About Justin Chen
Hi! I am a rising Junior at Columbia College majoring in Cognitive Science and Visual Arts. As part of the 2024 Laidlaw cohort, this summer, I am deeply interested in the intersections of psychology, culture, and the arts. I will specifically focus on understanding the role of forgiveness in Asian American communities.
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Project Outline: Understanding the Act of Forgiveness in Asian-American Communities
For this summer, my research will delve into understanding the construction of forgiveness within Korean American communities by compiling literature and conducting an experimental laboratory study on the impacts of gender, culture, and religion on the concept.
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Hannah! Wow, I am so impressed by the way your research this summer has evolved and shifted to film analysis, especially concerning Chinese Americans (extremely connected to my own identity). I loved the way you were able to intersect your interests within film, history, and gender studies into this project. Great job and I cannot wait to see what you do in the future!
It's often difficult to historicize social trends. This is because often, there isn't a clearly defined point in time where a trend becomes a trend - there may be tipping points and pivotal moments, but it is very rare to be able to immediately point to and identify such trends. Part of my research has involved constructing a timeline of the expansion of civil society organizations such as NGOs and philanthropic trusts. A new idea I've encountered, reached while developing my literature review, is that of the turn of the century being a pivotal point for politics across the world, with implications not only for how governments are structured, but also for the rationales with which we give and donate our money, time, and energy.
The libraries have proved to be a particularly useful resource for me. Before, I'd never had to physically enter the stacks in search of literature on my research topics -- often, I could get away with making a quick Google search and clicking the links nearest to the top. The libraries - both their physical contents and the people in them - have proven to be an especially useful resource in helping me identify crucial literature that I would otherwise not have paid attention to.
Muku! The new idea you have encountered is fascinating I often contemplate the way our governments choose to handle their money, time, and energy, particularly the certain people they are concerned with. I also agree with you that the libraries have been a great physical and digital resource for continuing this research. I am excited to see where your research goes and to understand more about NGOs and philanthropic trusts. Great job!
In understanding and conceptualizing forgiveness I have encountered challenges with contradicting definitions and several studies that do not specify the Asian American demographics they are researching. These issues lead to difficulties in focusing on the Korean American population, as I am unsure if these studies include East, Southeast, and South Asians all under the same categories. Also, taking into account the number of years these people have lived in the United States is crucial. However, beyond the challenges, I have discovered intriguing sources discussing the prevalence of Christianity in Korean Americans that correspond to the significance of forgiveness in these communities. These ideas have continued to shift and shape my research as I acknowledge these limitations and recognize concepts such as religion, and gender may play a role in forgiveness. I have now narrowed the scope of my project to center on health in all aspects concerning acculturation, religion, and forgiveness.
I have found the Columbia Library databases, and my librarian (Kae) extremely useful as I have continued my research. Filtering through countless sources along with searching for academic papers on a topic as broad as forgiveness through both Kae and the library's resources has continued to foster my passion for this topic in newfound ways.
I am planning to write a paper. Up until now, the work that I have completed has largely been catching up with discourse in the field of ethics. Ideally, my contribution will combine two perspectives on ethics. First, I will attempt to discuss normativity from the perspective of naturalism. I will then combine this with a moral theory that emphasizes the importance of identifying exemplars of goodness. I do not believe I will be able to finish the paper by the time my stay on campus ends, so I hope to continue my work throughout the summer until I have a polished piece that I may call my own.
Exemplar naturalism is an ethical framework that is endowed with extraordinary practical facets. Sometimes ethical thought is so abstracted from human action that it is no longer is clear that such thought is worth considering. Contemporary ethics inspired by Aristotelian thought, like the exemplar moral theory I discuss, maintains a groundedness that is not adequately considered by consequentialist or deontic theories. It also seems to describe an intuitively appealing way that we may develop certain traits in ourselves, looking to those we admire.
Sebastian, this work sounds fascinating and I am excited to see how it progresses throughout the summer. Hearing from our discussions with Nox, and these field journal entries, I continue to learn more about Exemplar naturalism through your project. Keep up the great work!
On top of presenting my research in the Research Symposium for the fall, my immediate expectations are to complete a psychology literature review and finalize my pilot experiment to conduct with my faculty advisor in the fall as well. This summer is the first phase of my project that I will continue through the school year and possibly into the next summer as well (abroad in another country). At the one-month mark of the program, I expect to continue my literature review and complete it by the end of the three months of this summer.
My research is significant because understanding the way forgiveness intersects with acculturation, religion, and health can help deeply understand the Asian American identity. Also, through focusing on forgiveness, I have found my question has taken on a new form of questioning the foundations of the Korean diaspora in the United States and the ways forgiveness can take shape in this context. Mental well-being as well is emphasized as the positive impacts of forgiveness may further destigmatize this concept in Asian American communities. I truly believe more research in this area will create a more comprehensive overview of the Asian identity, frequently neglected in academic spheres.
Our research involves working with people who live in the place where nuclear weapon testing was carried out. First ethical issue that I encountered was reading the reports about contamination on the islands. The more papers I read, the more safety violations I found out. This seems very disturbing, and this reassures me that working on a project that is connected with nuclear weapons always has some ethical issues. Another issue is mostly related to the next summer. We are going to the island to make actual measurements. And in the case our findings confirm that it is dangerous to live and consume food on the island, we will have to report it to the government and convince them to invest in solving this problem as well as work closely with the local population.
As of right now I can’t do anything to resolve such issues as manipulating the data and concealing the facts that were done previously, but I hope my research will provide more information for analysis and thus will help people to get more trustworthy conclusions.
I don’t think I ever considered a different view point. I have always been against manipulating the data - I think each scientist has a responsibility to report everything they learnt and by no means intentionally change the interpretation of the data or the data itself.
Valeriya! I completely agree with all the points you mentioned, manipulating data and the local people is awful. Addressing this extreme ethical concern at the root of your research is admirable and certainly information I would like to see more attention on. The aftermath of nuclear weapon testing results in terrible consequences for both the people and the environment. Keep up the great work and I am interested in seeing the data come out!
Currently, my research is focused on reading experimental psychology studies which does not have many ethical concerns. However, when I conduct my research in the fall I will be working with human subjects which raises ethical issues about structuring scenarios and framing questions while also being mindful and respectful. If I chose to create a scenario to test the threshold of forgiveness, I would also need to be explicit in laying the guidelines for informed consent and disclosing the processes of the experiment to researchers. To respond to these questions, I have been working with my faculty advisor and reviewing ethical guidelines to design my experiment.
Originally my research was focused on the intersection of the Asian American identity with the concept of forgiveness from a philosophical lens. Yet, as I have considered several sources and other viewpoints my project has narrowed its scope to Korean American communities with a focus on the health impacts of religion, acculturation, and levels of forgiveness. It has been enriching to explore beyond my intended beginnings to reach a more comprehensive view of the way forgiveness manifests itself in the Asian diaspora.
My research is concentrated in the social sciences at the Justice Lab, my personal project at the Lab considers themes of violence and patriotism in incarceration. While we are both focused on issues in the carceral system, this project of mine is different from what my fellow Justice Lab researcher Kiana is exploring. Through learning about her interests in mental health and incarceration I have been provided and opportunity to witness how health can interact with systems of justice. Further, I have found that conversations at the Justice Lab centered around our thoughts on systemic issues have been insightful. By talking to a variety of people interested in justice such as lawyers, researchers, and teachers, I have been able to explore what justice means through each of their narratives, something that will help me contextualize further justice-led work.
Shreya, your research is fascinating and I am excited to see where it goes within and outside of the Justice Lab. I agree that talking with a variety of people interested in similar topics helps contextualize and explore narratives outside of our own. I love the way you are also able to be present in a lab with another Laidlaw researcher and still learn from one another with differing perspectives on approaching Justice. Also, what you mentioned about open discussions is certainly crucial to fully understanding the scope of any topic. Great job!