About the authors

NIGEL J. HOLT, D.Phil.

Nigel Holt is Head of the Department of Psychology at Aberystwyth University in Wales. Dr Holt’s first degree from the University of Reading was followed by a DPhil from the University of York, where he investigated the perceptual lateralization of audio-visual stimuli. A brief spell in industry provided him with clear evidence that teaching and research in a university environment were the place for him. His current post followed a postdoctorate in speech perception, and a lectureship in England but he has now returned to his routes and lives on the very beautiful Aeron coast, a stone’s throw from the beach in West Wales. He has examined at a senior level for a major examination board and is an external university examiner at various universities throughout the world. In between writing other books, he does his best to find time to research speech perception and how sound and other areas of cognition interact with potentially dangerous activities such as cycling and motorcycling. He himself is entirely risk averse, preferring his greenhouse to motorcycles, and a nice sit down and a cup of tea to anything even vaguely resembling a dangerous sport which should, he believes, be left to those younger and less prone to damage than he.

ANDY BREMNER, D.Phil.

Andy completed his first degree in experimental psychology at the University of Oxford and then decided to stay and submit a DPhil (three years later) under the supervision of Professor Peter Bryant. Following two postdoctoral appointments in London and Brussels in which he undertook further research into cognitive development in early life, Andy took up a job in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he is now a Reader in Psychology, Departmental Head of Learning and Teaching and leads the Sensorimotor Development Research Unit and the Goldsmiths InfantLab. Andy conducts research into a variety of questions surrounding perceptual and cognitive development and cognitive neuroscience. Particular research interests include tactile perception in infancy, object recognition in infancy, the development of memory and cognitive control in the early pre-school years, the development of spatial representations of the body and the environment in infancy and childhood, and the development of multisensory perceptual processes. Andy is Associate Editor of the British Journal of Developmental Psychology and is on the Editorial Board of PLoS ONE. In 2009 he was awarded a €1.2 million grant by the European Research Council for a five-year research project investigating ‘Human Embodied Multisensory Development’, and in 2013 he received the Margaret Donaldson Early Career Prize for an outstanding contribution to developmental psychology.

ED SUTHERLAND, Ph.D.

Ed completed his first degree at the University of Bangor and his Ph.D. at the University of Wolverhampton under the supervision of Prof. Ken Manktelow. He then filled the next few years with a research post at the University of Reading and his first lectureship at the University of Derby. He became a Lecturer in cognitive psychology at the University of Leeds where he is now Director of Learning and Teaching. His current research interests are on the role of emotion in reasoning and the psychology of design. When not working he spends his time with his family and on the river bank in pursuit of his beloved barbel.

MICHAEL L. W. VLIEK, Ph.D.

Michael is a Lecturer at the University of Amsterdam. After finishing his Masters at the University of Amsterdam, he decided to stay at the University of Amsterdam to work on his Ph.D. thesis on the subject of social comparison processes, followed by a position as lecturer at the same university (where he has now been for over ten years). Michael has also been a visiting scholar at the University of Sussex, England. His main research interests include social comparison and the dynamics of self-evaluation, intra-group processes and the influence of time in motivational processes.

MICHAEL W. PASSER

Michael Passer coordinates the introductory psychology programme at the University of Washington, which enrolls about 2,500 students per year, and also is the faculty coordinator of training for new teaching assistants. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester and his PhD in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a specialization in social psychology. Dr Passer has been a faculty member at the University of Washington since 1977. A former Danforth Foundation Fellow and University of Washington Distinguished Teaching Award finalist, Dr Passer has had a career-long love of teaching. Each academic year he teaches introductory psychology twice and a required pre-major course on the Teaching of Psychology, which prepares students for careers in the college classroom, and also has taught courses in social psychology and attribution theory. He has published more than 20 scientific articles and chapters, primarily in the areas of attribution, stress, and anxiety, and is author of the textbook, Research Methods: Concepts and Connections (Worth Publishers). Dr. Passer has taught the introductory psychology course for 25 years.

RONALD E. SMITH

Ronald E. Smith is Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Psychology Training at the University of Washington, where he also has served as Area Head of the Social Psychology and Personality area. He received his bachelor’s degree from Marquette University and his PhD from Southern Illinois University, where he had dual specializations in clinical and physiological psychology. His major research interests are in anxiety, stress and coping, and in performance-enhancement research and intervention. Dr Smith is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. He received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute for his contributions to the field of mental health. He has published more than 200 scientific articles and book chapters in his areas of interest and has authored or co-authored 29 books on introductory psychology, human performance enhancement and personality. An award-winning teacher, he has more than 15 years of experience in teaching the introductory psychology course.