Essentials of Psychology

Saul Kassin is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Massachusetts Professor Emeritus at Williams College. Born and raised in New York City, he graduated from Brooklyn College in 1974. After receiving his PhD from the University of Connecticut in 1978, he spent time at the University of Kansas, Purdue University, the Federal Judicial Center, and Stanford University. He is an author or editor of several books—including Psychology, Developmental Social Psychology, The American Jury on Trial, Duped: Why Innocent People Confess – and Why We Believe Their Confessions, and most recently, The Pillars of Social Psychology. Interested in the psychology of wrongful convictions, Kassin pioneered the scientific study of false confessions for which he has received several awards—including the APA Award for Distinguished Contribution to Research on Public Policy and the APS James McKeen Cattell Lifetime Achievement Award for Applied Research. He has consulted on many high-profile cases, served as an analyst on all major news networks, and appeared in several podcasts and documentaries—including Ken Burns’s 2012 film, The Central Park Five.

Gregory J. Privitera is a three-time national-award-winning author and a professor of psychology at St. Bonaventure University where he is a recipient of its highest teaching honor, The Award for Professional Excellence in Teaching, and its highest honor for scholarship, The Award for Professional Excellence in Research and Publication. Dr. Privitera received his PhD in behavioral neuroscience in the field of psychology at the State University of New York at Buffalo and continued with his postdoctoral research at Arizona State University. His texts span diverse topics in psychology and the behavioral sciences and include an introductory psychology text, three statistics texts, two research methods texts, and multiple other texts bridging knowledge creation across health, health care, and analytics. In addition, Dr. Privitera has authored more than three dozen peer-reviewed papers aimed at advancing our understanding of health, health literacy, and informing policy in health care. His research has earned recognition by the American Psychological Association and in media to include Oprah’s Magazine, Time Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. He mentors a variety of undergraduate research projects at St. Bonaventure University, where dozens of students, many of whom have gone on to earn graduate and doctoral degrees at various institutions, have coauthored and presented research work. In addition to his teaching, research, and advisement, Dr. Privitera is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, is an identical twin, and is married with two daughters, Grace Ann and Charlotte Jane, and two sons, Aiden Andrew and Luca James.