Nora Isacoff

Ph.D., Rutgers University, 2014

Dr. Isacoff's scholarship centers around the question of how we, as humans, construct meaningful categories: how these labels do and don't serve us, letting us make sense out of senselessness, connecting us with our identities and communities, enabling us to communicate and advocate, but also leading us astray, dividing us, and forestalling progress. She has investigated these questions from the perspectives of child development, linguistic relativity, education policy, linguistics of propaganda, neurodiversity, diverse discourse, self-communication, cognitive science in fiction, and others. She employs both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Her interdisciplinary approach both treasures the scientific method as our most extraordinary epistemological system and looks to the wisdom of the humanities as a guiding light for how best to put our scientific skills to use. 

Dr. Isacoff's teaching invites students to cultivate two contrary attitudes: 1. reverence for the scientific process and the intellectual lineage we as scholars are situated within and 2. skepticism about the paradigms and inferences we study. This dual approach enables her students to take responsibility for identifying their assumptions and biases, recognizing the complexities of a problem, separating fact from inference, and contributing to scientific discourse. As a result, Dr. Isacoff's students not only develop skills in psychological science but also learn to engage in civil discourse. Dr. Isacoff is also certified in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, trained in Orton Gillingham (an intervention for literacy disabilities), and previously worked as a learning specialist for students with executive functioning challenges. This robust educational background enriches her pedagogical frameworks, in the classroom, as an advisor, and in the workshops she offers.
 

UN1001 Science of Psychology
UN2210 Cognition 
GU4224 Consciousness and Cognitive Science 
GU4244 Language and Mind
GU4940 Qualitative Research: Participatory Inquiry in Psychology