Albert Jan "Ap" Dijksterhuis received his Ph.D. in social sciences from Radboud University Nijmegen in 1996. His adviser was Ad van Knippenberg. From 1996-1999, he did post-doc work as a research fellow of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences, located in Amsterdam. In 2000, he became a professor at the University of Amsterdam, returning to Radboud University Nijmegen in 2006 where he stayed until 2025. In 2007, his first book was published, in Dutch, called ‘Het slimme onbewuste’.