Nancy Collins

Biography

After receiving her BA in Psychology from UCLA, Professor Collins completed her PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Southern California. She returned to UCLA for a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Health Psychology, and then served as a professor of Social Psychology at the State University of New at Buffalo from 1993 to 1997. Dr. Collins joined the Psychology Department at UCSB in 1997. Dr. Collins includes among her professional honors the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Theoretical Innovation Prize (2007), the Harold J. Plous Award for outstanding contributions to teaching and research at UCSB (2002), and the Young Investigator Award from the Close Relationships group of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (1991). Dr. Collins has also received numerous honors for excellence in teaching and service at UCSB including an Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award (2004), three Outstanding Teaching Awards from the UCSB Residence Halls Association (1998, 2010, 2011), and the Sarah Miller McCune Service Award (2013). Dr. Collins is currently chair of the Quantitative Methods in Social Sciences (QMSS) program. She teaches courses in close relationships, research methods, introductory statistics, multivariate statistics, and structural equation modeling. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Fetzer Institute. Dr. Collins will be accepting students into her lab for the 2015-2016 academic year.

Research

Dr. Collins' research and theoretical interests lie at the interface of close relationships, social cognition, and health psychology. More specifically, her research explores the social and cognitive processes that shape close relationships in adulthood, and the impact that these processes have on health and well-being across the lifespan. Within these broad domains, her current research activities are focused on three main topics: (1) social support and caregiving processes in couples, with special emphasis on the factors that predict effective support-seeking and caregiving behavior in intimate relationships, (2) psychosocial predictors of health and well-being, with special emphasis on the psychological and biological mechanisms through which close relationships foster resilience and thriving, and (3) social perception processes in close relationships, with special emphasis on the ways in which working models (mental representations) of attachment shape how individuals construe their relationship experiences. Her research program includes the application of innovative statistical techniques for exploring basic processes in social psychology, and the use of multiple methodologies including experimental studies, observational studies of dyadic interaction, daily diary methods, immersive virtual environments, neuroendocrine assessments (e.g., cortisol, progesterone), brain imaging, and longitudinal field research. Dr. Collins' research program has been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Fetzer Institute.