G. Daniel Lassiter is professor of psychology at Ohio University and a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association, the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He received his Ph.D. in 1984 from the University of Virginia and held positions at Northwestern University and the University of Florida before assuming his current position in 1987. For more than 25 years, he has conducted research on perceptual mechanisms in social judgment and decision making. His systematic investigations of the way observers perceptually organize continuous streams of behavior into discrete, discriminable, describable actions has provided fundamental insights regarding the nature and comprehension of social action and interaction.

A related, but more applied, program of scholarship aimed at examining the effect of presentation format on how mock jurors evaluate confession evidence has influenced national policy in New Zealand as well as legislation in North Carolina regarding the video recording of police interrogations. Both lines of Dr. Lassiter’s research have been supported by funds from the National Science Foundation and together have resulted in more than 75 scientific publications. In 2009, Dr. Lassiter received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Royal Police Cadet Academy in Thailand "in recognition of dedication, excellence, and remarkable efforts, exemplary commitment and for bringing value and knowledge to the field of Police Psychology." In 2010, Dr. Lassiter was the recipient of the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy. The award citation reads in part that Dr. Lassiter's "scholarship on bias and accuracy in evaluations of videotaped confessions serves as an elegant and inspirational model for bridging the gap between basic theory and real-world applicability. He has marshalled an impressive array of empirical facts so compelling, policymakers cannot fail to heed their import."

Most recently, his 2010 co-edited volume, "Police interrogations and false confessions: Current research, practice, and policy recommendations," was recipient of both the 2010 Outstanding Book in Law and Psychology Award given by the American Psychology-Law Society and the 2010 PROSE Award in Psychology given by the Association of American Publishers in recognition of the very best in professional and scholarly publishing.

Primary Interests:

Applied Social Psychology
Causal Attribution
Judgment and Decision Making
Law and Public Policy
Person Perception
Social Cognition

Applied Social Psychology
Causal Attribution
Judgment and Decision Making

Law and Public Policy
Person Perception
Social Cognition

Books:

Journal Articles:

Geers, A. L., Wellman, J. A., & Lassiter, G. D. (2009). Dispositional optimism and engagement: The moderating influence of goal prioritization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 913-932.
Gonzalez-Vallejo, C., Lassiter, G. D., Bellezza, F. S., & Lindberg, M. J. (2008). “Save angels perhaps”: A critical examination of unconscious thought theory and the deliberation-without-attention effect. Review of General Psychology, 12, 282-296.
Lassiter, G. D. (2010). Psychological science and sound public policy: Video recording custodial interrogations. American Psychologist, 65, 768-779.
Lassiter, G. D. (2002). Illusory causation in the courtroom. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 204-208.
Lassiter, G. D., Clark, J. K., Munhall, P. J., & Lindberg, M. L. (2008). And I thought I was bad! The idiot effect in social judgment. Social Cognition, 26, 347-356.
Lassiter, G. D., Diamond, S. S., Schmidt, H. C., & Elek, J. K. (2007). Evaluating videotaped confessions: Expertise provides no defense against the camera-perspective effect. Psychological Science, 18, 224-226.
Lassiter, G. D., Geers, A. L., Handley, I. M., Weiland, P. E., & Munhall, P. J. (2002). Videotaped interrogations and confessions: A simple change in camera perspective alters verdicts in simulated trials. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 867-874.
Lassiter, G. D., Geers, A. L., Munhall, P. J., Ploutz-Snyder, R. J., & Breitenbecher, D. L. (2002). Illusory causation: Why it occurs. Psychological Science, 13, 299-305.
Lassiter, G. D., Lindberg, M. J., Gonzalez-Vallejo, C., Bellezza, F. S., & Phillips, N. D. (2009). The deliberation-without-attention effect: Evidence for an artifactual interpretation. Psychological Science, 20, 671-675.

Other Publications:

Lassiter, G. D., Geers, A. L., Munhall, P. J., Handley, I. M., & Beers, M. J. (2001). Videotaped confessions: Is guilt in the eye of the camera? In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 33, pp. 189–254). New York: Academic Press.
Lassiter, G. D., Lindberg, M. J., Ratcliff, J. J., & Ware, L. J., & Geers, A. L. (2010). Top-down influences on the perception of ongoing behavior. In E. Balcetis & G. D. Lassiter (Eds.), The social psychology of visual perception (pp. 225-251). New York: Psychology Press.
Lassiter, G. D., Ware, L. J., & Lindberg, M. J., & Ratcliff, J. J. (2010). Videotaping custodial interrogations: Toward a scientifically based policy. In G. D. Lassiter & C. A. Meissner (Eds.), Police interrogations and false confessions: Current research, practice, and policy recommendations (pp. 143-160). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

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G. Daniel Lassiter
Department of Psychology
Porter Hall
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701
United States

Phone: (740) 593-1707
Fax: (740) 593-0579