Discovering Psychology

Susan A. Nolan is Professor of Psychology at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. Susan researches the interpersonal consequences of mental illness and the role of gender in science careers. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation. Susan is the 2021 President of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology and a past president of the Eastern Psychological Association (EPA). She is a Fellow of the EPA, the American Psychological Association (APA), and the Association for Psychological Science. She holds an A.B. from the College of the Holy Cross and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Susan is fascinated by the applications of psychology to the “real world,” both locally and globally. She served as a representative from the APA to the United Nations for five years, and was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she and her husband have a home. She loves to travel. Susan uses the examples she encounters through these experiences in the classroom, in this textbook, and in the statistics textbooks that she co-authors. They also provide ideas for the Psychology Today blog that she co-authors on psychology research related to misinformation.

Sandra E. Hockenbury is a science writer who specializes in psychology. Sandy received her B.A. from Shimer College and her M.A. from the University of Chicago, where she was also a research associate at the Institute of Social and Behavioral Pathology. Prior to co-authoring Psychology and Discovering Psychology, Sandy worked for several years as a psychology editor in both academic and college textbook publishing. Sandy has also taught as an adjunct faculty member at Tulsa Community College.

Sandy’s areas of interest include positive psychology, cross-cultural psychology, and the intersection of Buddhist philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology. She is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association of Psychological Science (APS), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Sandy is a member of the Board of Trustees of Shimer College and recently served as a volunteer with Nomads Clinic, a nonprofit organization that brings medical care to remote areas in the Himalayan regions of Nepal and the Tibetan Plateau.

Don and Sandy’s daughter, Laura, is a college senior and geology major who, like her parents, has wide-ranging interests, including climate change, sustainable development, psychology, and the arts. A classical and improvisational pianist, co-director of her college comedy sketch group, and enthusiastic member of the 2011 Division III Ultimate college women’s championship team, Laura has recently taken up the mandolin.