Julie K. Norem joined the faculty at Wellesley College in 1992, and she teaches courses in personality psychology, research methods, as well as a seminar on optimism and pessimism. Her research focuses on the strategies people use to pursue their goals, with an emphasis on the strategy of defensive pessimism; and on the ways self-knowledge influences adaptation, performance, and social relationships, particularly among those who feel like impostors.

Professor Norem received her A.B. in Behavioral Sciences from the University of Chicago in 1982, and her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1987. She was a professor at Northeastern University before coming to Wellesley College.

Dr. Norem has written numerous book chapters and articles for scholarly journals, including empirical papers based on her own research and theoretical review and commentary, and has presented dozens of papers at scientific conferences across the country and abroad. She has also been Associate Editor of both the Journal of Research in Personality and the Personality and Social Psychology Review. She has been on the editorial board of several scholarly journals, and has held a variety of appointed and elected positions in the Society of Personality and Social Psychology.  She is a founding member, and past-president of the Association for Research in Personality.