Contact Information

UCLA Department of Psychology
4611 Franz Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563
On-campus mail: 156304
Tel: (310) 825.2961
Fax: (310) 206.5895
E-mail: taylors@psych.ucla.edu

Biosketch

Shelley Taylor is a founder and leader in health psychology, the field that identifies psychosocial influences on the practice of health habits, use of services, course of illness and recovery, and health policy. She is the author of early position papers and the first textbook, founder of an early training program, and mentor to many pre- and post-doctoral students, who are now themselves leaders in the field.
Taylor's primary research program concerns beliefs that affect adjustment to and course of illness. In her papers of the 1970s-1980s on cancer, she showed how beliefs in personal control, unrealistic optimism, and finding personal meaning in the illness lead to beneficial psychological adjustment. Reasoning that this calmer, more positive psychological state might have beneficial biological effects as well, she initiated (with colleagues) research that explored the impact of these beliefs on course of illness. She found that, controlling for biological cofactors, these positive beliefs are associated with a slower progression of HIV infection, in both asymptomatic HIV seropositive men and men diagnosed with AIDS. Her current work explores the biological mediators of these effects, including catecholaminergic regulation of immune functioning and HPA axis functioning. Recently, investigators have found that Taylor's findings generalize to heart disease as well.

Taylor's current work explores how social relationships regulate biological stress responses. She is the architect of the tend-and-befriend model of women's responses to stress, finding that women commonly respond to stress through social means, influenced in part by oxytocin and endogenous opioid peptides. Her research on "risky families," shows how family dynamics influence offspring stress regulatory systems and long-term risk for disease.

The author of over 300 scientific papers, Taylor is the recipient of a number of awards, including the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association, Yale University's Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal, the Donald Campbell Award in Social Psychology, the Outstanding Scientific Contribution Award in Health Psychology, and election to the Institute of Medicine, National Academies of Science.

Selected References

Armor DA, Taylor SE. When predictions fail: The dilemma of unrealistic optimism. In: Gilovich T, Griffin D, Kahneman D (Eds.), Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp 334-347.

Repetti RL, Taylor SE, Seeman TE. Risky Families: Family social environments and the mental and physical health of offspring. Psychol Bull 2002;128:330-366.

Taylor SE, Lerner JS, Sherman DK, Sage RM, McDowell NK. Portrait of the self-enhancer: Well-adjusted and well-liked or maladjusted and friendless? J Pers Soc Psychol 2003;84:165-176.