John Baer

Dr. John Baer is a Professor of Educational Psychology at Rider University. He earned his B.A. from Yale University (double major, psychology and Japanese Studies, magna cum laude) and his Ph.D. in cognitive and developmental psychology from Rutgers University. His research on the development of creativity and his teaching have both won national awards, including the American Psychological Association's Berlyne Prize and the National Conference on College Teaching and Learning's Award for Innovative Excellence. His books include There's No Such Thing as Creativity: How Plato and 20th Century Psychology Have Misled Us; Being Creative Inside and Outside the Classroom; Domain Specificity of Creativity; Are We Free? Psychology and Free Will; Creativity and Divergent Thinking: A Task-Specific Approach; Creative Teachers, Creative Students; Creativity Across Domains: Faces of the Muse; Reason and Creativity in Development; Essentials of Creativity Assessment; Creatively Gifted Students Are Not Like Other Gifted Students; Creativity and Humor; and Teaching for Creativity in the Common Core Classroom. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Creative Behavior; Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts; and the International Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving. Dr. Baer has taught at all levels from elementary through graduate school. He has been a teacher and program director in gifted education and served as a Regional Director in the Odyssey of the Mind creative problem solving program. Dr. Baer is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, and he has received research grants from the National Science Foundation, the Educational Testing Service, the National Center for Educational Statistics, the Carnegie Foundation, and Yale, Rutgers, and Rider Universities.