Psychology Prof. Wendi Gardner joined Northwestern’s faculty in 1996 as her first job post-graduation. The Daily spoke to Gardner about her time at Northwestern and the changing world of social psychology. What do psychologists know about well-being and how to foster well-being, as opposed to just what we know about clinical disorders or mental illness? Thriving is different from just the absence of mental illness. …What has burbled into the pop psych realm, or public domain realm, that is maybe less ideal is the psychologizing or mental illness claiming of normal human experiences … Because there’s greater awareness of mental illness, which I think is spectacular, the downside of that is I think people worry more about their own fragility than maybe they should.