Linda Brannon received her Ph.D. in human experimental psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Brannon and co-author Jess Feist are both professors in the department of Psychology at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where they have been teaching since receiving their doctorates. After becoming interested in the emerging field of health psychology, Brannon and Feist co-authored the first edition of this text in the 1980s, and they have enjoyed expanding and developing their text along with the field for more than two decades. In addition to her work in health psychology, Dr. Brannon has authored a text on gender and is co-author of an introductory… psychology text.