Nancy Segal
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Nancy Segal | |
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Born | 1951 (age 72–73) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Psychologist |
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Institutions | California State University, Fullerton |
Nancy L. Segal (born 1951) is an American evolutionary psychologist and behavioral geneticist, specializing in the study of twins. She is the Professor of Developmental Psychology and Director of the Twin Studies Center, at California State University, Fullerton. Segal was a recipient of the 2005 James Shields Award for Lifetime Contributions to Twin Research from the Behavior Genetics Association and International Society for Twin Studies.
Early life and education
Nancy L. Segal was born Boston, Massachusetts, in 1951. She received a B.A. from Boston University (psychology, with honors and English literature, double major, 1973), M.A. from University of Chicago (Division of Social Sciences, 1974), and was awarded a Ph.D. from University of Chicago (Committee on Human Development, 1982).[1]
Career
Segal is the Professor of Developmental Psychology and Director of the Twin Studies Center, at California State University, Fullerton. She was recognized as CSU Fullerton's 2004–2005 Outstanding Professor of the Year,
Segal is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society and Western Psychological Association. She has been inducted into the Collegium of Distinguished Alumni at Boston University. Segal is an Associate Editor for the journal,
Research
Segal's main research focuses on human behavior and includes cooperation and competition, altruism, personal bonds, and bereavement. She studies twins to understand social relationships in the general population, hoping to derive implications for what makes people get along. She finds that identical twins generally work together more cooperatively than others.
In addition to studying identical twins (who result from the splitting of one egg fertilized by one sperm and who share all of their genes) and fraternal twins (who come from two eggs fertilized by different sperm and who share on average half their genes, just as non-twin siblings do), Segal is the only researcher known to study "virtual" or "pseudo" twins. These are two people less than nine months apart in age but with different biological parents, who are raised together from infancy. Her studies in progress show a modest degree of similarity in virtual twins for general intelligence and special mental abilities.
Segal sees great promise in a related new area of research, epigenomics, which refers to natural chemical modifications that take place in individual genomes, marking them for increased or decreased activity.
Over the years, Segal has served as an expert witness on legal cases involving twins, in particular, wrongful death, injury, medical negligence, and custody. A paper reporting this work was published in a special issue of the journal Law and Human Behavior. Additional details about this area of study appear in her book, Entwined Lives.
Each year, Segal offers a seminar on behavior genetics and evolutionary psychology to graduate students in the Department of Psychology at CSU Fulleron. She has sponsored undergraduate and graduate research projects involving original twin research designs and methods.[1]
Personal life
Segal has a twin sister, Anne.[3]
Selected works
Books
Segal's book, Born Together-Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study, was published by
Articles and essays
Segal's papers have appeared in journals, such as American Psychologist, Child Development and Science. She has received research grants from the National Science Foundation, the American Psychological Association and the Olfactory Research Fund, Ltd. She was named a Dean's Faculty Scholar for the Spring, 1999 semester. She addressed the National Organization of Mothers of Twin in St. Louis, in 1999, the New Zealand Organization of Mothers of Twins in 2000, and 2007.
References
- ^ a b "Dr. Nancy L. Segal Biography".
- ^ "n_segal - Department of Psychology | CSUF". psychology.fullerton.edu. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
- ^ Muhlenkamp, Katherine (March–April 2012). "Twin studies". The University of Chicago Magazine. Retrieved 2018-06-22.