Psychology at St. Olaf College

16 faculty and 40 courses in Psychology at St. Olaf College.

Faculty

• Piercarlo Valdesolo, Assistant Professor of Psychology h-index 13
  Notable: “Emotion and Decision Making” (2014) · 2,762 citations
• Shelly Dickinson, Associate Professor of Psychology h-index 12
  Notable: “Dopamine D2 Receptor‐Deficient Mice Exhibit Decreased Dopamine Transporter Function but No Changes in Dopamine Release in Dorsal Striatum” (1999) · 232 citations
• Gary Muir, Professor of Psychology; Grace A. Whittier Endowed Chair in Science h-index 11
  The Neurobiology of Navigation I'm especially excited about exploring the intersection of brain and behavior, and my research program is guided primarily by questions about the neural mechanisms of navigation and spatial cognition
  Notable: “Disruption of the Head Direction Cell Signal after Occlusion of the Semicircular Canals in the Freely Moving Chinchilla” (2009) · 146 citations
• Grace Cho, Professor of Psychology h-index 9
  Es on the variety of sociocultural factors and parenting processes that may shape children’s emotional and self development. For example, her research team (the Development of Self and Emotions Lab ) is currently working on a pr
  Notable: “Self-Esteem as Folk Theory: A Comparison of European American and Taiwanese Mothers' Beliefs” (2002) · 204 citations
• Jeremy Loebach, Associate Professor of Psychology; Department Chair h-index 8
  Notable: “Perceptual learning of spectrally degraded speech and environmental sounds” (2008) · 84 citations
• Carlo O Veltri, Professor of Psychology h-index 6
  Notable: “On the Convergence Between PSY-5 Domains and PID-5 Domains and Facets” (2013) · 184 citations
• Dana Gross, Professor of Psychology h-index 6
  Notable: “False Beliefs About Emotion: Children's Understanding of Misleading Emotional Displays” (1988) · 92 citations
• Jessica M Benson, Associate Professor of Psychology h-index 2
  Notable: “Self-administered mindfulness interventions reduce stress in a large, randomized controlled multi-site study” (2024) · 22 citations
• Anna Rebekah Erickson, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology
• Brian Rivera, Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology
  My research investigates how the brain processes numerical and mathematical information using EEG and event-related potentials (ERPs) . I focus on two main projects: first, studying how people understand fractions by using advanced brain de
• Daniel R Nelson, Associate Professor of Psychology
  College student learning, institutional research, moral judgment development, personalty assessment, and psychometrics. St. Olaf College 1520 St. Olaf Avenue Northfield, MN 55057 Get Directions Legal Na
• Darla Frandrup, Academic Administrative Assistant – Team South
• Elizabeth Blodgett Salafia, Visiting Professor of Psychology
• Jess Petok, Professor of Psychology
• Kadie Ausherbauer, Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology
• Logan Kochendorfer, Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology

Courses

• Principles of Psychology PSYCH 125
• Menacing Minds PSYCH 221
• Psychology of Hearing PSYCH 222
• Community Applications of Psychology PSYCH 224
• Psychology of Spirituality and Religion PSYCH 229
• Research Methods in Psychology PSYCH 230
• Gender Equality in Norway PSYCH 232
• Sensation and Perception PSYCH 235
• Conditioning and Learning PSYCH 236
• Cognitive Psychology PSYCH 237
• Biopsychology PSYCH 238
• Drugs, the Brain and Behavior PSYCH 239
• Developmental Psychology PSYCH 241
• Psychology of Personality PSYCH 244
• Psychopathology PSYCH 247
• Social Psychology PSYCH 249
• Industrial/Organizational Psychology PSYCH 250
• Sport and Exercise Psychology PSYCH 251
• Culture and Place in Psychology PSYCH 254
• Topics in Psychology PSYCH 290
• Academic Internship PSYCH 294
• Research Experience PSYCH 297
• Independent Study PSYCH 298
• Neuroscience of Addiction PSYCH 336
• Neurobiology of Learning and Memory PSYCH 337
• Neurobiology of Psychopathology PSYCH 338
• Cognitive Neuroscience PSYCH 339
• Frontiers in Aging: Cells to Society PSYCH 340
• Infant Behavior and Development PSYCH 341
• Positive Psychology: The Science of Optimal Human Experience PSYCH 342
• Social Psychological Perspectives on Diversity PSYCH 346
• Parenting and Child Development in Diverse Families PSYCH 350
• Clinical and Counseling Psychology PSYCH 375
• Forensic Psychology PSYCH 376
• Issues in Psychology PSYCH 390
• Advanced Research Collaborations PSYCH 393
• Directed Undergraduate Research PSYCH 396
• Independent Research PSYCH 398
• + 2 more courses

Roster/catalog compiled from the college’s public directory. Faculty counts are directory headcounts; the named list may be a subset. h-index shown only for ORCID-backed or high-confidence OpenAlex matches. Data as of 2026-07-02.