F.1 About the Authors
Peter Gray, Ph.D., was a full-time professor of psychology at Boston College for 30 years, where he served his department at various times as Department Chair, Undergraduate Program Director, and Graduate Program Director. He has published research in biological, evolutionary, cultural, developmental, and educational psychology; published articles on innovative teaching methods; taught more than 20 different undergraduate courses, including, most regularly, introductory psychology; helped develop a university-wide program to improve students’ study and learning skills; and developed a program of research practicum courses. He is now retired from regular teaching but maintains a position as Research Professor at Boston College. Most of his current research and academic writing has to do with the value of play, especially free age-mixed play, in children’s development. He is also author of Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life (Basic Books, 2013) and writes a popular blog for Psychology Today magazine entitled Freedom to Learn: The Roles of Play and Curiosity as Foundations for Learning.
Before joining Boston College, Peter Gray studied psychology as an undergraduate at Columbia University and earned a Ph.D. in biological sciences at the Rockefeller University. He earned his way through college by coaching basketball and working with youth groups in New York City. As a graduate student, he directed a summer biology program for talented high school students from impoverished neighborhoods. His avocations today include long distance bicycling, kayaking, backwoods skiing, and vegetable gardening.
David F. Bjorklund, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University, where he has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in developmental and evolutionary psychology since 1976. He received a B.A. in psychology from the University of Massachusetts, an M.A. in psychology from the University of Dayton, and a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has received numerous teaching and research awards from Florida Atlantic University and is the recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Research Award.
David F. Bjorklund served as Associate Editor of Child Development (1997-2001) and is currently serving as Editor of the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. He has served on the editorial boards of numerous journals and also served as a contributing editor to Parents Magazine. He has published more than 170 scholarly articles on various topics relating to child development and evolutionary psychology and has received financial support for his research from the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the German Research Foundation. David F. Bjorklund’s other books include Children’s Thinking: Cognitive Development and Individual Differences, now in its fifth edition (Cengage, 2012); Why Youth is Not Wasted on the Young (2007, Blackwell); Child and Adolescent Development: An Integrative Approach (with Carlos Hernández Blasi; 2012, Cengage); Looking at Children: An Introduction to Child Development (with Barbara Bjorklund; 1992, Brooks/Cole); Parents Book of Discipline (with Barbara Bjorklund; 1990, Ballantine); Applied Child Study (with Anthony Pellegrini; 1998, Erlbaum); The Origins of Human Nature: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology (with Anthony Pellegrini; 2002, American Psychological Association); Children’s Strategies: Contemporary Views of Cognitive Development (1990, Erlbaum); False-Memory Creation in Children and Adults: Theory, Research, and Implications (2000, Erlbaum); and Origins of the Social Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and Child Development (edited with Bruce Ellis; 2005, Guilford). His current research interests include children’s cognitive development and evolutionary developmental psychology. He lives in Jupiter, Florida, with his wife Barbara and enjoys traveling, cooking, playing basketball, and kayaking. He welcomes sincere feedback concerning this textbook from students as well as faculty, and can be reached by email at dbjorklu@fau.edu.
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