Linda Jeanne Mealey (December 17, 1955 in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

– November 5, 2002) was an American evolutionary psychologist and professor at the

College of Saint Benedict The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University are two closely related Private college, private, Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts colleges in Minnesota. The College of Sai ...

Biography

Mealey was born in

on December 17, 1955, and grew up mainly in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. She received her Ph.D. from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in December 1984. She joined the faculty of the College of Saint Benedict in 1985 as an assistant professor, and became an associate professor there in 1991. She was affiliated with the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

's School of Psychology from 1996 to 1998, and remained an adjunct professor there until her death from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in 2002.

Research

Mealey's research into evolutionary psychology examined factors such as the attractiveness of symmetrical human faces and potential evolutionary explanations for

sociopathy Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, along with bold, disinhibited, and egocentric traits. These traits are often masked by superficial charm and immunity to s ...

Professional affiliations and awards

Mealey was a member of about 16 professional societies during her career. She served as president of the

International Society for Human Ethology The International Society for Human Ethology (abbreviated ISHE) is an international learned society dedicated to the study of human ethology. It was founded in 1972, with Irenaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Daniel G. Freedman, and William Charlesworth all p ...

, and was also a counselor for the

Human Behavior and Evolution Society The Human Behavior and Evolution Society (HBES) is an interdisciplinary, international society of researchers, primarily from the social and biological sciences, who use modern evolutionary theory to help to discover human nature — including ev ...

. In 2002, she received the College of Saint Benedict's Teacher/Scholar Award, which was subsequently renamed the Linda Mealey Teacher/Scholar Award after her death.

References

External links

Obituary
in ''Neuroendocrinology Letters'' (written by

Nancy Segal Nancy L. Segal (born 1951) is an American evolutionary psychologist and behavioral geneticist, specializing in the study of twins. She is the professor of developmental psychology and director of the Twin Studies Center, at California State Un ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mealey, Linda Jeanne 1955 births 2002 deaths College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University faculty Evolutionary psychologists American women psychologists 20th-century American psychologists University of Texas at Austin alumni People from San Diego Academic staff of the University of Queensland Deaths from cancer in Minnesota 20th-century American women 20th-century American people American women academics