Shelley E. Taylor is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. in social psychology from Yale University. After a visiting professorship at Yale and assistant and associate professorships at Harvard University, she joined the faculty of UCLA in 1979. Her research interests are in health psychology, especially the factors that promote long-term psychological adjustment, and in social cognition. In the former capacity, she is the codirector of the Health Psychology program at UCLA.

Professor Taylor is the recipient of a number of awards, most notably the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Contribution to Psychology Award, a 10-year Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, and an Outstanding Scientific Contribution Award in Health Psychology. She is the author of more than 200 publications in journals and books and is also the author of Social Cognition, Positive Illusions, and The Tending Instinct.