Jaap Diedrick Snoek, professor of psychology at Smith College from 1962-1994, was born in Eindhoven, The Netherlands in 1931. His father was an industrial research scientist in the field of physics. His mother died shortly after his birth, and Snoek was raised by a nurse, who later married Snoek's father and became his step-mother. The Snoek family lived in Holland during World War II and the German occupation, which became a formative experience in Snoek's childhood.

Snoek studied for a year at the University of Amsterdam, from 1949-1950. His studies were interrupted when the Snoek's family moved to the United States in 1950. They settled in Cleveland, Ohio, and his father died shortly thereafter. His step-mother felt that it was important for Snoek to complete his education, so she went back to work as a nurse, providing care for elderly patients in their homes. Snoek earned his B.A. in Psychology from the Western Reserve University in 1954. He continued his studies in psychology, achieving his M.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1955. Snoek also became a naturalized citizen of the United States in that year. Also during this period of his life, Snoek married his wife Barbara. Their marriage produced two children, Eric and Martha.

During his study for the M.A. degree, Snoek began his professional career in psychology. From 1954-1956, he worked as a Teaching Assistant and Fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan. For the next three years, Snoek served as a Research Assistant at the Research Center for Group Dynamics in Ann Arbor (1956-1959). From 1959-1962, Snoek was both the Study Director at the Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor and a Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan. Snoek earned his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1960.

Moving from Michigan to Massachusetts, Snoek accepted a position as assistant professor in the Smith College Department of Psychology. He was an assistant professor from his arrival in 1962 until 1969, when he was promoted to associate professor. In 1978, Snoek was made a full professor in the Department of Psychology at Smith College. He served as the head of the department from 1971-1974 and again from 1982-1984. During his career at Smith, Snoek had several opportunities to teach at other institutions of higher learning. From 1966-1967, he was a visiting assistant professor at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Snoek had the opportunity to return to his native country during the 1987-1988 school year, when he was a visiting scholar at the University of Utrecht.

Snoek taught a wide range of courses during his career as a psychology professor, including Introductory Psychology, the Psychology of Adolescence, Social Psychology, Attitudes and Opinions, and Introductory Statistics. He also was responsible for developing the courses on Adult Development and Behavior in Organizations. His seminar courses focused on such topics as Social Change, Sex Role Development, Group Dynamics, and Gender and the Life Course.

Snoek had many other professional activities associated with Smith College and beyond the scope of this institution. He was instrumental in the first years of the Project on Women and Social Change, of which he served as co-principal investigator. He also served as a consultant for the Mary Holmes College Summer Enrichment Program and the Smith-Amherst Tutorial Program. He became a licensed psychologist in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1973 and had a private practice for many years. Snoek also conducted numerous human relations training and personal growth workshops from 1969 until the present, working with such organizations as Pendle Hill, Powell House, the National Training Laboratories, the National Association for Pastoral Renewal, the Friends Conference on Religion and Psychology, and others. Snoek was also a member of such professional organizations as the American Psychological Association, the Eastern Psychological Association, the Massachusetts Psychological Association, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the Society for Values in Higher Education, and the Society of the Sigma Xi.

Some of Snoek's publications include "Some Effects of Rejection upon Attraction to a Group" in the Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology (1962); "Attraction in Relationships: A New Look at Interpersonal Attraction" with G. Levinger (1972); "Self-disclosure among Adolescents in Relation to Parental Control and Affection" with Dr. Esther Rothblum, Smith class of 1976, in Adolescence (1979); and "Mara: The Construction of a Professional Identity" in the book Women Living Change (1985).