Rate My Professor Nicole Martin

Dr. Nicole Martin is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychological Science within the Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Kennesaw State University, where she joined the faculty in 2011. She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Developmental Psychology from the University of New Mexico, an M.A. in Marriage, Child, and Family Counseling from Golden Gate University, and a B.A. in Anthropology and Sociology from Mills College. Her academic career focuses on developmental psychology, with expertise in infant emotional development, the ontogeny of social referencing in infancy, post-adoption depression in mothers adopting children internationally, and gender and sexual development in children. As the leader of the Developmental Research Collective (DRC) at Kennesaw State University, she advances understanding of social and cognitive development in children and adolescents. The DRC explores how early childhood experiences impact development, factors influencing children's moral reasoning and ethical decision-making, internalization of social norms, and the shaping of child development and family dynamics through adoption.

Dr. Martin's current research projects include financial decision-making in adoption, examining families’ total expenses by adoption type and sources of financial support; children's perception and rationalization of lies told by authority figures; and decision-making processes for adoption among parents facing infertility, considering treatment challenges like low success rates, high costs, and health risks alongside adoption barriers. She teaches undergraduate courses such as PSYC 2103 Human Development, PSYC 3205 Child Development, PSYC 3315 Infant Development, PSYC 3365 Human Sexuality, PSYC 4460 Child Psychopathology, and PSYC 4499 Senior Capstone in Psychology. Her peer-reviewed publications include "Maternal marital satisfaction during the first six months following international adoption" (2016), "Natural versus Trained Maternal Expression in a Social Referencing Paradigm" (2016), "Psychological Functioning Through the First Six Months in Mothers Adopting from China: Special Needs Versus Non-Special Needs" (2015), "An Examination of Referential and Affect Specificity with Five Emotions in Infancy" (2014), and "The Development of Affect Specificity in Infants' Use of Emotion Cues" (2008).