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George R. Mastroianni Ph.D.

George R. Mastroianni Ph.D.

Lecturer in Psychology, Penn State | Professor Emeritus, US Air Force Academy

Education:

Ph.D., Experimental Psychology, University of New Hampshire, 1981
M.A., International Relations, San Francisco State University, 1990
B.S., Psychology, Georgetown University, 1977

Biography:

Dr. Mastroianni served twelve years as a US Army Research Psychologist, where he worked in a variety of biomedical laboratories and other military research settings. His research experience included aviation human factors, the effects of laser exposure on human vision and performance, modeling and simulation of human performance, and operational testing of new Army equipment. Dr. Mastroianni retired from the US Army Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel. After leaving active duty Dr. Mastroianni worked as a defense contractor and then civil servant at an Army engineering and development laboratory. In 1997 Dr. Mastroianni accepted a position as an Associate Professor of Psychology at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO. He taught Biopsychology, Learning and Memory, Sensation and Perception, and Introduction to the Behavioral Sciences. He also served as Chair of the Institutional Review Board and as Chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

Dr. Mastroianni has published widely and co-edited A Warrior’s Guide to Psychology and Performance, created on the model of two WWII works produced for soldiers by psychologists. This book has been used as a class text at both the Air Force Academy and West Point.

Dr. Mastroianni is interested in leadership and ethical behavior, and has commented extensively on the 2003 abuses at Abu Ghraib, most recently in Parameters. His main scholarly interests for the last several years have centered on the psychology of the Holocaust. His book, Of Mind and Murder: Toward a More Comprehensive Psychology of the Holocaust, will be available from Oxford University Press September 7, 2018.