings, C. Kilian & J. Beek (Eds.) special issue “An anthropology of defrauding and faking”. Social Anthropology, 27(3), 438-454.
- Gao, Z. (2015). Pavlovianism in China: Politics and differentiation across scientific disciplines in the Maoist era. In H. Chiang (Ed.), special issue “Ordering the social: History of the human sciences in modern China”. History of Science, 53(1), 57-85.
See my Google Scholar for a complete list of publications.
Awards, Fellowships and Grants
- Distinguished Early Career Contributions in Qualitative Inquiry Award, Quantitative and Qualitative Methods, Division 5 of the American Psychological Association, 2022
- Early Career Award, Society for the History of Psychology, Division 26 of the American Psychological Association, 2022
- Outstanding Early Career Psychologist Award (outside the US), International Psychology, Division 52 of American Psychological Association, 2020
- Young Scholar Award, Cheiron: The International Society for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences, 2019
- Certificate of Academic Excellence, Canadian Psychological Association, 2019
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, “Inter-Cultural Experience of Chinese Immigrants in Canada” (PI), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: $90,000, 2019-2021