Jeff Simpson

Jeffry A. Simpson is a Distinguished Teaching Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on interpersonal relationships, evolution and social behavior, and how interpersonal experiences early in life affect life affect adult outcomes. He is one the world’s foremost experts on adult attachment, having conducted the first observational studies into adult attachment, conflict and support processes in romantic relationships. His research (with Steven W. Rholes) on the role of attachment in understanding mother and father’s transition into parenthood has served as platform for understanding diathesis-stress models as they pertain to close relationships. As a principal investigator on the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation, he has investigated the contextual, developmental, social, and evolutionary factors that contribute to human development across the life span. His research has been funded by numerous grants, including grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

His was the editor of Personal Relationships (from 1998–2001) and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes (from 2009–2014). He has over 300 publications (including is 15 edited text) and his research has received over 44,000 citations (Google Scholar).