Segal, Nancy 1951–

(Nancy L. Segal, Nancy Lee Segal)

PERSONAL:

Born March 2, 1951, in Boston, MA; daughter of Alfred (an attorney) and Esther (a dental assistant) Segal. Education: Boston University, B.A., 1973; University of Chicago, M.A., 1974, Ph.D., 1982. Hobbies and other interests: Distance running, ballet, swing dancing, film.

ADDRESSES:

Office—California State University, Psychology, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton, CA 92834; fax: 714-278-4843. Agent—Angela Rinaldi, Angela Rinaldi Literary Agency, 2965 Motor Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064. E-mail—nsegal@fullerton.edu.

CAREER:

Writer, psychologist, researcher, and educator. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, assistant director of the Minnesota Center for Twin and Adoption Research, 1985-91; California State University, Fullerton, CA, professor of developmental psychology, 1991—, and director of the Twin Studies Center. New York University, Department of Psychology, visiting scholar, 1997-98; Harvard University, Department of Psychology, visiting scholar, 2004. Center for Loss in Multiple Birth, member of advisory board. Lecturer, legal consultant, and expert witness in matters involving twins. Guest on local and national television programs, including Dateline NBC, Today Show, NBC Extra, Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, and Discovery.

MEMBER:

International Society for Twin Studies, American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Twins Foundation (member of advisory board, 1993—), International Society for Human Ethology (served as membership chair), Behavior Genetics Association, Society for Evolutional Analysis in Law, Gold Key International Honor Society (honorary member), Multiple Births Foundation (honorary member), Sigma Delta Epsilon, Sigma XI, NY Road Runners Club.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Lady Davis Fellowship, Department of Psychology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, 1976-77; First Annual Twin Research Prize, Center for the Study of Multiple Birth and Twins Days Research Grant Competition, 1991-92; Research Award, Fragrance Research Fund, Ltd., 1991-92; Hughes Faculty Research Award, California State University, Fullerton, 1992; California State Grant 1993, 1995; Festschrift Grant, 1995; General Faculty Research Award, California State University, Fullerton, 1996; Sigma Delta Epsilon research award for contributions to scientific research, 1989; Distinguished Alumni Award, Boston University, 1990; Deans' Faculty Scholar and Distinguished Professor of Humanities & Social Sciences, both 1999; Faculty Recognition Award for Scholarly and Creative Activity, California State University, Fullerton, Faculty Development Center, 2000; Outstanding Scholarship and Creativity Award, California State University, Fullerton, 2002; Senior Faculty Award, California State University, 2002; Outstanding Faculty Recognition for service, California State University, Fullerton, 2003; research fellowship, American Association of University Women, 2003-04; Outstanding Professor of the Year and Distinguished Professor in Humanities and Social Science, California State University, Fullerton, both 2004-05; Outstanding Scholarship and Creativity Award, California State University, Fullerton, 2004; James Shields Award for Lifetime Contributions to Twin Research, Behavior Genetics Association and International Society for Twin Studies, 2005; Making a Difference Award, Multiple Births, 2005; Fellow of American Psychological Society, 1994, American Psychological Association, 1998, and Western Psychological Association, 2005; inducted into Collegium of Distinguished Alumni, Boston University; research grants from National Science Foundation, American Psychological Association and Olfactory Research Fund, Ltd.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with G.E. Weisfeld and C.C. Weisfeld) Uniting Psychology and Biology: Integrative Perspectives on Human Development, American Psychological Association Press (Washington, DC), 1997.

Entwined Lives: Twins and What They Tell Us about Human Behavior, Dutton (New York, NY), 1999.

Indivisible by Two: Lives of Extraordinary Twins, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 2005.

Associate editor and contributor, Twin Research and Human Genetics; member of editorial advisory board, Twins Magazine, 1985—, and editorial consultant, 1995-98; member of editorial advisory board, Behavior Genetics Journal, 1999—.

Contributor to periodicals and journals, including American Psychologist, Child Development, Law and Human Behavior, and Science.

Peer reviewer for academic journals and book publishers.

SIDELIGHTS:

Nancy Segal is a prolific author, lecturer, researcher, and consultant on the biology and psychology of identical and fraternal twins. Segal is a professor of developmental psychology at California State University, Fullerton, and director of the university's Twin Studies Center. She has frequently served as a consultant and expert witness in legal matters and trials focusing on twin-related issues such as injury, medical negligence, wrongful death, and custody. A fraternal twin herself, Segal researches both genetic and environmental factors that influence human behavior and development, and focuses her scientific work on how these factors manifest themselves in the lives of twins.

With Entwined Lives: Twins and What They Tell Us about Human Behavior, Segal offers an in-depth exploration of the types of twins and what research has revealed about the development of twin intelligence, personality, and other traits. Her study also considers the ways in which twins interact with each other and demonstrate personal and emotional characteristics such as grief, cooperation, bonding, and competition with each other. In this book, she considers fraternal and identical twins as well as the special circumstances faced by conjoined twins. "What makes this book especially valuable is that Segal tells her story from both the point of view of a leading researcher and of a twin herself," observed Frank Miele in Skeptic. Rebecca Miller, writing in Library Journal, called Entwined Lives "the most significant survey of twin research to date." A Publishers Weekly contributor concluded that Segal's "elegantly written study" will "capture the imagination of anyone curious about twins or human behavioral development."

Indivisible by Two: Lives of Extraordinary Twins contains Segal's anecdotal but detailed studies of the lives of ten sets of twins, one set of triplets, and a set of quadruplets. The book is "packed with riveting case histories" that explore issues in twin psychology as well as potential issues that may arise from artificial human cloning, noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Among the subjects of her research are the two men known as the "fireman twins," a pair of brothers separated at birth who both became firemen and display remarkably similar personal habits and characteristics. Segal addresses the identical brother-sister twins who became so after one sister had a sex-change operation to become a man. Segal looks at the development of sexual preference in a case of identical triplet brothers, one of whom is gay while the other two are heterosexual. "The connection between twins is irrefutably special; readers will no doubt be enchanted," commented Lynne F. Maxwell in Library Journal.

Segal once told CA: "As told in my preface to Entwined Lives: I am a fraternal twin. My sister and I have always looked and behaved very differently. As a child I was fascinated with the idea that two children could arrive in the family at the same time, share so many experiences, yet turn out so differently. I decided that we had different ‘stuff’—later learning that this ‘stuff’ was on DNA. I have always remained fascinated with this side of human development. This topic has been first and foremost in my research and writing."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Adolescence, spring, 2001, review of Entwined Lives: Twins and What They Tell Us about Human Behavior, p. 177.

American Scientist, July, 2000, Samuel J. Petuchowski, review of Entwined Lives, p. 359.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, February, 2006, C.P. Stark, review of Indivisible by Two: Lives of Extraordinary Twins, p. 1099.

Library Journal, May 15, 1999, Rebecca Miller, review of Entwined Lives, p. 112; August 1, 2005, Lynne F. Maxwell, review of Indivisible by Two, p. 105.

MBR Bookwatch, November, 2005, Diane C. Donovan, review of Indivisible by Two. New England Journal of Medicine, March 23, 2000, Jane Scourfield, review of Entwined Lives, p. 902.

New York Review of Books, November 30, 2006, Frank J. Sulloway, "Parallel Lives," review of Indivisible by Two, p. 39.

Publishers Weekly, March 29, 1999, review of Entwined Lives, p. 79; June 20, 2005, review of Indivisible by Two, p. 70.

Reference & Research Book News, May, 1998, review of Uniting Psychology and Biology: Integrative Perspectives on Human Development, p. 9.

SciTech Book News, September, 1999, review of Entwined Lives, p. 3.

Skeptic, fall, 1999, Frank Miele, "Double Vision," review of Entwined Lives, p. 91.

Times Literary Supplement, November 11, 2005, Jane Housham, review of Indivisible by Two, p. 27.

ONLINE

California State University, Fullerton, Department of Psychology Web site,http://hss.fullerton.edu/ psychology/ (November 12, 2007), faculty profile.

Twins,http://www.twinsmagazine.com/ (November 12, 2007), review of Indivisible by Two.

Twinstuff Community,http://www.twinstuff.com/ (November 12, 2007), review of Entwined Lives.